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“I’m sorry, Noah. I shouldn’t have done that.”

Why did people keep apologizing after kissing me?

Okay, so it had only happened twice. But two times was too many when it was both of the people you fucking adored.

Greyson flicked his cautious gaze over my face before looking down at the carpeted hallway. His neck bobbed as he swallowed over and over, yanking at his tie. If he pulled that thing any tighter, he was going to strangle himself.

The question I needed to ask sat heavy on my tongue, erasing the taste of his kiss and replacing it with something bitter. Something that made me nauseous. A pit tried to form in my stomach, but I cleared my throat and steeled myself for whatever was coming.

“Why are you sorry?”

He looked at me with wild eyes, dropping his hand from the tie in favor of shoving his fist in his pocket. “Because…”

I watched him go through about five different stages of acceptance before he left the safety of the wall and stepped back into my space.

“Because it wasn’t supposed to be like that. I wasn’t thinking. You…you’re not an experiment and I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing, Noah. I just wanted to and you were right there, but we weren’t—and I don’t know. I don’t know anything.”

Greyson was rambling.

Greyson Wolfe, master of fuckingcalm, cool and distantwas rambling because he kissed me.

He pulled off his glasses.

Rubbed at the back of his neck.

Started pacing back and forth.

He was stressed.Because of me.

That shouldn’t have given me as much satisfaction as it did. My best friend, who was always so fucking together, was falling apart because of a kiss that lasted two seconds.

Pressing my lips together, I tried to quiet the laugh rumbling in my chest, but I failed when my lips kept twitching. He heard my muffled snicker and his eyes shot to me.

“Why are you laughing?” Greyson wanted to know.

“Because I’ve never seen you act like this, that’s why.”

“Oh.” He stopped pacing. Put his glasses back on. Looked me up and down. “You’re not mad?”

“Mad at you for what, Grey?”

“For kissing you,” he supplied, his words cautious.

“Didn’t I kiss you back?”

“Yea…” He looked calmer now, less like he was about to make a run for it.

“Then there’s nothing to be sorry about.”

Greyson’s hand found the back of my neck and he pulled my forehead against his, whispering his next words. “It was still reckless,” he reasoned. “Anybody could have walked by and saw me kissing you. You’re my employee, technically.”

“Technically,” I breathed, nudging his nose with mine until he let out a shallow sigh that fanned over my face. He moved less than an inch and the hair above his top lip tickled my skin.

He was going to kiss me again. I was going to let him.

In the next second, Greyson’s lips crashed into mine, and my mouth opened in reply to his silent command. His tongue traced over the shape of my lips, licking and tasting until he pushed it inside of my mouth.

Too much was happening for me to keep calm, but I tried, damn it.