The Assistant(57)

I gasped and stood frozen in shock for a moment before my lips began to move against his, hungrily. My fingers wrapped around the back of his neck and gripped his soft hair, making him groan at the gesture. My breathing became heavier as his tongue licked my bottom lip, before he forced my mouth open impatiently.

My whole body was on fire as the arm around my waist hoisted my body up against the glass window, making me instinctively wrap my legs around his waist for support. Some tiny part of me at the back off my mind was telling me this was a very bad idea – but I ignored the small, irritating voice as the kiss deepened –before a gunshot sounded from the television screen; washing over me like a bucket of ice cold water. I pulled back abruptly, untangled my fingers from his hair and jumped off – and away – from him.

“I- I-” I stuttered in my flustered state, looking at him with wide eyes as my mind replayed the kiss. “Oh my god,” I whispered to myself, running a hand through my hair as the reality of the situation settled into the rational side of my brain.

“Emily…” Adrian trailed off, making my shocked eyes look back up at him. “That-”

“Never happened,” I stated as firmly as I could, taking him by surprise.

“What?” he asked, frowning.

“I- It- It was a mistake, Adrian. A stupid, stupid mistake.” I tried to get ahold of myself, and hide the shakiness and excitement that still tingled throughout my entire body. “I apologise for acting so inappropriately,” I said in the smoothest voice I could muster.

“Emily-” Adrian began again, frowning angrily at me. I shook my head, cutting him off, before slowly making my way to the door of the bedroom.

“I need some air,” I mumbled, grabbing my phone on the way out of the room before making my way downstairs to the back porch that led to the beach.

The freezing air slashed against my face and bare legs like a sharp blade, and I wrapped my arms around my chest to protect myself from the harsh winds. I looked out into the dark ocean, replaying the events of 5 minutes ago, over and over again in my mind.

I had just kissed Adrian Kingston.

Chapter Thirteen

I used to think the most awkward encounter I’d ever experience in my life was when I ran into my crush in senior year, looking like a fire truck had just run me over from the cold I had been sporting all day, and I sneezed – boogers and all – into his face. This was embarrassing enough except, by fate’s cruel intensions, things did not quite end there. I was paired up with him for biology class and he sat as far away as he could, often looking over at me like I was about to pass on the plague.

That moment, however, looked like a nicely decorated cupcake in my mind – in comparison to the newly formed awkward memory of sitting next to Adrian on the plane all the way back to New York, and during the drive to my apartment. My mind was still trying to process the fact that he had kissed me, and I enjoyed it. No, not only did I enjoy it; I kissed back. My boss. The guy I thought I had loathed due to his arrogance and sleazy way with women – and I had kissed him back.

Once I was in the safety of my bedroom, I finally exhaled the breath I must have been holding since we flew back into New York. I willed myself to relax, and looked at my plain purple bed sheets, absent-minded. Adrian had texted me once I was at my door and told me to take the rest of the day off. It was a brief text, with none of his usual wink faces stringing at the end of the sentence, and I exited the message before my mind could linger on it any longer.

I put my suitcase down near my wardrobe before deciding to have a shower, in an attempt to wash off the shakiness that my skin currently inhabited. I texted Amy and told her to come over as soon as she could, silently praying that she had taken the Monday off work like she usually did.

Once I finished getting dressed, I exited the bathroom and almost screamed when Amy jumped out in front of me, engulfing me into a bone-crushing hug. “Don’t ever leave me alone on a weekend ever again!” she exclaimed, pretending to sob into my shoulder before pulling away and giving me a toothy grin.


Once she saw my grim expression though, her smile instantly dropped and her eyes grew wide with concern. “What’s wrong?” she asked, studying my expression thoroughly.

“I…” I trailed off, not quite knowing what to say. I thought about how Amy would react once I informed her about the kiss. “Let’s sit down first,” I suggested, giving her a weak smile.

She grabbed my wrist before I could finish my sentence, and pulled me to my living room with a force I didn’t even know she had in her, before throwing me onto the sofa and glaring. “WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!” she asked with frantic eyes. I opened my mouth to tell her but she cut me off. “What did he do? I swear to God, Emily, if he hurt you in any way, I will throw his body into a wall. I don’t care how hot he is.” Her nose flared in premature anger, but her expression softened – very slightly – at the sight of my amused expression.

“Thank you Amy,” I told her, “your threat is… comforting.” It actually was. I missed her. Amy and I had never been separated longer than a day, so this was taking an emotional toll on the both of us.

“What happened?” she asked again, more calmly now, her concerned expression returning. I sighed and looked down at my lap while biting my bottom lip.

The lip he kissed…

“I… Adrian and I kissed,” I finally managed to get out. Saying it out loud finally made the words seep into the realisation part of my brain, and I let out a shaky sigh.