Page 55 of Studious
Mason: It was the *only* kiss you’ve ever had.
Alden: But seriously, it was really good.
Mason: This is better than if Sean Moses had kissed you in high school. Remember him?
Alden: Of course.
Mason: Did you know he ended up going to jail for cooking meth?
Alden: No! How did you find that out?
Mason: My mom’s friends with his mom. Good thing he wasn’t your first kiss. Good thing you waited for someone better.
Alden: That kind of changes my world view. All this time I figured I was Nobody because Sean never kissed me.
Mason: When in reality, all this time you were Someone.
Mason: How is this going to go in the office? I mean, now that you kissed?
Alden: I have absolutely no idea.
Mason: Then good luck, my friend. Let me know if you need anything.
He’s right. How am I supposed to behave tomorrow at work? I mean, we made out. Is that going to change things?
I sit at the desk in my bedroom with a video game loaded, but I’m not playing it. All I’m doing is reenacting the kiss. Over and over again.
I’ve read so many kisses in books and seen so many in movies. But none of that substitutes for the real thing. Danny’s lips on mine. He didn’t seem like he was in any hurry to get away from me. If anything, the more we kissed, the more it felt, well, passionate. Like we both couldn’t get enough.
I haven’t tried many things that made me cravemorelike that. Apparently I’m no good at drinking.
But kissing? I could get used to kissing. Very, very easily.
And I can’t. Not with Danny, at least. He’s not going to kiss me again. That’s the first and only thing I need to know.
CHAPTER14
Danny
Ipull into my garage and tell myself that kissing Alden wasn’t a mistake.
I don’t believe in mistakes.
All my clients have made what other people would call mistakes in some form. Whether they got involved with someone awful or made a professional decision that didn’t go the way they wanted, there’s a point where something went wrong. It’s my job to put their lives back together—in legal terms. I can’t go back in time, but I can do my best to mitigate the effects of their decisions. So they don’t sting as much.
I can’t see kissing Alden as something I need to go back and fix. Even though I want to do it again and again.
He brings out a protective side I didn’t know I had. He’s been embarrassed, and he’s shy, and between the two, he doesn’t want to put himself out there. But he has so much going for him. He’s sensitive about the fact that he takes care of his mom, but I admire his loyalty. I take care of my mom, too. Or we take care of each other.
He’s smart and kind. I also like how he trusts me. If I could bottle that trust, I’d keep it in reserve and bring it out whenever things are going badly.
But I’ve agreed to share it with the world. I pull up my Ad/VICE profile. I have twenty-seven followers, and while a few comments are negative, most are positive or coming on to me, like, “U hottie suk my dik.”
Classy.
Still, I’m in this to win it, and I have to start somewhere. I turn on my phone and set it on the tripod to shoot a video, then settle in on my couch, my best side angled forward. Not that I have a bad side. “Hey, everyone, I have some news. I kissed my pupil. We weren’t supposed to do that, but here’s how it happened.” I let out a deep breath. “Actually, I’m not one to kiss and tell, so this is kind of hard. All I can say is, I’d been wanting to kiss him. So when he said yes”—I shrug—“I had to. And wow, was it the right choice.” Maybe raw, unfiltered honesty can help with the views and give Alden a confidence boost. “One of the top ten kisses of my life. Actually, it was number one. Better than my first kiss. Better than anyone else. It had this innocence about it, but it was hot, too.
“So what comes next? I think he’s ready for some real-world experience. After all, he’s doing this to learn the skills he needs to get himself a hot guy. I have to say, he has kissing down.”
