Page 55 of Unfolding Kiara

Kiara snickered and took my hand in hers after dabbing a cotton ball in acidic solution. It had a strong smell which I tried to ignore and focus on Kiara’s mild perfume twanged with coconut and black vanilla. While she removed the nail polish, I gazed at the way her eyebrows were furrowed with concentration. She had undone her braid after lunch, so few strands of her hair brushed her cheeks.

I raised my hand which was already clear of the nail paint and tucked her hair behind her ear. She paused for a moment and continued wiping the color from my nails. The pulse of her neck had increased, and her breathing had changed.

“See?” She said, her voice breathy, “It’s all clear now.”

My nails were the same as before, but I was focusing on her, why her neck and cheeks were flushing. Ignoring everything around me, I lightly tugged the strand of her hair and whispered, “What are you thinking, Bella?”

Her eyes flickered up to me, and the intensity of her deep brown eyes caught me off guard. Her hand was still on my lap as we were on the floor when she cleaned up my nails, and she was trying to ball her palm in a fist. When she looked away, I knew she was closing off and trying to hide away from me.

I didn’t want that. I wanted those golden flecked brown eyes on me, to look me straight in the eye, and tell me what she was feeling.

Leaning closer, I felt her take a shuddering breath. I tipped her chin toward me and dug my fingers on her waist, her body tensing at my touch.

I tilted my head, my eyes following the path of her creeping blush, down her slender neck to the cleavage of her dress and landing on the hardened tips of her nipples. My eyes met hers and I whispered, “Are you thinking what I am thinking?”

“What do you mean?” She replied, her voice a soft whisper on my lips. Her eyes were hooded and pupils dilated.

“Do you want me to kiss you, Bella?”

My hand slid up her waist, wrapping around her tiny body and pulling her closer to me. She was almost on my lap, her breasts pressed up against my shirt and her palms on my shoulder, bracing herself. I waited, my eyes on her parted lips, her hazy eyes, her heaving breasts. I rubbed the pad of my thumb on her bottom lip, brushing it lightly and feeling the softness of her pillowy lips.

I want to kiss you.

It was written all over my face. But I waited. Waiting for her to make a move because it was written all over her face too. How her eyes moved from my eyes to my lips, her hands holding my shirt tightly, afraid of letting me go and how she pressed up against me.

She closed her eyes, and I trailed my hand to cup her cheek. I watched the slow bob of her throat and she opened her eyes, her hands touching my neck, angling my face and pulling me close.

I waited.

Her lips parted, “Ethan, I want to—”

“Look what I found!”

Like two frightened teenagers caught watching porn, we both scrambled away from each other when Eveline entered the room. Thank God she didn’t see anything. Kiara’s face was flushed, and she was hiding it with her hair and asking my sister about the photo album that was in her hand. She had found the album of when we were kids.

I ran a hand through my hair and tried to talk with Eveline and be interested in watching young Kiara and Ethan in every picture, but I couldn’t. Because I was dying to know what Kiara wanted to say before she was going to kiss me. I wanted her to complete that sentence. I wanted to hold her in my arms again. Feel her warm, soft body press against me. Feel the whisper of her breath on my skin.

I wanted her to kiss me. I wanted to kiss her.

As soon as the main door of my house locked behind us, I pushed her against the door, her eyes wide with surprise.

“What are you doing, Ethan?”

I dropped the keys and her handbag on the floor. I didn’t care about it at that moment. I wanted to know what she was going to say in Eveline’s room. I caged her against the door, my arms planted on either side of her, “What were you going to say?”

Closing her eyes, she shook her head, her hands pressing up against my chest and pushing me away. “I can’t say that to you, Ethan. It was wrong.”

I followed her in the dim hallway, “What was wrong? That you flirted with me, that you’re attracted to me, you want to kiss me?”

Kiara turned around, tears glistening in her eyes, “Yes, Ethan, all of it. I want to kiss you, but I can’t.”

Taking a slow step toward her, I cupped her face and asked, “Why can’t you, Bella?”

Her voice was barely audible when she whispered, “Because I am afraid I will ruin you.”

“You won’t.”

“How can you know that?”

“Because I want to kiss you too.”

I kissed her.

It was nothing but a soft pressing of our lips against each other. The tight clench in my body released as I pulled her closer, running my hand through her hair and holding her there. She leaned against me, kissing me back with more fervor. Kiara released a small sigh, her hands clutching my shirt and pulling closer as she tipped on her toes to press herself against me. Electrifying goosebumps spread across my body when I licked the seams of her bottom lip, biting it with my teeth.

Kiara moaned, and I pulled away, both of us breathing heavily as we gazed at each other with hooded eyes filled with lust. I pushed her back on the wall, my hand wrapping around her slender throat, and slammed my lips against hers. I wanted her to know how much I craved her and how much I wanted her. I swallowed her small moans, her fingers tugging my hair making me groan between our hot, wet kisses.

The lack of oxygen made me pull away, breathing hard and noticing her mussed hair, flushed face, and gleaming eyes. A tear on her cheek.

I wiped it with my thumb, “Why are you crying, Bella?”

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