A Different Slice

29 - Favourites (Naomi)

Naomi and Kieran walked hand-in-hand down a path beneath cottonwood, elm, and Manitoba maple giants. Her grin and giddiness refused to fade. She and Kieran hadn't experienced a first-date blunder yet. Their meal was delicious, and he was the perfect amount of affectionate. Enough to make her blush often but also too much that she worried about his expectations. He claimed he would let her take the wheel.

That meant she decided when they had their first kiss. In her twenty-five years on this planet, she'd never initiated a first kiss. Greg had rushed to it the second he found out she had feelings for him. Luke had waited until their third date, brushing her hair aside and kissing her tenderly. Her first boyfriend had rambled on about how gorgeous and amazing she was before a sloppy drunken kiss, which turned into a make-out session since she'd been similarly tipsy.

"What are you thinking about?" Kieran wore a coy smile.

"Umm." She pressed her lips together. While she didn't want to lie, she doubted Kieran wanted to hear about kissing other men even if she only longed to kiss him.

He nudged her side. "Now you have to tell me."

She grimaced and looked away. "First kisses."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"What was your favourite first kiss like?"

"My favourite first kiss? I've never compared them." He rubbed at his beard with his free hand. "It wasn't my first. We were watching a movie together in the dark, so I missed half her mouth. She wrinkled her nose and scooted further from me like she'd catch something. First and last date."

Naomi chuckled. "Aw, I would have given you a second date."

His stare challenged her. "To a sweaty, awkward seventeen-year-old not quite over their acne, probably not."

"I was a flat-chested tomboy whose close friend intimidated any guys who got past the other two facts."

"For the record, boobs are amazing in every shape and size."

As the leaves rustled overhead, she laughed and leaned into his arm. "You haven't told me your favourite first kiss."

"What if I don't have one?" He blinked adorably, but he wasn't off the hook yet.

"Something tells me you do."

"Fine, it happened on a picnic. She'd made these amazing dishes, bruschetta, homemade potato chips, a spicy pineapple salad, and mini apple pies. She was a phenomenal cook." A wistfulness gleamed in his eyes, and it seemed significant that he remembered each dish. "When we ate the pies, she had a crumb left on the corner of her mouth, so I wiped it away. It'll sound corny, but there was a spark, and we kissed. It was great, but afterward, when she stared at me with wide, adoring eyes, I knew we'd be together. No one had ever been that happy we'd kissed, you know?"

Naomi nodded. She had that sensation at the start of a relationship, but her aceness wore it away.

"So you've always been a flirt around food," she teased to cover her uneasiness.

"Share what you love with the people you value most."

He'd done the same tonight, taking her to a restaurant that reminded him of his family, eating fancy food, and watching a movie in the language he wished he spoke more. This date invited her in more than he ever had before. She embraced him and sighed into his chest.

"Sorry, that's a terrible story for our first date. I should have spared the details."

"It's sweet. It shows you're a romantic at heart." Even she was both jealous of that woman and envious of their relationship. It meant he valued and cherished the women he dated, which mattered. Was it the same person he'd gotten the tattoo for?