Page 44 of Broken Romeo

“Do. It,” she repeated, putting an extra punch on the ‘t’. The room was dim, and her eyes were dark, like two cobalt stones resting at the bottom of the ocean floor. “Kiss me.”

The alcohol and Benadryl didn’t seem to be affecting her anymore. She was of sound mind and consenting—or rather, demanding.

And fuck, I wanted to. I wanted her lips more than I wanted my next breath. I wanted to be her first. I wanted to go down in history and forever remain in her memory as the man who gave her the best first kiss ever.

I lifted up on my knees and made my way across the bed toward where she was also kneeling. Even in this position, I towered a whole head over her. Cupping her jaw, I tilted her chin toward mine, drawing her near to me. “This is what you want?”

“Yes.” The word on her parted lips was barely more than a sigh.

I wanted to hear that sigh again. I wanted to feel it against my flesh as she pulsed and writhed beneath my body.

Fuck, I wanted her.

But I couldn’t have her. She was too sweet. Too good. And a guy like me, with my family and my past, would ruin someone like her.

But this? This I could give her. A perfect first kiss.

One taste. One kiss. And that was it.

Her light floral scent flooded my senses, wrapping all around me. I teased my nose up her jaw, drawing a line from her chin to her ear, whispering, “To answer your earlier question… if Kate is the freshman, then Katherine is the woman I want in my bed.”

I dragged my mouth to hers and just before our lips brushed, her fingers slid between our faces, pressing against my mouth, stopping me.

“Wait!”

Dammit. I knew it. I’d pushed her too hard. She wasn’t ready yet. And an eighteen-year-old virgin shouldn’t be in my fucking bed of all places.

I exhaled a whoosh of air and sat back on my heels. “I’m sorry—”

“Sushi,” she said. “Did you eat sushi?”

I nodded and gestured to the almost empty plate across the room, still with a few California rolls on my plate. “Yeah, earlier, I… Oh, fuck.”

If merely touching sushi to her skin caused her to break out in hives, what would it do in her mouth? From my tongue to hers.

Her eyes went wide. “Yeah. I’m deathly allergic to shellfish. You almost killed me.”

My heart pounded as the reality of the situation hit me.

I almost killed her.

With my fuckingkiss.

I glanced to where my discarded copy of Romeo and Juliet sat on the nightstand. “This gives that whole Thus with a kiss, I die scene from Romeo and Juliet new meaning.”

We both lowered to sit on our haunches, backing away from each other.

Kate licked her lips, almost like she could taste me on them even though we hadn’t touched. “I will kiss thy lips. Haply some poison yet doth hang on them, to make me die with a restorative.”

“Wow. First assignment for Method Acting 101 already done?”

She shrugged. “I memorized most of that play when I was twelve. It’s my dream to play Juliet.”

I nodded, not quite sure what to say to that. “So this acting thing, it’s not just an easy A for you?”

She snorted a laugh. “Hardly. I’ve known I want to be an actor since I was ten when I landed my first role in Annie.”

“Like… that chick with the red curls?”