Page 47 of Christmas Romance Galore!
But her touch on my arm made me leap into the air. In doing so, I managed to knock a couple of the pots of herbs from the shelf, and they bounced off the kitchen counter and on to the floor. Luckily, they were made of plastic so they didn’t smash. I turned to pick them up, but Holly was already on her haunches.
I dropped down to the floor myself to help her out, as one of the herbs had flipped open and a mass of dried oregano was now littering the kitchen floor.
Holly grabbed the dustpan and brush from the under-sink cupboard and as she bent back down, we came face to face with each other. And when I looked at her, something changed. My brain flipped to romance mode, and everywhere I looked, my vision was misted and objects airbrushed. It was as if my mind had just installed a photo editor and was trying out every happy filter possible. Right now, my whole world was set to Sunshine and Yellow Glow.
I stared at Holly.
She stared at me.
I dropped my gaze to the spilled herbs, but when I looked back up, she hadn’t taken her eyes off me. My heart rate revved like a motorcycle engine and blood zipped around my veins. Was I about to pass out or about to kiss my best friend of a million years? I couldn’t be certain which way this one was going to go.
But it turned out that Holly was sure, so the passing out option was bypassed.
Before I could react, Holly’s lips were pressing into mine, soft, firm and beery. She didn’t try to rush, she just let her lips linger and caress, stroking across mine, taking her time. The effects of her kiss shot through my body with utmost force, causing my fingers and toes to curl, holding on for dear life. It was sublime and it was happening to me. With Holly.
I sunk into the kiss with my best friend, and magic pulsed in the air around us. The trains wound down, light increased and there was a ringing in my ears, but it was a happy sound. Our lips slipped over each other like they’d been made to measure, whispering a secret to each other they’d been bursting to tell. But the secret was out now, and there was no way of putting it back.
I’ve no way of knowing how long we kissed, but eventually Holly gently pulled away. She held me by the top of my arm, a smile playing on her lips. She went to say something, her eyes locked on mine, but then she just pressed her lips back on to mine lightly before pulling back again.
When I opened my eyes, the world felt brighter, shinier, more defined. I’d kissed a lot of women before, but I’d never been kissed like Holly had just kissed me. This was so much more than just a kiss.
“Your lips feel pretty good,” she said before kissing me again.
“So do yours.” I reapplied my lips to hers and I felt it right where I was meant to.
This shit was getting real, but I wasn’t scared. Rather, I wanted to clutch our possibilities, because right now, they seemed limitless. Especially when my lips were on hers and nothing seemed impossible.
I only stopped kissing when we nearly toppled over, both of us still down on our haunches, the herbs still on the floor.
When I looked at Holly, I was stuck for words. None of them seemed adequate for what had just happened.
“So this is... interesting,” I said finally. “Kissing — we don’t normally do that.”
Holly smiled, then shook her head. “No, we don’t.”
“And when we do, we do it squatting on our kitchen floor.”
Holly laughed. “It’s a first for me. For you too?”
I rubbed a hand up and down her arm. “Yep. I’m a kitchen floor kissing virgin.”
I stood upright and offered a hand to Holly.
She took it, hauled herself upright and cracked her head on the open cupboard door. Hard. She was immediately back down on the floor again.
“Shit, that sounded like it hurt. You okay?” I was on my knees beside Holly, who was sat on the kitchen floor, clutching her head and swearing under her breath. “Holly?”
She groaned in response and I stroked her arm.
“Can you see if it’s bleeding?” She was still trying to catch her breath.
I peeled her hand away, noticing for the first time how long and slender her fingers were. Which of course then sent a shudder down my entire body, and I had to blink to remember what I was doing: looking at Holly’s head and checking she wasn’t bleeding to death.
“I can’t see any blood,” I said. “But let’s get you up and over to the couch.”
She nodded slowly and made it to the sofa where she laid out, wincing. I brought her a bag of frozen peas and she held it against her head. Then I sat at the bottom of the sofa with her feet touching me, assessing her body, the body of my future lover I had no doubt.
I’d never slept with anyone so much taller than me. Holly’s body was slim and went on for days, and I shuddered again as I imagined touching her for the first time, holding her breasts, kissing her neck. I blinked.
