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We chewed and swallowed, refusing to look away. My heart was hammering already, but then Liam lifted his hand to the side of my face to wipe frosting off my lip, and I was sure it was going to beat right out of my chest.

“I like you, Layla.” His voice had changed. It was rougher, quieter. And his thumb was still lingering near my lip. “I’ve had a lot of fun getting to know you these last two months.”

My insides were trembling. “Me, too.”

“I don’t think I’ve made it clear to you before now, but I want you to be my girlfriend,” he said.

I swallowed roughly. “Okay.”

“And I think I’d like to kiss you.”

My fingers had a death grip on the dessert plate. “I… I don’t know how.”

“That makes two of us.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “Yes. But I know there’s nobody else I’d rather have as my first kiss than you.”

I could feel the flush creeping over my skin, and I was grateful there was only dim light in the hall beyond us. For someone who hadn’t done this before, Liam seemed far more confident than I felt.

“That makes me feel abit better.”

“If you don’t want me to, I won’t.”

“I want you to,” I blurted, the words spilling out of me as fast as my hand went to his arm. “Sorry. I’m just… I’m nervous.”

“Me, too.”

“Promise not to laugh at me if I’m bad at this?” I whispered.

He leaned closer, his palm drifting back toward my hair. “How could it be bad when you’re all I think about?”

My breath caught in my throat.

I didn’t have a chance to respond before Liam brushed his lips lightly against mine. His lips were soft, and the touch sent shivers running down my spine.

My body was a mess of nerves, hyperaware of every movement of Liam’s lips against mine and his hand in my hair. Liam’s breathing had changed, too. Hearing it, feeling it, I realized I wasn’t the only one who was terrified about how this was going to go.

Liam must have set his dessert plate down because I felt his other hand cup the opposite side of my face as his kiss grew a touch firmer.

He was right.

Even if we didn’t know what we were doing, there was no way this could have been bad. It felt right. It felt perfect.

It was everything I thought a first kiss should have been.

When we finally separated our mouths, we heldeach other’s stare before small smiles crept onto our faces. Then we both let out nervous laughs. “Was it… was it okay?” I asked.

Liam’s eyes dropped to my lips, lingered there, and returned to my eyes. “It was the best thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. I think we should do it again.”

I nodded slowly. “Okay. Yeah, I think so, too.”

This time, Liam didn’t hesitate. He went in for it, taking charge and kissing me like he’d been practicing all his life for it.

And it had been magical—far more beautiful than the decorations in the ballroom or even the gown I was wearing.

It was a moment I’d never forget as long as I lived.