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“Hey, I told you, I’d help you live your best life.” She laughs and the sound is fucking glorious. Something pops in my mind. “You didn’t really need defending. They just needed to learn some manners.”

“The whole thing was mortifying.”

“GG, that’s the thing, if you’re going to live your life; sometimes embarrassing, uncomfortable things have to happen.” I wrap an arm around her shoulder and drag her to me. “You handled it like a champ.”

She rolls her eyes. “If you say so.”

I don’t move my arm around her shoulder, telling myself I’m blocking her from the wind. As we cut through campus, I ask, “Are you saying David wouldn’t have defended you?”

“That’s the thing. We never would have been in a situation where it would have happened. Being here, getting a job, doing new things, that’s the only way it happens. Living life, even if it’s a little scary and messy, and unpredictable.”

Her words hit me straight in my chest, because I’ve had messy and unpredictable. It’s a terrifying way to live, but I also know that if you don’t take risks, search for more, you can miss out on the most amazing things.

I release her and come to a stop.

She turns, looking tiny all bundled up in my jacket. “What are you doing?”

“Being unpredictable.”

And probably fucking everything up, but at this moment I don’t care. I reach for her and push her into an alcove of one of the Admin buildings. It’s less windy in here, and I set the box of takeaway down. Crowding her into the wall, I press my body against hers. She looks up at me and I reach for her face, my cold fingers against her cold cheeks, tilting her chin up. My mouth is inches from hers, and I see her lips part, a tiny cloud of air meeting the chill.

I’m gonna kiss her.

“Wait,” she says the instant before our lips meet. I stop, but don’t draw away. “I need to confess something.”

A million bad thoughts run through my mind. She’s not into me. She still loves David. Her brother is standing behind me and I’m about to get a thrashing.

“I’ve never done this before, well, other than that night we met.”

I frown. “Done what?” Fuck. I’d suspected it but there it is. “So thatwas really your first kiss?”

She nods, eyes darting away. She’s embarrassed–again, but now I just feel like an asshole. I knew she was inexperienced but, fuck. Now I need her to say it. “So the night on the porch, that was also your first?”

Orgasm.

She nods, and bites down on that soft bottom lip.

Christ. I gave this girl her first orgasm and just…

I’m more than an asshole. I’m afuckingasshole.

But now that I’ve got her here, tucked away in this little nook, I’m not going to fuck it up again. “GG.” I get her attention. “I forget how innocent you are, and that’s on me. I need to be more careful with you, which is why I’m going to ask if you’re okay with me kissing you.”

She nods a quiet, “Yes,” in answer. I drop one of my hands and slide it into the warmth inside the coat, my fingertips brushing over the warmth of her exposed flesh. She jumps at the chill from my touch, but I need my hands on her right now.

I go slow, restraining myself from the hard, claiming kiss I want to give her. Instead, I go featherlight, one small brush of my lips over hers, cold meeting cold until we start to warm. I already know Shelby is a good kisser. She proved that to me within minutes of our first meeting. She can act inexperienced, but she’s got the instinct, and that’s only confirmed when her lips part and she allows me inside.

It’s so fucking good. She’s so fucking good. Sweet and gentle, but there’s a fire in her that I’ve seen more than once now, and I want to stoke it into an inferno.

She withdraws and takes a deep breath. “Am I doing it right?”

“Fuck yeah, you’re doing it right,” I tell her, because I feel that kiss all the way into my balls. I look down at her mouth,lips red and a little puffy, and can’t help but think that David is a goddamn fool. But then, I realize, I’m grateful for it, because I know that I want to be the one that gives Shelby her first everything. First sexy clothing, first kiss, first orgasm… all of it.

“You’re doing itmorethan right,” I add, tilting my head and hovering my lips over hers, not ready to stop.

From the way she pulls me close and the feel of her tongue against mine, she has no intention of stopping either.

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