Page 48 of The Good Girl's Guide to Being Bad

“Oh.”

As if coming out of a trance, Colton took his hand back and grinned. “Don’t worry, though, Sadie. I’ve had plenty of practice controlling my masculine urges, and we fight so much it doesn’t matter anyway.”

I nodded, though despite what he said, it felt like it mattered. A lot. I couldn’t believe what he’d revealed. Colton Bishop liked my hair. It gave him wild thoughts. That thought was enough to make my head spin and give my feminine ego a much needed boost.

“Speaking of which,” he said, rubbing his hands together, “I think it’s time we look for your substitute kissing partner.”

“My what?” I asked.

“Your guy. The one you want to do the other kissing parts of your list with,” he said. “”I figure now’s as good a time as any. There are plenty of guys here.”

The way he changed topics so quickly was a godsend because that meant I didn’t have to think about my hair and how only seconds ago it’d been between his fingertips. But for some reason what he wanted to discuss made my stomach drop.

“Oh, I’d forgotten about that,” I mumbled.

“That’s why I’m a great coach,” Colton said. “My head’s always in the game. Just look around. See anyone you like?”

I glanced around the room, taking in the space and the people in it. Colton was right. There were a lot of guys here, some I knew from school and some that I didn’t. Many of them were already paired up with girls, but there were several who were just standing together, hanging out with other guys. I couldn’t deny that a lot of them were attractive, but…

“I don’t know,” I said. “Something about kissing some random guy just feels wrong.”

Colton shrugged. “You kissed me.”

“Yeah, but I know you.”

“And you hate me,” he pointed out.

“I don’t hate you, Colton,” I said.

“You don’t?”

I shook my head. “You annoy the crap out of me. You get on my last nerve. You…confuse me at times. But no, I don’t hate you. Not really.”

He looked surprised, shocked even, but if he could be honest so could I.

After a moment, he said, “Well, isn’t there anyone here you want to kiss?”

My eyes fell to his lips on the word “kiss,” and I forced myself to look away, pretending to search the room again while inside I was tied up in knots. It was the strangest thing, but the only person I could contemplate kissing was Colton. And holy smokes had I contemplated it. The number of times I’d thought about our library kiss was positively indecent. My stomach rolled again at the thought of kissing a stranger. As much as I wanted to complete my list, as obsessed as I was with kissing and wanted to experience more kisses, I wasn’t sure I could do that.

“Maybe we can revisit this subject?” I said. “I need some time to think about it.”

Colton nodded slowly. “Okay, that sounds good.”

My stomach unclenched, the relief a palpable thing.

“In the meantime, let’s focus on your list,” he said. “Did you like the idea of approaching it from easiest to hardest?”

“Sounds like a good plan,” I said.

“I know. That’s why I came up with it.” He grinned in that self-assured way of his while I gave a mental eyeroll. “I’ve done most of the things on your list, but the one that I haven’t done is going to be difficult. The third one aboutDancer’s Edge.”

I gulped. So, he really had put some thought into this.

“The whole video of the month thing. It’s all about their opinion, and we have no control over that. Have you thought of a concept yet?”

“Actually, yes,” I said. “I started choreographing tonight and can probably have it finished in a couple days. I feel like the idea is really strong.”

“Great,” he said. “Is it sexy?”

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