It took a few moments for the reality to hit me that Adonis was kissing me. My brother's best friend and the boy I'd had a crush on for as long as I could remember was kissing me. His lips moved against mine as his hands cradled my face in place. I gripped his shirt in my hands as he continued his kiss.

All logical thought vanished, and all I could concentrate on was the tingle of my lips against his. My heartbeat sped up and I could hear it echo in my ears. His lips eased away from mine and as his arctic blue eyes held mine, I was so entranced that I held my breath, still struggling to believe what was happening.

His hands dropped to my hips and pulled me closer. Our bodies flush against each other and I had to remember to breathe. This time when his mouth covered mine, the kiss was harder, and I felt the sweep of his tongue against my bottom lip. I opened my mouth and his tongue pushed forward into my mouth to caress my tongue.

I groaned against his lips. Nothing I'd ever imagined came close to the real life kiss I was experiencing. My stomach had a buzzing feeling that vibrated right through me, and I gripped his shirt to keep from falling into a pile of goo at his feet. His one hand reached for the back of my head as his head tilted to the side and angled for a deeper kiss. I followed his lead. There was no doubt about it, he knew how to kiss.

One moment we were kissing, and then we weren't. I struggled to stay standing on my feet as I tried to figure out why he'd stopped kissing me.

Dazed and confused as I stared at him. He was standing a couple of feet away from me. His breathing was erratic, the kiss had affected him as much as it had me. I'd expected a lot of things to happen if we ever kissed, and none of the scenarios I'd dreamed about were the same as the reality I was experiencing now.

I hadn't kissed a lot of guys, and I couldn't help feeling that maybe I'd done something wrong.

"I'm sorry." He held his hands up as he took another step away from me and it left me trying to figure out what had made him stop kissing me.

He ran a hand through his hair as he dropped his gaze to the floor and when he looked back to me his features were unreadable.

My hand raised and touched my tender lips, which was a reminder of the kiss we'd just shared.

"It shouldn't have happened." He retreated to the door and reached for the door handle. He looked back to me once more, giving me a look I couldn't decipher before he left.

My heart plummeted in my chest, and I felt an actual physical pain. Alone and confused, I sunk down onto the bed and let my head fall into my hands.

An array of emotions hit me at the same time. I felt stupid and vulnerable. Tears of frustration seeped from my eyes. The continuous push and pull. He went from kissing me, to acting like a jealous boyfriend, and now this. I brushed my unwanted tears away with the determination.

He hadn't been drunk, so he couldn't use that excuse. So why had he kissed me?

There was a small part of me that wanted to believe that he cared, but his actions just didn't add up to that. I was furious with him and with myself. I hadn't even questioned it the moment his lips had touched mine, I'd just gone along with it, not questioning why.

I shoved my hair out of my face. That was it. I would not let him keep doing this to me; it wasn't right, and I deserved better.

After a few minutes, I got myself together enough to venture downstairs to the party. It took all the courage I could muster to walk down the stairs, knowing that I'd have to face him again.

The party was still going strong as my eyes drifted over the dancing crowd and I didn't see him, but I found Reece who was watching me. Seeing my expression, she made her way through the crowd to the bottom of the stairs.

"What's wrong?" she asked, looking at me with concern.

"Where's Gray?" I ignored her question.

"He left," she said, and I felt relieved.

"Tell me what happened." She led me through the front door and out onto the front patio. There wasn't much of a crowd.

"After you disappeared with Max, Aiden and I came back inside to dance. We were hitting it off, when Gray showed up and interrupted us," I told her.

"He interrupted?" she asked with a frown.

I nodded my head. "He was acting like a jealous boyfriend and he said he wanted to talk, so I followed him upstairs."

"What did he say?" she asked.

I paused. "He kissed me."

"Wow." Her eyes widened.

"Yes." The slight tenderness of my lips a reminder of the intimate moment between us.

The turmoil in my eyes made her eyes narrow. "But I don't understand. If he kissed you, why do you look like someone just trampled all over your heart and why did he leave?"

"He kissed me and then... he said he was sorry that he had."

Reece's mouth dropped open in shock and then she clamped it close. "What the hell is wrong with him?" She frowned.

I shrugged. I did not know what was going on inside his mind. Once he'd nearly kissed me, and this time he had. Did he feel something for me, but something was stopping him from taking it further? I rubbed my hands over my face, trying to sort out my thoughts. I was tiring of this.

"Is Aiden still inside?" Suddenly I remembered that I'd left him on the dance floor to talk to Adonis.

"Yes. He's inside with Max." She looked back to the house.

"I need to apologize to him." I turned to look back into the house, intent on trying to soothe things with him.

"Don't beat yourself up about it." We walked back into the house.

"So you and Max?" I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively, trying to move the subject away from Adonis. He had tainted the kiss with shared with his reaction afterward.

She smiled smugly. "I like him." There was a twinkle in her eye and that made me smile.

I wanted to have something special with someone, but as long as Adonis was in my life, it was becoming more and more difficult for that to happen. The initial pain of a headache starting up wasn't a surprise. My night had been stressful, and I knew the chances were it was going to develop into a migraine.

Aiden and Max were talking to each other with a beer in their hands when we joined them. Aiden smiled at me.

"Hi." I clasped my hands together.

"Hey," he said. I didn't have to worry about our audience because they only had eyes for each other.

"I'm sorry about before," I said.

"It's okay."

He studied me for a moment. "I like you." He was direct.

"I like you too." There was something about him that made me feel comfortable in his presence.

"But I can't compete with Adonis Grayson." He lifted his hand and rubbed his eyebrow. He'd recognized him. It shouldn't have surprised me.

"There is nothing going on between us," I said.

"That's what you say, but I saw how he acted." His eyes held mine. "You're the type of girl I could fall for, but it would be a mistake."

I held his gaze as I swallowed.

"Because when it came time to choose, he would win."

I wanted to argue, but I couldn't.