Best Friends Don't Kiss

She glares at me, and I nudge her gently with my elbow. “Oh, come on, Ace. I know you are damn near bursting with excitement over the prospect of shopping. Especially, Christmas shopping. It’s one of your favorite things in the whole fucking world.”

She rolls her eyes heavenward, but also, for the briefest of seconds, a smile sparkles across her heart-shaped mouth. But it’s gone between one blink and the next, a scowl taking its place.

The dramatics of it all make me smirk.

Is it just me, or is someone in need of some holiday spirit?

Eventually, she gets out of the passenger seat and stomps her black boots across the pavement, away from the car and toward the mall’s entrance, completely leaving me in the dust.

On a soft chuckle, I follow her lead, jogging to catch up with her, and I don’t hesitate to wrap my arm around her shoulders and pull her closer to me. “You mad at me?”

“Yes,” she says, flashing an irritated look in my direction.

“What can I do that will make you forgive me, even though I have no idea why I need to ask for forgiveness…”

When she doesn’t offer a response, her eyes still facing forward as we step out of the cold Vermont air and into the warmth of the indoor mall, I glance around the first few stores for something involving holiday sweet treats.

If there is one way to Ava Lucie’s heart, it’s sugar.

Great American Cookies spotted, I tell her a little white lie on the spot. “Hey, mind waiting right here while I run to the bathroom?”

Ava just shrugs. “Sure.”

“But stay right here, okay?” I say, playfully holding on to both of her shoulders and swaying her back and forth. “Don’t move a single inch.”

She almost cracks a grin. It’s right there, wanting to make itself known, but Ava bites it back by digging her teeth into her bottom lip. “Just go to the damn bathroom.”

“Be right back.” I wink and head toward my fake destination. With a quick glance over my shoulder, I see that Ava has now busied herself with her phone, and I make a beeline for the cookie mecca.

Five minutes later, I make my way back over to her, a bag of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies in one hand and a cup of hot cocoa in the other.

“You still mad at me, Ace?” I ask, but she’s too focused on her phone to notice what’s in my hands.

“Uh-huh,” she mutters, locks the screen of her cell, and shoves it back into her purse to meet my eyes.

Instantly, she spots the bag of cookies and cocoa.

“What about now?” I grin, and when she goes to yank the bag of cookies out of my hand, I hold them high above her head. “Ah, ah, little diva. First, you have to stop being such a grinch and forgive me.”

“I’m not a grinch,” she retorts, and I shake my head.

“Oh, but you most certainly are. If you scowl any harder at me, I fear your gorgeous face might crack like an eggshell.”

That urges a laugh from her lips. “Fine. Okay. You’re right.”

I hand the bag of cookies to her, but before she reaches inside, she looks up at me with big, apologetic sapphire eyes.

“I’m sorry for being such a whiny baby. Do you forgive me?”

I tap my cheek. “One tiny kiss and you’re officially forgiven.”

Fully prepared for her to get grumpy with me again, I’m shocked when Ava stands up on her tippy-toes and presses a kiss to my cheek. Her lips are silk and velvet against my skin, and for the second time in the past twenty-four hours, my mind starts to wander. To places it shouldn’t.

All revolving around Ava’s perfect lips.

Completely oblivious to the inappropriate—insanely dirty—places my mind has taken me, she pulls a cookie out of the bag and takes a bite, and I have to watch silently on as her tongue sneaks out to lick melted chocolate off her bottom lip.

Fuck me.

It’s heaven. It’s hell. And it just keeps going.

Another bite. Another fucking lip lick. This time, her tongue sliding around both lips before she bites into her bottom lip when a crumb falls from the cookie and toward her white blouse.

“Whoops.” She reaches out to catch it, but she misses.

Of course, she fucking misses.

The damn crumb comes to a stop just above the hint of cleavage peeking out from her shirt. And my eyes can’t help themselves, moving down-down-down until they lock onto the soft curves of her perfect, full, perky breasts.

Fuck. What is wrong with me?

Pretty sure it’s very simple, man. You’re finally fucking realizing that you’re crazy attracted to your best friend.

Ava swipes the cookie crumb off her skin with one index finger and slides that very finger into her mouth to suck off the melted chocolate.