“So, tell me about Angel,” I said stroking my thumb against the back of his hand. To his credit, he didn’t flinch. He merely looked down at what I was doing then repeated the gesture on my hand. I suppressed a smile. Fast learner.
“She went to the all-girls Christian school across the bridge from my house. I started attending church with her on Wednesdays and Sundays, mostly so I could see her. We didn’t sit in the same pews, mind you, but we made eye contact often.”
“Wow. That’s…um, dedication. Going to church just to sneak a few glances at a girl.”
He shrugged. “It was a small sacrifice to pay.”
“How long did you date?” I swung our arms back and forth and he made a face, though let me continue to be playful.
“Well, her parents certainly wouldn’t call what we were doing dating, but about three years.”
I stopped walking and gaped at him. “Three years and you never did more than hold hands and give chaste kisses?” It was impossible. It didn’t compute in my pea brain.
Frowning, he started walking again, tugging me along behind him. “You have to understand what it was like back then. We didn’t exactly have the freedom to interact. Her family was far stricter than my military family. Even though they knew me, and I went to their church, without my parents I might add, they didn’t trust me. If I came over to help her with her homework, we were supervised with one of her parents in the room the whole time.”
“Wow. That is strict.”
“Her mother thought I was bad influence, despite all of my assurances to prove otherwise. She was convinced I was sent to take her only daughter away from doing God’s work. They wanted her to join a convent after high school. She, naturally, did not share her parent’s wishes. I suppose they felt I was the reason she didn’t want that path, but I assure you, I had no influence on her in that regard.”
“Yeah, she probably said ‘no thanks’ when she learned about the celibacy part.”
“Perhaps,” he said.
I couldn’t relate to how Angel was raised. My family was basically the opposite. They held a very loose reign. They allowed me too much freedom if I were honest. Probably why I lost my virginity at fifteen. In my own bed…during a “homework” session. Whoopsie.
“Okay, so after you graduated, what happened with you two then?”
“Well, not much. She still had another year.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You went after a younger woman? Shocker. Men always do. So, did you move out then?”
He shook his head as we came to an intersection and pulled me away from the edge of the road when I neglected to stop.
“No. I stayed with my folks another year at the house. I got a job, though, to pay my way. I worked at a local book shop.”
“At least you weren’t a freeloader. That must have impressed her parents?” I asked.
“Well, it was at her mom’s store where I worked. A religious bookstore. They only sold clean fiction and other spiritual texts. It kept me away from Angel quite a lot. Of course, that’s why she offered me the job, but back then, I thought I was making headway with her mother.”
“Of course,” I guffawed. What different lives we led. It was starting to become clear why he knew so little about relationships.
“Okay, so during that year, after you graduated, working at the bookstore, did you get to take her out on dates?”
“No. But we did write letters…”
“Oh my god.” This guy was living in another era! “Okay, when was your first kiss?”
“Just before she left for college.”
I stopped us again. Flabbergasted. “You’re shitting me. You dated this girl for three years and you didn’t get a kiss until the day she left for college?”
“It was several kisses in a row,” he said, as though defending his honor.
“With no tongue,” I reminded him.
“Well, no, but it was still memorable.” This poor man had lived such a sheltered life. It explained so much.
“Let me ask you this, were those kisses…Were they anything like what we just did in my apartment?”
“Definitely not,” he said without a second of hesitation.
I let out a breath. Poor, poor, Liam. He’d missed out on puberty.
“Okay, so once she left for college …how often did you two get together?”
He pulled me across the intersection, seeming to dodge the question.
“Where is this sandwich place?” he asked looking down the block and not at me. He was dodging the question.
“Several more blocks, and it’s only like 10:00, so we have time to kill, so why don’t you quit stalling and dish?”
“I beg your pardon?” he asked, all innocent like.
“You know what? Let’s sit a moment.” I gestured to a black metal bench that lined the street.
“That’s a bus stop,” he said.
“So?”
“So, if a bus comes, he’ll think we want a ride.”
“We’ll wave it away, Jesus, Liam, loosen up. It’s a bench. It’s meant to be sat on.”
He relented and sat beside me and tried to pull his hand away, but I wouldn’t let him.
“Nope. That hand is mine, mister. I will make you comfortable with a woman’s touch if it kills me!”
Liam ground his teeth together as he stared at the ground.
“What happened when she went to college?” I asked.
“We broke up.”
“What happened?”
He let out a slow breath as though the memory was painful to recall. It made me hate her even more. “She met someone at college. I don’t want to talk about it, okay?” He was clearly upset by this line of questioning. “I told you. I don’t know how to do this, Chloe.” His voice was strained. He was embarrassed. Ashamed. Angry. He was uncomfortable because he didn’t have the knowledge. He was behind the 8-ball, but he could catch up. All he needed was practice.
“You’re right, you don’t know how to do this,” I said. He looked at me. “But you can get better. Answer me this, were you good at math when you first started?”
His face scrunched up at the absurdity. “Well, that’s a preposterous question. Of course not. It took years to learn the skillset. Multiple repetitive quotations until they became rote. Financial planning isn’t something you just wake up and have mastered, Chloe. It takes years of discipline. Study.”
“Exactly,” I said, smiling. “It’s the same with kissing. Hell, I didn’t feel confident kissing a boy until I’d kissed someone at least a hundred times.”
Liam’s eyes grew wide.
“Oh, calm down. Not a hundred different boys. I meant a hundred kisses spread out over like…four boys.”
That seemed to relieve him some.
“So, I just need practice and then I’ll be fine?”
“Yes, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. That’s why I’ve offered up my lips as your playground, silly boy.” I waited until he looked at me to finish my thought. “Liam, I know there is a great kisser in you. I’ve seen the makings of it already. You’ll get there. I promise. Angel’s not going to know what hit her.”
I felt my hand get a squeeze from him.
“Thank you, Chloe. You have no idea how much it means that you are willing to do this for me. How can I ever repay you?”
I squeezed his hand back. “Don’t thank me yet. Our practice time probably won’t be as long as you have concocted in your mind, but I’ll teach you what I can between my shifts.”
“What do you mean?” he asked. His hair blew around in the wind which made him far hotter than he had any right to be. I resisted the urge to run my hands through it, even though it would be well within my teachable range.
“It means, the rent is due, and tips have sucked the last few weeks. As much fun as it is teaching you about the birds and the bees, I need a roof over my head more.”
He nodded once. “How much are you short?”
“About $200,” I s
ighed, “which, I might be able to scrape up if I can get a double or two this week.”
Liam reached into his back pocket and opened his wallet. He handed me three one-hundred-dollar bills.
“There. Now you are free all week, right?”
I looked at the money he’d placed in my hand.
“Liam, did you really just pay me to kiss you for the week like some common prostitute?”
I watched him flounder trying to come up with the right thing to say before I let him off the hook with a laugh.
“I’m going to take your money, because I hate my job and because I love you and know you need help, but mostly because I know you’re a miser and have a ton of money so this wouldn’t hurt you the same way it would me.”
“I’m not a miser,” Liam said.
“What was the last big purchase you made?”
“I just paid the next six months on my rent,” he said as though he won that point.
I rolled my eyes. “No, Liam. No, that doesn’t count. What frivolous thing have you recently paid for? Something you didn’t need but that you wanted?”
“Kissing lessons with my best friend?”
I burst out laughing and leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the mouth. It was meant to be something short, sweet, and unexpected. He needed to be ready for those sneak attack kisses that meant nothing more than, thank you. Yet, when I tried to pull back from that quick kiss, I found that he had opened his lips, either in shock or in anticipation of another ‘fuck me’ kiss. I wasn’t going to thwart the boy for being receptive to learn. So, I changed course, and instead of the chaste kiss I planned, I slipped him some tongue instead. Nothing grotesque, but not exactly an appropriate display of PDA either. He was tense but was doing well following my lead. I could have kept going all day, but I knew he was probably worried about onlookers, so I pulled away, smiling.
“Not bad, kid,” I said, standing up. “Your lips were still too timid and firm, but you let me get some tongue in there, so that’s huge!” I beamed.
Liam looked pleased with himself. “I’ll do better next time. After all, I only need 97 more kisses to reach expert level.”
I punched him in the shoulder playfully. “Now you’ve got the right attitude! Come on, we need to stop at work so I can let them know I’ve flown the coop for a few days, then you can treat me to lunch.”
Hand in hand, we walked toward work. I leaned my head on his arm. Liam was a good guy. He deserved this date, this moment with Angel, to be perfect. He deserved someone that would make him happy. I was determined to help him deliver a kiss that would make her regret ever leaving him. After all, that’s what friends were for.
Walking into the restaurant to ditch my shifts, I had to fake a smile. Janet was at the hostess desk. I loathed her with every fiber of my being. I didn’t think it was possible to hate her any more than I did until I saw her sizing up Liam. Oh no, you don’t. Claws off my friend.
Janet was a sex addict, like she legit would hump anything that was between her legs. No joke. I didn’t even like standing near her for fear of the STDs she had to be crawling with. Seriously. Men were drawn to her like a moth to the flame, and for good reason. The woman, as much as I despised her, was gorgeous. Long blond hair, bronzed skin, and molasses-colored eyes. Couple that with the skinny black dresses with the deep necklines and, well, she oozed sex.
I glanced at Liam, expecting him to be drooling over Janet like all the other fools who walked in, but he wasn’t. He was looking at me. Without meaning it to, my heart fluttered.
“I didn’t know you were on tonight, Chloe,” Janet said feigning politeness. “Who’s your friend?” She leaned over her hostess counter and squeezed her tits together. Bitch.
“I’m not. Just need to pop in back for a sec. And this isn’t a friend,” I said, hatching the plan in the moment. I grabbed Liam’s shirt, like I had at my place. “He’s my boyfriend,” then pulled him in for a kiss. I had to shield him from the wolves. Marking my territory as it were. It was for his protection only.
I could tell my kiss had taken Liam by surprise. His whole body was ridged. It didn’t matter. My hand was cupped on his face, effectively hiding the shit kiss from Janet’s eyes. I pulled back and moaned a bit for effect.
“I’ll be right back, lover,” I winked at a very confused looking Liam.
Leaving Liam with Janet was risky, but I couldn’t take him in the back as that was against the rules. So, I held my breath and went to the board as fast as I could to remove my pleas for shifts and post getting rid of some. The Universe was on my side, because Ron was there, and he happily took my remaining three lunches for the week. And just like that, I was free as a bird to spend the week kissing my best friend. How strange.
After thanking Ron profusely, I went back out to rescue Liam, who was sitting in the waiting area of the restaurant. Janet, oddly enough, was nowhere to be found.
“Ready?” I asked, anxious to get the hell out of here before she came back.
“Are you going to tell me what that just was?” He gestured to the spot where I’d kissed him and, gulp, called him my boyfriend.
“That,” I said, linking my arm through his, “would be an excellent topic to talk about over lunch.”
He narrowed his eyes, but he was merciful and didn’t bring it up again until after our orders for lunch were placed. I knew I was in for it when Liam leaned back in his chair and smirked at me.
“Was I just used back there?” he asked with an impish grin.
“Yeah, about that…”
“I feel like I was used somehow,” he repeated. For someone who had been taken advantage of, he certainly didn’t look upset about it. In fact, he looked downright giddy.
“Don’t look so smug. It was for your benefit, not mine, buddy. So, you can wipe that pleased-as-punch look off your face.”
“How was your kissing me in front of your boss for my benefit?” he laughed.
I rolled my eyes. “One, that skank is not my boss. She just thinks she is. And two, Janet has slept with anything within a ten-mile radius from her. Avoid her like the plague, or you’ll end up with something far worse than that.”
“Well, I thank you for the gesture, but I had no desire to sleep with her.”
“It wouldn’t matter what you wanted,” I said, exasperated. He clearly didn’t know how she worked. “She has a way of sinking her hooks into men. And trust me, she wanted to eat you up. My kissing you threw her off your scent for the moment, so fair warning. And you’re welcome.”
Liam raised an eyebrow. “Well, I think you’re overreacting. She wasn’t interested in me in that way.”
Sighing, I grabbed my napkin and placed it over my lap before I ended up losing my temper and throwing it at him for being blind as a damn bat.
“Oh, come on, Liam. You know women find you dead sexy. Which is going to be great once you know what to do with it. But until then, you have to stay off the menu. Especially to women like Janet. For your own personal safety.”
Liam leaned across the table. “You think I’m sexy?”
I wagged a finger at him. “I didn’t say that. I said women find you sexy. Not me, specifically.”
“Oh, so you aren’t a woman?” He was having a laugh at my expense.
“Shut up, Liam,” God, I hated it when he used my own words against me. “You know what I meant.”
“Well, you needn’t worry about me, Chloe.” He took a sip of his water. A trickle of condensation ran down the glass and he caught it with his finger. “A girl like Janet really isn’t my type,” he said, absently licking away the water drop. Damn. That was sexy, and he had no clue.
“Um, I beg to differ,” I said, bringing myself back into the conversation. “She’s thin, blond, and at least a C cup. That seems to be exactly your preference.”
He shook his head, almost as though disgusted.
“That’s incorrect. I don’t choose women like Janet to date because I’m physically attracted to them. In
fact, it’s quite the opposite.”
“Huh?”
“Well, the less they look like Angel, the better. She’s ruined me for brunettes.” He said, winking. He actually winked at me and my brown head of hair. Asshat.
“That actually makes sense, in a sick and twisted sort of way,” I said. I looked at him and shook my head. “You are a very complex guy, Liam MacGeary.”
“I’m like an ogre. I have layers.”
He smiled, knowing I’d catch the Shrek reference. It was one of many movies that were in heavy rotation at my house. My radio or TV were almost always on. I didn’t like a quiet house. I needed the background noise. White noise provided me with a false sense of security. It also helped me feel like I wasn’t all alone in the world, which sounded horribly tragic and sad, and was why no one knew that about me. Not even Liam.
Our food arrived, allowing a break in the conversation while we took our first bites. A BLT on wheat for Liam and Tomato bisque for me. Three sips into the soup, however, and I regretted my choice.
“Fuck me,” I moaned.
“Already? Don’t we need to keep practicing the kisses?” Liam asked. He wore a look of amusement on his face that he’d made a funny.
“While I appreciate the fact that you are finally understanding sexual innuendo, in this case, I didn’t mean anything by it. I spilled soup on my shirt.”
Liam looked at the murder scene on my chest, then quickly dug inside his pocket and opened his wallet, producing what looked like a wet nap.
“What is that?” I asked.
“It’s a stain remover towelette,” he said as though that were the most normal sentence to ever utter.
“A stain remover towelette?” I parroted.
“Yes, so your shirt won’t stain.” He seemed confused that I wasn’t taking it.
I rolled my eyes but took the wipe, ripping open the package and dabbing it against the spill.
“Only you,” I said.
“Only me, what?”
“Only you would carry a stain removing towelette in your wallet! Most guys carry condoms with them. You? Stain remover!”
The First 100 Kisses: Practice Makes Perfect Page 5