“So, like, how good of a kisser is he?” Lexi, the hair stylist from the set, asked from the pedicure chair next to me.

I smiled but didn’t answer as I wiggled my toes in the warm water.

Neva, our makeup artist, eyed me from the chair on my other side. She had that look again, the same one she gave me anytime she looked me over after she’d finished with my makeup. She was good at her job, and my skin had never been better. “Come on, Kit. Scale of one to ten.”

“It wasn’t a big deal,” I lied. Twin eye rolls from the pair of them and I knew they’d called bullshit on my forced disinterest. My face heated, and the familiar blush crawled up my chest and neck.

“So, you only kissed him that one time in the bar?” I could feel Lexi’s penetrating stare without having to glance in her direction.

“Maybe.”

“Bitch, don’t you lie to us,” Neva said, slapping my arm as she laughed. “How many times have you kissed Kane?” The women never held back when we were alone, but neither of them had asked me anything until now.

I stared down at my feet, watching the water dance over the tops as the bubbles rose. “A few times.”

“When was the last time?” Lexi asked.

“Yesterday,” I answered truthfully because I knew these women. They’d badger me until I finally caved. Plus, they could spot a liar a mile away. Besides, the twenty different shades of red running over my face and neck would advertise any lie I attempted to tell.

“Girl,” Neva drew out the word, being overdramatic like she often was. “We need all the details.”

“Yeah. That man is a fine piece of ass, and he has some of the best damn lips. They gotta be soft.”

My laugh was a little forced, a lot overdone because Lexi wasn’t wrong at all. Kane’s lips were out of this world, soft and thick too. They were made for kissing.

“They’re pretty nice.” I shrugged, hoping I could shove down the stupid smile that threatened to stretch across my mouth. Those lips were fucking spectacular, the best I’d ever laid mine on. When neither woman replied, I glanced from side to side and saw them staring at me, eyes narrowed. “What?”

“We want a play-by-play, and do not leave anything out.”

“Fine,” I groaned, but only because I was sick of holding everything in. Jess had been the only person I could talk about shit like this with. But she was gone now, and it wasn’t like Kane would exactly be objective if I started going on about the kiss and hot make-out session. Hell, Jess would’ve known what I should do about whatever was happening between Kane and me. Without her here, I was lost.

“Start at the bar and don’t stop,” Lexi told me, settling back into her chair and making herself comfortable.

“I don’t really remember the bar too well. I was drunk.”

I had flashbacks, and the video Asher posted online helped fill in some of the blanks. There was no explanation for what had come over me. Kane had always been my friend, and I laid a lot of my shit on him when he didn’t want it. He never complained, but we’d never once done anything similar to what happened at the bar.

A few drinks coupled with my messy emotions between losing Jess and flying high from our zip-lining, and I couldn’t stop myself.

“We’ve all seen the video. You may skip it,” Neva said, giving me a reprieve. “When was the next time?”

They’d keep asking. That was just how Neva and Lexi were, and for once, I was glad they were. Exhaling, I sat up, rubbing my feet together in the water before I started.

“I needed him, because his brother totally flaked on me…”

I went into every detail. How we went from the president’s speech, to the fans on the street, right down to where his hands had been, open mouth or closed, and how long the kiss lasted. I stopped at what had happened in his truck but had been generous with my descriptions of Kane’s hands on my body, pulling me in for a deeper kiss, and how that small gesture had made me so fucking turned on I rubbed my hard nipples against his chest.

Lexi and Neva were practically on the edge of their seats by the time I finished. Their mouths were hanging open, and they were barely breathing.

“Satisfied?” I asked.

“God,” Neva sighed. “That was so fucking hot.”

“I knew I should’ve gone after that man as soon as I laid eyes on him,” Lexi added. “Did you get to second base yet?”

I chewed my lip and went back to staring at my feet. “Kane would kill me just for telling you two about the kiss.”

“Kane isn’t here and doesn’t have to know,” Neva said, splashing the water in her footbath around.

“Maybe,” I confessed. “But I don’t know what to do about Kane.”

Talking about what was happening between us wasn’t easy. Especially after my little epiphany this morning while I showered. I stood under that spray for nearly forty-five minutes, reliving what happened in Kane’s truck, remembering how much he had woken me up. That orgasm had been the best I’d ever had. His mouth, his fingers… Kane had done something to me I couldn’t keep inside. There would be no pushing down my feelings. I couldn’t ignore what I felt. It was like that orgasm had broken open a chasm of emotion, and it made me feel raw and free and unwilling to keep any of it silent and sleeping.

As I’d washed my hair and the hot water had made my skin pink and my body buzz, the realization hit me sweet and sharp and totally surprising: I loved Kane Kaino with everything I had.

But if Kane felt anything for me at all, he wasn’t saying so. He only seemed willing to discuss the show. No emotions. No recollections about him making me come so loud I thought I’d rattled the windows in his truck. He’d gone quiet on me, and I felt like I was completely lost without any direction for what to do next.

“Ride him hard, girl. Hard,” Neva said before laughing.

“He’s my best friend, you know?”

Neva’s smile fell, and she bunched her eyebrows as she watched me. “Doesn’t matter. I have plenty of friends, and I’ve never kissed them. That’s a pretty big step, even for best friends.”

“Have you talked about it?” Lexi asked.

“No.” I lowered in my chair, rubbing my temples. Kane had smiled when he’d dropped me off at my car in the parking garage. He even gave me a silent promise with one look when I’d asked him about helping me with all the items on the list. But this morning, he hadn’t wanted to discuss what had happened. “He changes the subject.”

“Here’s the real question.” Lexi straightened in her chair and stared me down. “Do you want to be more than friends?”

That was a very good question. I’d never really thought about becoming more with Kane because I worried it would ruin our friendship. I mean, not only were we best friends, we also worked with each other. I wanted more, but I didn’t want to end up losing the last person on earth I felt I could count on either.

I placed my hands over my face and groaned into my palms. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

“That’s a yes.” Lexi tapped her finger against her chin as Neva and I stared at her, waiting for her sage words of advice. “Okay. So, you’ve kissed multiple times. You’ve been to second base, maybe more, but you aren’t saying. I think that means a little more than friendship to both of you.”

“You need to have a real talk with him, Kit. Or you’re going to have to play dirty to get him to finally open up.”

“Play dirty?” I glanced up, confused about how to play dirty when it came to Kane. The man knew me better than I knew myself sometimes.

Neva gave me a wicked smile. “You need to make him jealous.”

“Kane’s all about control. You need to make him claim you.” Lexi giggled like a kid with a new toy. Or a Mean Girl with a new nerd to pick on. “He’s like a caveman. Men haven’t changed much in the last ten thousand years. Make him feel like he has to club you over the head and drag you back to his cave.”

I laughed, imagining Kane with a club, trying any of that shit on me. He’d known better. I might be nice most of the time, but I had one hell of a punch.

“Yeah. You need to make him so jealous, he finally tells you how he feels or shows you,” Neva agreed with Lexi.

“I don’t even know where to start.”

“We’ll help,” Lexi said and rubbed her hands together. “By the time we get back, you’ll have an entire plan of action at your fingertips. We will not fail.”

I wasn’t sure what was the wiser emotion—fear or excitement. These two bitches were relentless and motivated. Maybe they were just bored, but as they grinned and rubbed their hands together, I realized what I felt most was anticipation.

Kane had given me more pleasure in a twenty-minute make-out session than anyone ever in my life. But it was more than that. He’d warned me about what he liked. He’d shown me something erotic, something sweet. And because it was Kane, because I wanted him and only him, I knew something had to give.

At that point, I would’ve tried anything to get Kane to commit to finishing my list. He didn’t have to get down on one knee, but I’d at least like to have sex with someone I liked…or loved. And there was no one else in the world I loved more than Kane Kaino.