His lips were soft and sweet, with remnants of vanilla from the Pepsi he’d been drinking. A soft moan bubbled up from within me, causing my cheeks to heat with embarrassment. No. That wasn’t embarrassment. That was arousal.

“Jeremy,” left my lips in a whisper as I pulled back from him.

My eyes fluttered open to find him gazing down at me. His eyes were dancing with delight, which caused my heart to smile.

“Sierra,” he replied.

We both released simultaneous sighs and beamed at each other.

I’d thought our relationship had shifted earlier.

But that moment in the living room had nothing on this one.

Who would’ve thought that kissing my best friend would have felt so right?

And who would’ve thought that I couldn’t wait to do it again?

I couldn’t believe it was finally happening. A moment I felt like I’d been waiting all my life for. A moment that could’ve continued for the rest of my life. A moment, an amazing one, I would never, ever forget.

Kissing Sierra Sullivan was like a dream come true. If I could win the lottery, get Michael Jordan’s autograph, and kiss the girl of my dreams whenever I wanted to, that was what it would feel like. Hell, this felt even better than that. I didn’t need the lottery or the autograph. I already felt like I had everything thanks to the girl in my arms.

She was my best friend. She was my lifeline. She was everything to me, and now that I was holding her in my arms, I realized I wanted everything with her.

But how did I tell her? What if, for some reason, I’d read this all wrong and she didn’t feel the same?

Was that even possible?

All too soon, there was a knock on the door.

“Time’s up,” Chris called from just outside the door. His eyes lit up when we stepped out into a room with even more hoots and hollers than there had been before we’d gone into the closet.

No one but Chris knew how I felt about Sierra, but I was starting to wonder if it was written all over my face. As Chris gave me a pat on the back, he gave me a look. I knew that look. He was daring me.

As if that weren’t enough, he leaned in closer. “Come out of the closet, Banks. You’ll feel better. I promise.” He paused for effect. “I. Dare. Ya.”

See? I knew my male best friend.

But Sierra was frowning. “Does he mean…” she trailed off, shaking her head.

Chris folded his arms across his chest and raised an eyebrow in my direction. I placed my hand on the small of Sierra’s back and pushed her forward, flipping him off in the process.

This was the first time he’d done this. Our dares usually kept girls off-limits, but he was apparently tired of me not-so-secretively pining for my best friend.

Hello. I was Jeremy Banks and there was not a dare I could turn down.

Which is how I found myself, moments later, taking Sierra’s hand and guiding her outside Ryan’s beach house and onto the sand. We walked in companionable silence until we were a good distance away.

“All joking aside…that was a first for me, too,” I admitted, pulling on the neck of my shirt. God, had that thing tightened up since the dance?

Her nose wrinkled in disbelief, and she playfully hit my shoulder with hers, rocking me to the side before she plopped down in the sand and pulled me beside her. “You’re a hot-shot baseball player. A star on the football field. I see the way all the girls look at you in the hallway at school, Jeremy. There’s no way,” she said, shaking her head. “You’re sixteen years old and never been kissed? I don’t buy it.”

I sighed and squeezed her hand while releasing an exaggerated sigh. “Just call me Josie Grossie,” I told her.

That made her to laugh. I knew she was remembering the day we’d watched that movie together. She’d lamented that she’d end up just like Drew Barrymore’s character. I’d wished I’d had the balls to change that for her, but I hadn’t. Now that I had, I wanted to keep kissing her over and over again.

“It’s true, Sierra. After all, these lips are sacred, and for as long as I can remember, there’s only been one girl I’ve ever wanted to kiss.”

Her jaw clenched tight and her eyes dulled with a pained expression, taking me aback. Her voice was small as her fingers played in the sand. “Who?”

Was she seriously asking me that? Who? It hadn’t dawned on me that she’d think there was someone else I wanted to be with, but I guess that was my fault. I needed to remedy that, and do it quick.

Now or never, Banks. Now or never. I tenderly lifted her chin until our eyes met.

“You.”

And that’s when I leaned in close, capturing her lips with mine. This time, the kiss was deeper, harder, and I gently coaxed her body down until she was flat on her back in the sand. My hand came to the hem of the shirt she’d changed into. Her skin was cool beneath my warm hand. I forced my lips from hers, my chest heaving as I panted. My eyes bored down into hers.

“That wasn’t a fluke back there, Sierra. I’ve wanted to kiss you for ages. I want to kiss you for ages. I want to start kissing you and I never want to stop.”

“Do you really mean it, Jeremy?” she asked, sounding a bit unsure.

“I don’t want to dance around this anymore. Kiss and then have everything be awkward while we try to make each other jealous when all we want is each other. I’ll pine for you if you make me. I’ll fight dirty if I have to. But, God…please don’t make me. You’re my best friend, Sierra. But my feelings for you run so much deeper than that. Tell me…tell me you feel this, too.”

She gulped. “Umm, yeah, Jeremy. I feel it, too,” she whispered, her hips arching up as my very hard erection pushed against her.

Instead of flushing with embarrassment, I did the only thing I could do. I smiled. Because, in so many words, she had just given me my answer.

“I thought so,” I responded and leaned down, taking her lips with mine, this time not stopping until I tasted her tongue.

Sierra Sullivan. My best friend. My first kiss. If I had my way, my first and last everything. And all that came between.

BY MONDAY MORNING, I was ecstatic. I couldn’t wait for Jeremy and me to walk into the school hand in hand. Sneaking kisses between classes. My arm wrapped around his waist as we walked the halls. I could already hear the shocked gasps, the whispers. The “what does he see in her?” comments from the girls who wished they could snag Jeremy Banks.

But, when we pulled into the parking lot and he leaned across the console to give me a kiss, no one noticed. When we entwined our fingers and said our good mornings to our classmates, not a single eyebrow rose.

Apparently, everyone else had expected this to happen. It had been a matter of when.

“Heck yes!” Ryan shouted when he saw us. He did a stupid fist bump then held his hand out to Chris. “Pay up, buddy.”

“Pay up?” I asked.

He opened his binder and removed a sheet of paper. Names and dates were listed down the page, and he pointed to his. “The Jeremy-Sierra school pool. I guessed sometime during football season. Chris had his money on Christmas. Jace had you guys pegged for the end of summer.” He shook his head. “He clearly had too much faith in you, Banks.”

Jace walked up to us and shrugged. “What can I say? I didn’t realize he’d be so slow to tell Sierra he dug her.”

I rolled my eyes even though my heart was doing a happy dance. “How much money are we talking?” My eyes widened when they told me. “Three hundred dollars?!”