It Started With a Kiss

  It Started With a Kiss

  Jenika Snow

  Contents

  Synopsis

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  IT STARTED WITH A KISS

  By Jenika Snow

  www.JenikaSnow.com

  Jenika_Snow@Yahoo.com

  Copyright © August 2019 by Jenika Snow

  First ebook publication © August 2019 Jenika Snow

  Photographer: Wander Aguiar

  Cover Model: Dane DeBruin

  Image provided by: Wander Book Club

  Cover design by: Designs by Dana

  Editor: Kasi Alexander

  Content Editor: Kayla Robichaux

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: The unauthorized reproduction, transmission, or distribution of any part of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  This literary work is fiction. Any name, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.

  Please respect the author and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials that would violate the author’s rights.

  Ari

  It was supposed to be a fun, easygoing bachelorette party. But it turned out to be so much more.

  They dared me to kiss the next guy to buy me a drink. And I agreed. It was just a kiss, right?

  And then it happened... I saw Grey and felt something instant.

  I tried to back out of that kiss even though I wanted it desperately.

  But he didn’t let me stop it. He kissed me until my toes curled and my heart raced. He kissed me until I knew I wanted more.

  So when I left him standing there staring at me, I knew it was all kinds of wrong to leave.

  Grey

  It started with a dare.

  It ended with a kiss.

  And for weeks after she walked out of my life, I searched for her, doing anything and everything in my power to find a morsel of information about the first woman to make my heart stop and my future flash before my eyes.

  And when I finally found her, I was going to show Ari that I’d known she was mine from the very beginning.

  And that I wasn’t letting her go a second time.

  Chapter One

  Ari

  “Shot. Shot. Shot. Shot.”

  I tried to tune out the three already heavily intoxicated women shouting in my ear like they were at a frat party.

  I lifted up the tiny glass and eyed the colored liquor inside. My stomach already clenched in queasiness.

  “Don’t bitch out now, Ari.”

  I narrowed my eyes at Francesca, or Franny as we called her, the bride-to-be and resident instigator of our little group.

  “You can’t be sober at a bachelorette party,” Bernadette said. “I think that’s some kind of sin or something.”

  “Yeah, no party poopers tonight,” Kai responded, then promptly giggled.

  I snorted. “One of us should keep a clear head, right?”

  The girls booed, and I glanced around, giving sympathetic looks to everyone around us. We were being loud, they were drunk, and no doubt the people around us thought we were a bunch of idiots.

  But when I looked at Franny and saw what a good time she was having, I said fuck it. Let them be loud. Let us be obnoxious. And for once in my life—at least for tonight—I was hanging up my literal librarian persona and letting loose.

  I tossed the shot back and the girls clapped and cheered. The alcohol burned down my throat, settling in my stomach so it felt like a lead ball. I wheezed and coughed, my eyes watering, and reached for a glass of water. After I sucked that down, I was reminded why I didn’t really drink. It made my face red, I was one hell of a lightweight, and my hangovers were pretty horrendous.

  But this was a once in a while type of thing, celebrating with my friend before she got married, so what’s the worst that could happen?

  “What’s new in the dating world with you?” Franny asked and picked up her beer, taking a long drink from it as she watched me over the rim, expectant of my answer.

  I shook my head, not even wanting to go there. “What dating world?”

  “Girl,” Franny said and started laughing. “We need to get you out there so you can get that V card punched.”

  I rolled my eyes at her library reference.

  I might be a librarian, but even I found it corny.

  “Yeah, we need to get that V card punched real good.”

  I glanced around, Franny’s drunkenness making her especially loud. A few guys looked over at us, one grinning and the other wagging his eyebrows.

  Yeah. Hard no, boys.

  I might have been a virgin, have the whole tight bun and schoolteacher look going on, but I wasn’t so desperate to get rid of my virginity that I’d give it away to some drunken asshole.

  “Oh my God,” Lizzie said, her eyes wide as she looked between us. “I have the best idea.” She was already three sheets to the wind and there was no stopping or slowing her down. None of them.

  “By the look on your face, I can see it’s a really bad idea,” I said and leaned back against the chair, afraid to hear this.

  “Ari, to make things fun, spice it up, I dare you to kiss the next guy who buys you a drink.”

  I was shaking my head before she even finished talking. “Nope. I’ll get some gross asshole. That would be my luck.” I looked at the guys who’d been eyeing me after overhearing the whole V card conversation with Franny.

  They were grinning at me.

  I internally cringed.

  “Come on,” Bernadette pleaded. “Not like you’ll ever see them again. It’s all in good fun.”

  “Besides, you’re never able to let loose. Tonight is the first time in what, like forever that you let your hair down? Literally.” Franny held up her shot glass and grinned.

  “What they said,” Kai said and hiccupped.

  I was going to say no again, but as I looked at my three best friends, saw them grinning and pleading, I knew they were right, that I didn’t let loose, that most times I did have a stick up my ass. It had been forever since I let myself enjoy just being out... just being alive.

  It was just a kiss, right? But under no circumstance was I going to accept a drink from the creepers sitting at the table beside us who’d overheard the conversation.

  “Okay, fine,” I said, and the girls started clapping even louder. “I can handle a kiss from a stranger, but I reserve the right to turn him down.”

  The girls started shaking their heads. “Nope, a dare is a dare.”

  “What if he’s like sixty?”

  Franny shrugged. “Does the saying about getting better with age count toward dick too?”

  I nearly spit out the water I’d been about to swallow.

  “Come on. One kiss to the next guy who buys you a drink,” Bernadette and Kai said in unison.

  I exhaled and sat back in my chair. “Fine. I accept the challenge.”

  Chapter Two

  Grey

  I’d noti
ced her from the moment she came into the bar. She’d been surrounded by three other women, all of them looking like her opposite.

  Damn, she stood out in this place, and that was one hell of a good thing.

  I sat in the corner of Maxine’s, a local sports bar that brought in a lot of kids from the college in town. It had been here since before I was a kid, but over the years and massive renovations, it started bringing in and catering to the younger group of residents in the town of Lockdown. But it was still the place I came on occasion after work. It was either come here or go home alone, and the latter was getting pretty fucking tiring.

  I watched her from my darkened corner, some new pop song playing from the speakers. But everything else faded away as I continued to stare at her.

  She and the friends she was with made their way to a table, one of the women wearing those “Bride to Be” sashes. They all wore slinky dresses... lots of skin showing.

  But not her, not the woman I was transfixed with, not the one I couldn’t take my eyes off of. She wasn’t wearing anything revealing, and I fucking loved that.

  She had her long dark hair in a low ponytail, her bangs swept to the side, her black-rimmed glasses feminine and innocent looking. I was obsessed with her and I knew nothing about her.

  And every time she took her little finger and pushed those glasses up the brim of her nose, every part of my body tightened. She wore a pair of jeans and a cardigan set. Compared to the other girls she was with—fuck, every female in this bar on a Saturday night—she was dressed modestly, respectfully.

  Although I didn’t give two shits about what anyone wore and would’ve loved fucking seeing her in hardly anything at all, I liked that she was covered up. It made it so no other fuckers in this bar could see her. And that fact had my instant jealousy calming minutely.

  I was close enough to them that I could hear their conversation. The girls were rather loud and the music aimed more toward the center of the bar, so that helped as well. I shouldn’t have been eavesdropping, but I couldn’t help it.

  I curled my hands into fists on top of the table, the very idea of someone taking her, claiming her as their own doing something primal to me. I’d never felt this way before, never been so enamored, possessive... obsessed with anyone in my life. I didn’t know her, but from the moment I saw her, I knew one thing—I wanted her as mine.

  I wasn’t your normal kind of man, didn’t go off and fuck random women to let off steam. I focused on my life, on working and doing better for myself. I’d focused on getting my degree, creating my own business, on bettering the things around me. And because of that, my social life had suffered, as had my romantic one.

  And I was fine with that.

  Thirty-five years old and celibate for the last decade. That’s how seriously I took all of this. And I was completely content with not having a woman to warm my bed. Because I knew once I gave myself to someone again, it would be forever.

  Monogamy was what I wanted, exclusivity.

  And as I’d seen her walk through that door, as I felt something stir deep inside me, something I had never experienced before, I knew I’d found the woman who was meant to be mine.

  I brought my beer bottle up to my mouth and took a slow, long drink from it, watching her, memorizing the little mannerisms she did. Her cheeks were flushed, and they’d become that way after she’d taken that shot. I wondered what other part of her body flushed, was all pretty and pink.

  Fuck. My jeans were getting tighter the longer I stared at her, the more I thought about her blushing for me.

  I wanted to settle down, wanted a wife and children, wanted that white picket fucking fence. I wanted the American dream. And I told myself, promised myself I wouldn’t be one of the stereotypical men who whored around.

  I promised myself I’d be completely faithful until I found her. The one. And I had. Right now.

  “The next guy who offers to buy you a drink, Ari, you have to kiss him,” one of the girls dared her, and I sat up straighter.

  Ari.

  Her name had adrenaline rushing through my veins, had my pants tightening even more as my cock thickened. Fuck, I wanted her.

  And my chance had just opened up, as if fate was giving me the green light to make my move.

  I saw a couple guys sitting next to the women perk up, no doubt hearing the same thing. This low, aggressive sound left me and I slowly stood, staring at them. They glanced my way as if sensing me, like prey knowing when a predator was near. They were nothing but punks, so when I slowly shook my head, silently warning them not to even think about buying that fucking drink, I saw them instantly back down.

  They straightened and averted their gaze from mine, their surrender pleasing me.

  Assholes.

  I sat back down and waved the server over.

  “Bring her over a beer and let her know it’s from me,” I said and pointed to Ari.

  Once the server left, I turned my focus back on Ari, staring at her face, waiting to see her expression. The server set the beer in front of her and pointed in my direction. She glanced over her shoulder at me, her eyes widening, her friends trying to suppress their excitement.

  Maybe it was a shit thing to do, buying her that drink because I knew she’d kiss me for it. But I was desperate for her and would do just about anything. Besides, this seemed like a better introduction than me being one of those dicks who tried to talk to her at a bar because I wanted in her pants.

  I had a hand wrapped around my beer bottle, the other resting on my thigh. I knew shadows partially obscured me, but the longer she stared at me, right in my eyes, I knew she saw me well enough.

  And the longer I looked at her, our eyes locked on each other, the more I knew she was definitely mine. She’d been made just for me. It was crazy, I admitted, to have feelings for a woman I didn’t even know, to feel so connected to her, so possessive of her. But I went with my gut instinct, and it was telling me that I had to have her, that I had to make her see we belonged together.

  So if I got a little dirty in my tactics in how I got that introduction, so be it. I’d do anything, everything, to feel like this for the rest of my life.

  She turned back toward her friends, and they started saying something softly to each other, one of them unable to stop grinning. They kept glancing over to me, one of them even gently nudging Ari in my direction.

  It took her a few moments, but she finally stood, grabbing the beer I’d bought her and heading over. Her steps were slow, a little bit hesitant. I could see she was nervous, saw the way her pulse beat frantically below her ear. That pleased me to know she was so innocent, that this wasn’t something she normally did.

  And then she stood right in front of my table, neither one of us saying anything, her fingers picking at the label on the beer bottle. I could practically see her heart racing, beating almost violently right beneath her slender frame.

  “You bought me this drink?” she asked softly.

  I didn’t answer for a suspended moment, just took her in, her slender form, her perky little breasts. God, her nipples were hard, pressing against the cream-colored material of her cardigan set.

  Then I nodded. “I hope that’s okay.”

  She glanced down at the beer she held then looked at me again. She had the clearest, bluest eyes I’d ever seen, and with her dark hair, it was a startling, gorgeous contrast.

  She nodded, licked her lips, and glanced at her friends. “Um, actually—”

  I tried to suppress my smile, because I knew what she was going to say, going to do.

  She was going to follow through with that dare.

  Chapter Three

  Ari

  Lord. I was actually going to go through with this. Or maybe I wasn’t. Maybe I should just come clean, tell him, and then go back there and tell the girls he declined, that he didn’t want a kiss.

  But as I looked back at him, this handsome stranger with the short, sandy brown hair, the trimmed beard, and bright blue eyes, a
part of me wanted to go through with the dare. But this wasn’t me. This wasn’t who I was, despite the little buzz I felt from that shot I’d done.

  “Listen,” I said and exhaled. “My friends dared me to kiss the next guy who bought me a drink.” I held up the beer bottle. “And that was you.” I was so embarrassed right now, felt my cheeks heat. “But I’m not the type of girl to just kiss strangers, so I’ll go back there and just say you declined.”

  He didn’t say anything, just picked up his beer and took a long drink from it, watching me the whole time. I couldn’t explain his expression, but I felt it, literally felt it move through me. It was as if he touched every single part of me, his fingers moving along my body. Goose bumps popped out on my arms, and the tiny hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

  I was about to turn around and head back to the table when he got up, moved around the table to where I stood, and stopped a foot from me. I had to crane my neck back just to look in his face.

  It was clear he worked out, but he wasn’t the gym rat type of guy. No, I could tell he did hard, manual labor, could see the calluses on his hands, imagining what they’d feel like on my body. Maybe he did construction or something along those lines.

  All I knew was it made me feel very feminine standing beside him.

  “So—” That word became lodged in my throat. “—I know this is awkward….” Before I could finish, he reached out and slipped his hand along the side of my face, smoothed his finger against my cheekbone, and leaned in. I held my breath when I felt his lips touch mine. I should have pulled back, stopped it, but I found myself closing my eyes and leaning into him.