Kissing Her Crush

by Ophelia London

  As he turned to gaze across the park, she noticed a tiny spot of honey on the corner of his mouth, which he began working at with his tongue. Her mouth watered, her breath stopped all together, and her knees were definitely about to give.

  “How about another ride?” he said after running a napkin over his mouth, saving her from collapsing on a bench and putting her head between her knees.

  She coughed. “S-something slower, maybe?”

  “Are you feeling okay? You look a little…”

  “What?” She lowered her pretzel.

  He turned to face her full on. Was his gaze moving over her analytically? Or was he checking her out? Hot blood crept up her neck and bloomed across her cheeks. She couldn’t stop it—she did have female hormones, after all. Preempting anything hormonal she might say, she shoved the last of her snack into her mouth.

  “I guess you are feeling okay,” Luke said with a grin, taking her wrapper, and walking all their trash to a recycling bin. “How about that one next?” He pointed to the ride on the other side of the food stand.

  Natalie’s breath stalled in her windpipe, and she couldn’t swallow the rest of her pretzel. “You want to take me on the Kiss Tunnel?”

  “Nothing slower than boats on a lazy river.”

  She still couldn’t swallow. “But…”

  He chuckled under his breath, a deep, manly sound. Then he rested a hand on the small of her back. It sent tingly goose bumps over her arms. “I don’t think kissing is an actual requirement.” He tilted his head. “Or is it?”

  “Of course it’s not,” she blurted, making Luke chuckle again. Since she couldn’t tell if he was flirting or not, she made herself smile breezily while trying not to breathe in his cologne. “I mean, sure. The tunnel sounds nice—um, restful. Darkness is easy on the eyes.”

  Why are you still talking?

  Thanks to the short line, before Natalie could even process that she was about to enter a tunnel of love with Luke Elliott, they were escorted to an empty boat. The couple exiting looked like they’d taken full advantage of the five minutes in the tunnels. Her hair was halfway out of its bun, and he had lipstick marks all over his face.

  Luke had already stepped into the boat and was reaching a hand out to help Natalie. She swallowed hard and took it. It was warm and as strong as steel, but he dropped her hand the second she hopped in.

  Okay, fine. He probably regretted his joke about kissing being a requirement on the ride. Whatever. She didn’t need his hand. Or his eyes. Or mouth.

  It was a joke. Obviously. Just because the two-person seat was only the size of a single seat—their bodies were practically wedged together—didn’t mean it was meant as a romantic ride.

  Luke didn’t seem to notice the forced close proximity. He settled in his seat with his legs outstretched. “You all strapped in?”

  “Uh-huh.” She made sure her lap bar was in place. Though the thing was nothing more than a safety precaution, it didn’t get even close to her lap and had a good two-feet of give.

  The boat lurched forward, water gently sloshing around them.

  “This slow enough for you?” he asked after they’d moved no more than ten feet in thirty seconds.

  “I like thrill rides, too. But taking it down a notch is its own kind of fun.”

  Their boat entered the tunnel, and it was suddenly pitch black. Without sight, her other senses perked up. She heard Luke’s breathing, smelled more of that aftershave, felt the side of his body against her.

  “Slower rides also give a guy opportunities.”

  “Opportunities for…?” Answering her question, Luke shifted, his arm settling around her shoulders. “Um, that’s not a good idea,” she said, forcing her voice to sound scolding.

  “It’s just an arm.”

  True. She nodded in the dark.

  Around the next turn, soft red lights illuminated the tunnel, casting dark rosy shadows over the walls, over Luke’s face, his profile, the strong cut of his jaw.

  “Are you scared?” he asked. “You’re gripping the bar.”

  Although she couldn’t see them clearly, she felt her hands white-knuckling the thing.

  “Relax.” His voice was calm and lazy as he reached out to pry her grip loose using those steely-strong hands. “This is supposed to be chill, no adrenaline rush, change of pace.”

  She nodded about five times. “Exactly.”

  Being with Luke in the dark zapped her back to another time and place where they’d been together with the lights off. A time when she’d been so completely hardcore infatuated with him that her thirteen-year-old heart knew it was love.

  Of course it wasn’t love, but it was one heck of a crush. Just tapping into that memory made her palms feel tingly, and her stomach turn a backflip.

  “Why did you call this the Kiss Tunnel?” Luke asked. “The sign says Lost River.”

  Ohmigad, Natalie’s teenaged-self squealed. You’re totally in the Kiss Tunnel with Luke!

  “It’s what everyone calls it,” she said, trying to shush that voice, swat away those antiquated crushy feelings.

  “Because it’s where you come to make out?”

  She shrugged. “In middle school, maybe.”

  “Ah. So kissing’s required after all?”

  “Not required.” Her protest echoed off the tunnel walls, so she lowered her voice. “It’s the only ride with privacy. Teenagers don’t need much more romantic atmosphere than a room with the lights off.”

  Just when she’d almost wiped the image from her mind, she was back to remembering that night all those years ago. The two times they’d been alone this week, Luke hadn’t brought it up. Either he’d blocked it out, or it had been so anti-climactic for him that he’d forgotten about it.

  Which was worse?

  “I see your point. This is the perfect place to make out,” Luke said as his arm tightened around her shoulders. Or maybe he was only adjusting his position. “The sound of the water,” he continued, his voice hushed like hers. “The rocking of the boat, up and down, up and down.” His eyes shifted her way. “You next to me, bathed in this hypnotic, unearthly light.” His free hand brushed across her cheek, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

  Natalie tried to speak, but everything in her stopped. Everything except the recall of how familiar and amazing it felt to be crushing on Luke.

  “Kissing is definitely a requirement,” he added, leaning in.

  Her eyes stayed open. Because her brain was mush. Because she was sixteen again. Because she was too dang shocked to breathe.

  Luke Elliott was kissing her.

  His arm around her rotated her shoulders so she angled toward him. Warmth rushed to her lips, pulsating blood at the spot where their bodies touched. They’d barely gotten started when Luke drew back, their noses still close enough to touch. He looked at her through the shadowy red light, his gaze holding, a glimpse of hesitation in his eyes. Before what that meant could register, she saw something else in his eyes, something he could probably see in hers.

  Natalie grabbed his face and pulled him in. The tiniest voice in the back of her head was saying something about danger or rules or ethics, but the second Luke’s lips parted hers, everything faded, except the taste of honey.

  What were those rational, psychological reasons for why Luke shouldn’t be attracted to Natalie? He’d just been reviewing them, but he couldn’t even remember the basic food pyramid when he’d seen her under the glowing red lights. Instead, he’d babbled on and on about all the reasons why this was the perfect place to kiss…almost like he’d been talking himself into it.

  Natalie’s soft hands held his face, and she kissed him so hard that his legs went numb. Once he managed to suck in some oxygen, he tried to pull her to him, but something was stopping him, a physical barrier stronger than his need to hold her close.

  So he made the most of it by sliding his hands into her hair, combing through the long, untamed strands. When his mouth touched her neck, she made
a gasping sound that went straight to his head.

  But then she pulled back.

  Was she stopping them? Was there an annoying nagging at the back of her mind, too?

  No, she hadn’t done it to stop, but to slither under the safety bar. With blood rushing behind his ears, Luke slid to the middle of the bench seat, pushed the bar away as far as he could, then pulled her onto his lap, her legs straddling him.

  His lips found her neck again, and he heard a soft laugh, that same little gasp. The sound made him hungry. She held his head and tilted his face, cupping his cheeks like before, kissing him squarely on the mouth until his mind emptied of all nagging voices.

  Needing more of her to touch, he ran his hands up her thighs, feeling the rough denim between him and her skin. They trailed to the small of her back, up and down her spine, settling on the slice of bare skin between her jeans and shirt. But not settled for long. His needy hands were inside her shirt, holding her sides just under her ribs, feeling and hearing her breath hitch and turn ragged.

  Blood pumped from his chest to hungrier parts of his body, reacting to her mouth finding his neck. Then the other side of his neck. The only thing Luke could do was lean back and hold on with his fingers digging into her sides.

  With his face buried in her hair, he smelled sweet shampoo. Could it be chocolate-scented? His breathing was becoming more labored, and pretty soon his hands would not be satisfied with their current location.

  “Sir? Sir, you’ll have to pay for that.”

  The faceless, floating voice sounded like it was coming from underwater, from inside a tunnel.

  Tunnel? Water? Chocolate?

  Oh, damn.

  The first twinge of reality was sensing her soft weight on his lap. Luke opened his eyes to find Natalie staring down at him. He tried to blink away the bright light. Hadn’t it just been dark?

  She sat up straight, freeing her fingers from where they’d been knotting the back of his hair. They both looked toward the voice. It was the same worker who’d put them in the ride at the beginning.

  “We have it on camera,” the kid said. “We have proof.”

  “Proof,” Luke repeated. “Don’t tell me kissing on this ride is a crime.”

  “No, but breaking the safety equipment is.” The guy pointed at the lap bar that was not only not across their laps, but pulled off one hinge and hanging at an awkward angle.

  Hell. Talk about brute strength from an adrenaline rush.

  He glanced at Natalie who was biting her bottom lip while trying to wiggle off his lap.

  “Luke,” she said in a pointed tone, “I can’t get off of you if you’re holding me…there.”

  “Oh.” He removed his hands that were still way up the back of her shirt, and she slid off onto her feet, stumbling like a baby goat. “Careful.”

  “I’m fine,” she said, not looking at him.

  But he couldn’t keep his eyes off her as she climbed out. Those limber arms, long legs, and that mouth. Damn, that mouth. He almost couldn’t move, but then he noticed the glares of the worker and of the people in the waiting line, some with children. He quickly leaped from the boat.

  “Whatever it costs,” he told the worker, drawing him aside. “I’ll pay for the repairs, all of it. It was completely my fault.”

  Natalie had a hand up, blocking her face like she didn’t want to be seen. Like that would make a difference now.

  “Take this form.” The guy handed him a piece of paper. “Go straight to the administration office. They’re waiting for you. It’s over by the—”

  “I know where it is,” Natalie cut in. “Come on.” She was already walking at a fast clip. Luke had to jog to catch up. “I can’t believe that just happened.”

  “Which part?”

  She glared over her shoulder at him. “Not funny.”

  “Kind of funny.”

  “Hi, Natalie,” a man said, strolling by.

  “Hey, Milton!— Walk faster,” she hissed at Luke.

  The administrative building wasn’t far, and they walked in silence the rest of the way. Luke was surprised at how many people greeted Natalie by name. Though he got a few looks, no one acknowledged him.

  “That’s it.” She pointed at the first door.

  “After you,” he said, holding it open.

  “Jeez. I so don’t want to go in there,” she said, gnawing at her bottom lip. Luke didn’t ask why, because after a deep breath, she did go in.

  “Well, well, Natalie Holden,” said a woman with gray hair and peach lipstick. “You and your friend put on quite a show.”

  Natalie pulled at the neck of her shirt, looking flustered, but cute. “Sorry about that.”

  “You’re lucky. If my grandson was working the office today, it’d already be on YouTube.”

  “YouTube?” Luke cut in, thoughts of cuteness gone.

  “She’s kidding,” Natalie said.

  After that pseudo-lecture the other night, his family would murder him if he was caught on tape making out at Hersheypark. He was trying to repair their relationship, not rip the stitches.

  Worse, though…no one at work could find out. This was exactly what HR was looking for: an example of ethical misconduct. Not that he had to maintain a squeaky-clean reputation to be hired by the NIH, but this wouldn’t exactly help his cause.

  How had he let it happen? Well, he hadn’t…it just happened, like he was out of control. Which was complete BS because he believed in the exact opposite. Mind over matter could overcome just about anything, like craving sugar and fat, as well as irresistible women.

  Something about it made him smile, though. Luke couldn’t think of the last time he’d made out with a woman that didn’t result in clothes hitting the floor. They’d just kissed, like they really were a couple of kids taking advantage of the tunnel’s privacy.

  “Ah, yes. It’s you.”

  Luke snapped awake to see the gray-haired woman looking at him while adjusting her glasses. She smiled like he was something to eat. “There aren’t many good shots of you when Natalie was on your lap. She’s either leaning over you, or you’re at her neck like Bela Lugosi. Though there’s one really good part at the end—”

  “Anyway,” Natalie cut in. “He’ll pay the fine and we’ll go.”

  “All right, dear.” She adjusted her glasses again. “But I must compliment both of you on your style.”

  Luke cleared his throat, passed the women a credit card, didn’t bother looking at the charges, and signed his name blankly.

  “Come back any time,” the woman said. “Any time.” He couldn’t help laughing, but when he turned to share the moment with Natalie, she’d gone.

  By the time he’d made it outside, she was a good ways away, and he had to take her by the elbow so she’d stop. “Are you mad?”

  “I must be, right? Freakin’ loco in the cabeza.”

  “I mean, are you angry about…what happened?”

  “Oh.” She bit her lip. Luke remembered how it had felt between his teeth, soft and full. “Why did you do that, anyway?”

  “Kiss you?”

  She stared up at the sky. “Um, yeah.”

  He slid his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “It was an impulse. You were saying that stuff about it not being a requirement and then the lights went out and, I don’t know. It was entrapment. I had no choice.”

  “You always have a choice.”

  Luke sighed. Of course, she was right. It might’ve been an impulse, but he could’ve squelched it. Truth was, he’d been dying to kiss her; he just hadn’t known it until that moment.

  “Okay then.” He looked her dead in the eyes. “Why did you kiss me back?”

  She rubbed her nose and glanced away. “Yeah, um, I claim entrapment, too.”

  They looked at each other, a moment of heavy silence, then Luke said, “We broke the ride.”

  Finally, a big smile curved those lips. “And we looked worse than those kids who were in the boat before us. I was straddlin
g you like it was prom night, and your hands were about to unhook my—”

  “No they weren’t,” Luke jumped in, grinning. “But if that’s what you want, I can certainly—”

  “No!” She huffed and crossed her arms. Natalie Holden was just as tempting post-kiss as she was pre-kiss. “We can both call it entrapment or caught up in the moment or whatever, but it will never happen again.”

  “Was it that bad for you? I might be rusty at the whole first kiss thing, but you seemed into it.”

  Two starbursts of red spread across her cheeks. “That wasn’t our…I mean, it’s not that,” she said, dropping her voice as well as her chin. “I’m not about to screw up this trial because you’re an awesome kisser.”

  He cocked an eyebrow. “I am, huh?”

  “We have to drop the subject. Let’s just silently agree to never speak of this, either.”

  “Either? Do we share other secrets?”

  Her face went pale and then she blushed again. Her expressions were like a living Monet. “The importance of my job is only one item on the laundry list of reasons why it was a mistake.”

  Luke was about to ask what her other reasons were, but didn’t, since he had his own laundry list.

  “Fine.” He was capable of controlling himself around her. And since kissing hadn’t legitimately crossed his mind until the moment it happened, it wouldn’t be a problem to not do it again.

  Then Natalie bit her bottom lip. And Luke could taste it.

  “If you’re serious about not wanting me to kiss you, you better stop.”

  “Huh?”

  “When you bite your lip like that, it’s damn near… I’m only human.”

  “I won’t bite my lip if you won’t…” She paused and her eyes did a quick sweep up the front of his body, causing a fist of heat to punch through his chest. “Um, just like, wear a bag over your head or something.”

  “Like a grocery bag?”

  “Yeah, that’d be great.” She smiled and rolled her eyes. “As hilarious as it might be, we’re done with this subject. The more we talk about it, the more I want to…”