“I think this line falls flat. It should be more like . . . Your lips, your kiss, your lies,” he sang, his voice slow and sultry, like molasses dripping from a hot spoon.
I swallowed tightly. Yep, I was definitely going to overheat if Wyatt kept singing about kisses with his lips so close to mine.
“What do you think?” he asked.
I tried to shrug like I wasn’t affected. “It’s okay.”
“Okay?” he replied, amusement in his eyes. “You know that was more than okay,” he teased. “And you can’t tell me you don’t like it better than, ‘your mouth’. No one says mouth when referring to a kiss.”
“Why not?” I argued.
“Because there are so many better words. It’s not mouth-to-mouth. It’s a kiss. There needs to be passion for it to feel real.”
“Whatever,” I muttered. “It’s just a kiss.”
Wyatt’s dark eyebrows drew together. “Just a kiss?” He scoffed. “Some songwriter you are.”
“Wyatt,” I warned. “Tease me all you want, but don’t criticize my music.”
I stood and tried to slide off the piano bench, but Wyatt pulled me back so suddenly I nearly lost my balance. I landed ungracefully next to him on the bench, much closer than before.
“I wasn’t doing either,” he said, sounding almost apologetic. “I was merely making an observation.”
I crossed my arms to put some space between us. “Which is?”
“That you’ve obviously never been kissed if that’s your feeling on the situation.”
“You have no idea who I’ve kissed.” Which was precisely no one.
“Alright, but it couldn’t have been a proper kiss. Which I can’t blame you for, really. Snogging Cooper Jones would make me cry, too.”
Of course, he’d heard about that. I rolled my eyes. “So what? It was fifth grade. And we didn’t kiss.” Though he’d tried. “What’s the big deal anyway? Kissing is just a pair of lips touching another pair of lips.”
Wyatt pressed his lips together trying to suppress his smirk. “Uh, no. It’s a little more than that.”
“Oh really?”
“Really,” he grinned.
Frustrated and flustered, I stammered out my next words in a final attempt at dignity. “Well, unless you care to elaborate, I guess I’ll just have to take your word for it.”
“I’m game to elaborate if you are.”
Heat rose up my neck at his insinuation. “I-I . . .” I was looking into his green eyes now and suddenly forgot how to speak.
Luckily, it seemed Wyatt wasn’t suffering from the same affliction.
He tucked my hair behind my ear again, his fingers lingering this time. “A kiss can be so much more than lips meeting,” he said, slowly tracing my jaw. “It can be mind-blowing. Earth-shattering. Soul-awakening.” Wyatt moved closer with each word, until his lips were a breath away from mine. “There are a thousand words and emotions locked in each kiss.”
I inhaled sharply as his thumb caressed my lower lip. My heart was hurtling at breakneck speed. I didn’t know how long I could keep it up. This was the closest I’d ever come to a kiss and I already felt like I was going to pass out. I was pretty sure I was hyperventilating as I sucked in another ragged breath. Maybe I wouldn’t survive Wyatt’s kiss.
That is, if he actually was planning on kissing me.
I licked my lips, staring at his, willing myself not to back down from this bizarrely addicting game of chicken. I told myself I couldn’t lose. If I didn’t back down, I’d earn Wyatt’s respect—then maybe he’d stop messing with me. And the added bonus was I’d finally get my first kiss.
This may not be how I’d always imagined it, but I steeled my nerves, reminding myself this would make me a better songwriter.
Surprisingly, I found my voice. “Are you going to put your money where your mouth is?”
Wyatt’s lips quirked up into a half grin, mischief glinting in his eyes as he leaned in. “Do you want me to kiss you?”
“I mean, if it’ll make my song better.”
“So, it would be strictly research?”
“Yes.”
He smirked. “Well, in that case.” Wyatt bent his head, letting his lips brush lightly against mine.
I closed my eyes, bracing for impact, but the kiss was over as quickly as it started. I opened my eyes, blinking in surprise to see Wyatt’s grinning face still kissing-distance to mine.
“That’s it?” I asked.
“That was the kiss your lyrics described,” he teased. “A bit of a letdown, am I right?”
I was about to answer when his hands moved to my waist, pulling me closer. I gasped in surprise, my hands going to his chest.
Wyatt bent his head again. “This, is how a kiss should feel,” he murmured, a ghost of a smile on his wicked lips, right before they devoured mine.
That was the only way to describe what Wyatt’s lips did to mine.
His kiss made my head swim.
Wyatt’s full lips coaxed emotions from me with wild urgency. Each time our lips parted, fear sprouted wings in my chest as I longed to join with his again. I wanted to stay in his arms forever, letting our kisses unfurl into a promise of passion to come.
He was right. Each stroke of his tongue against mine was like an explosion of poetry in my soul. Lyrics danced in my head as the kiss deepened.
How had I been missing this my entire life? I wanted to shred every love song I’d ever written and start anew. Because before this moment I knew nothing.
A tiny voice in the back of my head warned me that this wasn’t real, but I ignored it, clinging even harder to Wyatt and the electricity he was filling me with. I might never get to experience this again, and I needed to commit every detail to memory.
The way I could feel his chest rise and fall with mine, the warmth of his skin as I slid my hand up the corded column of his neck to slip through his silken hair. Wyatt’s movements mimicked my own, making me fully embarrass myself when I moaned the moment his fingers knotted in my hair.
I felt Wyatt’s lips hitch into a grin against mine as my cheeks flamed and the spell was broken.
Wyatt pulled back letting his forehead rest against mine for a moment while we caught our collective breath. It was like our hearts and lungs were in a race and had made an agreement to cross the finish line together. I liked the feeling, but I couldn’t help wondering if my organs would ever return to a normal pace again. I wasn’t sure I wanted them to if it meant letting go of the tingling feeling coursing through me.
Wyatt recovered first, leaning back with a cocky smile. “So?” he asked.
I cleared my throat and nodded once. “You might be right about that line. I think we should revisit it.”
My comment shocked a deep laugh from him. “I had a feeling I might be able to help you see things my way.”
I pressed my lips into a firm line and picked up a pen, ignoring the fact that my face felt like it was growing hotter by the second. I drew a thick line through the old lyrics and scribbled new ones beneath it.
Your lips, your kiss, your lies.
Scorching, ravenous, your lips taste like sin.
I don’t care, let me in.