Peyton smiles, with his lips still so close to mine that his warm breath is fanning over my mouth. “I’m just getting to know Lenley a little better.”
Channing shakes his head. “Right. I want to get to know her better too. You’re the only one who’s kissed her so far.”
I suppress a shudder of desire when Peyton’s fingers caress my jaw. “Do you want to kiss Channing, Snow?”
I nod, too excited to trust my own voice.
Channing rises from his spot on the opposite couch. “Then come here, Len.”
I go to him and he immediately lowers his head, his lips pursed into a slight “o,” pecking gently on mine and then repeating the action again and again; each time the contact lasts a little longer as he applies more pressure and I get to feel the pillowy softness of Channing’s lips until my mouth naturally opens to his kiss.
Kissing the tallest of the three Devils is totally different than with Peyton.
Channing’s kisses feel just as good, as skilled as his best friend’s but more playful; it’s almost like a game where we chase each other, our tongues dancing together while his lips massage mine.
His hard, ripped chest feels as strong against my own as I imagined it earlier, when I saw him getting out of the pool.
When he breaks the kiss, I immediately miss the contact with his mouth. I feel a little buzzed like after a couple of drinks; my heart has picked up its pace and I look into Channing’s sea green eyes, surprised that such a big, imposing guy could kiss so gently.
“What do you think?” Peyton asks him.
“Hmm,” he replies with his gaze still locked with mine. “Not bad. Not bad at all.”
I can’t help but feel immediately insecure. I guess Darrius’ comments on my inexperience really got to me. “Just not bad? I was hoping you’d like kissing me.”
Channing tucks a strand of my dark hair behind my ear, his smile is open and kind. “I didn’t say it was bad, Lenley. I liked it enough to want to do it again real soon. And what you’re going to find out once we get to know each other better and we spend more ... alone time together, is that each person likes things a little different. What do you say, Peyton?”
Peyton agrees with his best friend. “Yeah, that’s true. And I never said I didn’t like kissing you, Lenley. For example, you must’ve noticed differences in the way Channing and I kiss, right?”
“Yeah, but I really liked kissing you. Both of you.” The more they try to reassure me, the more I feel worried that I already suck at sex, even before we begin. That Darrius is right and I’m boring and unsexy. Just friend material. “What did I do wrong?” I ask them.
Peyton leaves his spot on the couch, coming to stand next to me. “You didn’t do anything wrong, seriously. You were just hesitant, a lot at first. It might be because we’d never kissed before or maybe because you’re still a little new at it? It’s normal. It takes time and practice to get confident.” he says.
When I won’t meet his eyes, he asks, “Seriously, Lenley, it wasn’t bad. How many guys did you kiss before? Not many, right?”
I look at him. “Two.”
I think there’s been a misunderstanding here. “So that’s why. Like I said, you’re still a little new at it. If you’ve kissed just two guys before me and Chan—”
“No, not before you and Channing. I’ve kissed two guys in total.”
Now I have all three sets of eyes on me.
“What do you mean—last night, was I—?”
“My first kiss?” I ask. “Yeah. You were.”
Jameson intervenes. “How is it possible? You’re so damn gorgeous. Are all the guys in Star Cove fucking blind?”
The obvious admiration in Jameson’s gray eyes when he looks at me, makes me feel better. “What did you guys think I meant when I said that I was saving myself for Darrius?”
Peyton’s tone is full of surprise when he replies. “Fuck, I don’t know. I thought you meant you hadn’t let anyone fuck you. But that you’d done all the other stuff at least a little bit.”
I shake my head. “All the other stuff? No, I didn’t.”
When none of them says anything, looking at me as if I’ve grown two heads, I begin to lose my cool. “Look, I’ve loved Darrius since we were kids. I’d always thought my first kiss would be with him.”
Something passes in Peyton’s blue eyes. “Lenley, last night you were so upset and so beautiful ... I didn’t think twice when I kissed you. Did I take something you were keeping for Penn?”
I shake my head. “I had been waiting for Darrius, Peyton. But no, by last night I was sure that waiting for him for all these years was a huge mistake. I don’t regret kissing you. I just wish I didn’t suck at it.”
Channing reassures me, taking my hand in his huge one. “You don’t suck at it, Len. For someone who hadn’t kissed anyone until last night, you’re pretty good. And we get to teach you, it’s the whole point of our deal, right? All this means is that we’ll get to teach you a lot more than we thought. We’ll start from the basics, right guys?”
The other two Devils agree.
“Well fuck, now I need to see what we’re working with,” Jameson says with an excited glint in his eyes. “Kiss me, princess.”
I lick my lips in anticipation, looking at Jameson’s tall, athletic figure.
He’s as tall as Peyton at around six foot three, but with raven black hair and silver-gray eyes he’s the epitome of dark and handsome, compared to his two blond best friends.
I do what both Peyton and Channing did when they kissed me, starting with placing my lips on his. I feel his warmth and begin applying more pressure as I move my mouth against his. I run my tongue along the seam of his lips and then tangle it with his once I’m granted access.