Page 84 of Infatuation

I nod.

“Let’s go.”

He holds out his hand and I take it.

All of a sudden, I want one thing: for Josh to pull me out the door and straight to my room. But, instead, Josh releases my hand and turns to Henn, smiling.

“Badah-bing-badah-boom,” he says. “Easy peasy. Now you try it. Just like that.”

“Ummmmmmmm,” Henn says. “Could you be serious, please? I actually wanna know what you do, no kidding around.”

“I wasn’t kidding around. That’s what I do.”

Henn laughs. “Come on, Josh.”

Josh whips his attention onto me. “Kat, in all seriousness—would that have worked on you if I did it just like that?”

“In all seriousness?” I say. Oh man, my heart is racing out of my chest. “Hell yes.”

“See?” Josh says. He shrugs. “Success with babe-baggery is all about confidence. Everything else is secondary.” He sits back down, a cocky grin on his face. “Thank you, Kat.” He winks. “You’re excellent at role-play—not surprisingly.”

I sit back down, flustered.

“It always boils down to confidence,” Josh says. “Am I right, Madame Professor?”

“Yeah,” I say, struggling to regain my composure. Oh shit. There’s a deep, dull ache in my abdomen that won’t go away. I clear my throat. “But don’t forget, Josh, getting the babe hooked on the line is only the first step—then you’ve actually got to be able todeliveron all that bravado or else you’re sunk.” I shoot Josh a smart-ass look that, hopefully, says, “You’re full of shit.”

Josh’s eyes are brimming with confidence. “Well, duh. It goes without saying a guy’s gotta be able to deliver on everything he promises—that’s where true confidence comes from, being able to walk the walk.” He winks. “‘Under-promise and over-perform,’ I always say. And believe me, I just under-promised on what I can perform.”

Oh holy hell. I can’t breathe.

“So let’s start simple, then,” Josh says to Henn. “The first step is being able to kiss a woman like a boss. For women, kissing is everything—you gotta be able to curl her toes, man. From there, all good things will come to you. Kiss a woman right, she’ll be begging you for more. Am I right, Madame Professor?”

I shoot Josh a pointed look. “Yep. No doubt about it. Begging.”

Josh bites his lip.

“Well, no sweat, guys. Because I happen to be a fantastic kisser.”

“Really?” I ask, surprised.

“Yup.”

“Fantastic?”

“Well, okay, maybe notfantastic.But pretty damned good.”

“What’s your technique?”

“Mytechnique? Well, I can’tdescribeit. It’s a show-me-don’t-tell-me kind of thing.”

“Well, you gotta give me something to work with here, Henny. How else am I gonna be able to give you feedback?”

“I can’t describe it,” Henn says, shrugging his shoulders. “You’ll just have to trust me.”

“Try explaining it to me, Henn,” I say. “Josh is right—that first kiss can make or break you—lead you to the Promised Land or sink you like a stone.” I flash Josh a smart-ass look. “You gotta get it right.”

Josh squints at me. “Yeah, Kat’s right. But that’s only because women sometimes place ridiculous importance on what should be a simple kiss—irrational, ridiculous, stupid importance—when they should just chill out and go with the flow and stop acting like a fucking terrorist.”

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