"You're serious," I said. "You're really serious about this?"
He nodded, touching my face. His fingers made me flinch, then shiver when he turned it into a caress. Sliding his hand over my cheek, then into my hair, he nodded again.
"Yes. I'm really asking," he said.
I hesitated another handful of seconds, but it was harder to pretend it wasn't affecting me, having him touching me, sitting so close. I thought of Jaden briefly, and frowned. I'd never cheated on him before. The closest I'd ever come was that revenge kiss earlier, and I knew that hadn't been cool, either. But if this guy was telling the truth, I wouldn't remember this anyway. I also wouldn't remember seeing Jaden kiss that girl, but Jaden would remember having done it. So how could it hurt for me to kiss this guy again? It was cheating, yeah, but Jaden was already getting a free pass...unless he decided to tell me what he'd done.
When I glanced up, the guy who called himself Simon was frowning slightly. Seeing his expression, I made up my mind.
"All right," I nodded. "You saved my life. One kiss."
"Are you going to be thinking about him?" he said, blunt.
I flushed a little. "He's my boyfriend. I shouldn't even be doing this."
"That's not what I asked." His fingers tugged gently on my hair. "Are you going to be thinking about him while you're kissing me, Allie? Tell me the truth."
I pressed my lips together. Then I shrugged.
"I don't know. Probably not," I admitted. "I wasn't last time."
He looked like he was about to say something else, then changed his mind about that, too. Lowering his mouth, he brought it to mine before I could second-guess any of it. It hadn't yet occurred to me how weird the whole night was anyway, or why I would let him do something like this, considering everything that had already happened.
Maybe it never would, I thought a second later. Not if he was telling the truth.
But then his mouth was on mine, and I forgot all of that, too.
He kissed me cautiously that time.
In fact, after he'd kissed my mouth softly a few times, I wondered if he even intended to use his tongue. Whatever he'd said before about us being short on time, he didn't seem to be in any particular hurry. He lowered his head after he'd kissed my throat, kissing the base of my neck before I could get that thought through my mind entirely. Then he was kissing my jaw and face, moving closer to me on the couch when I unfolded my arms. Everything about it was deliberate, slow, more sensual than I'd really been prepared for. I found myself kissing him back the same way, caressing his face with mine, my fingers in his hair. He stroked my arm while I kissed his neck, pausing to kiss my fingers, then my palm. When I opened my mouth against his throat, running my tongue in a light circle over his skin, he let out a low groan.