My eyes grow wide and Brad immediately stops talking about how awesome he is as Charlotte squeezes her small body in between the two of us. With her back to Brad, she inches in between my legs and closer to me until our noses are almost touching.

“Hey, Gavin, why don’t you introduce me to your friend,” Brad says over Charlotte’s shoulder.

I ignore him and stare directly into Charlotte’s eyes.

“I’m a little drunk,” she whispers.

“Me, too.”

We smile at each other, and I can see Brad staring at us out of the corner of my eye.

She frowns. “I got into a fight with Rocco tonight.”

“I’m sorry,” I tell her, even though I’m not.

“My name’s Brad. I work for McDonald Investments downtown. I’m sure you’ve heard of it.”

I can feel Charlotte’s warm breath against my lips as she continues to stare at me. She’s never looked at me like this before, and I really hope I don’t do something stupid.

“Don’t lie, Mangina. You really work at the drive-thru of McDonald’s flipping burgers. Do you want fries with that, Mangina?” Tyler says with a laugh.

“So, my girlfriends all dared me to do something to get back at Rocco. But I don’t know if I should do it,” she whispers.

I can’t process what she’s saying right now because she’s moved in closer, and I can feel her br**sts up against my chest. She’s still a little wobbly on her feet, and since I’m such a gentleman, I place my hands on her hips so she doesn’t fall.

“But I kind of have to do it since it’s a dare, you know?”

I don’t know. I don’t know and I don’t care about anything right now but keeping her exactly where she is and never letting her go. She fits perfectly in between my thighs and she smells amazing, just like always.

“We should all go outside so I can show you my new Porsche. It’s parked right in front,” Brad says loudly.

“No one cares, Mangina. Get in the kitchen and make me a Quarter Pounder!” Tyler tells him.

“I’m totally going to do this dare right now, okay? So don’t freak out,” Charlotte adds softly.

I nod in reply as I stare at her lips while they move. She has such pretty lips.

“Stop being a dick, Tyler,” Brad threatens.

“At least I have a dick and not a MANGINA!” Tyler yells.

At this point, a few of the bar patrons have caught on to the shouting and join Tyler every time he yells Mangina. It’s a fun word to yell, and I would totally be doing it if I wasn’t so mesmerized by Charlotte’s mouth.

Tyler and Brad are still arguing back and forth from either side of me, and before I can tell them to shut up, Charlotte suddenly leans forward and presses her lips to mine. I instinctively open my mouth on a surprised gasp and she takes the initiative, sliding her tongue past my lips and tangling it with mine. Her hands move to the back of my head, and she clutches the hair at the nape of my neck, pulling me harder against her mouth and deepening the kiss.

As half the bar starts chanting, “Mangina, Mangina, Mangina,” I wrap my arms around her waist and hold her close, pouring everything I have into this kiss. Her friends dared her to kiss me so it means nothing to her, but it means everything to me and I want her to know that. All thoughts fly from my mind as our lips move together in perfect sync. She tastes like wine and I want to devour her. Her tongue glides against mine slowly, and I moan into her mouth, pulling her tighter against me. I move one of my hands up to her face, cupping her cheek as I deepen the kiss. I can’t help myself; I slide my hand around to the back of her neck and grab a handful of her hair, clutching it in my hands. She whimpers against my lips and I’m instantly hard.

Charlotte suddenly ends the kiss and pulls her head back to stare at me. Her eyes are wide with shock, and I’m pretty sure she’s completely mortified that she just kissed her best friend even if she’s drunk. She probably thought it was a great idea at the time, and now she’s regretting it because she can totally feel my hard-on pushing into her. A kiss between friends changes everything, even if it’s just a dare.

She slides out from between my legs without saying a word, and I watch her walk back to the other side of the bar to her friends. They all start giving her high fives and scream her name in congratulations for a perfectly executed dare. They surround her, and in the midst of the chaos, she looks back over at me. She doesn’t smile. She just stares.

Tyler smacks his hand against my back, and I break our eye contact to turn and look at him, hoping he witnessed what just happened so he can tell me it was real. It feels like a dream right now.

“Dude, that was the best thing I’ve ever seen,” Tyler says in awe.

Thank God. He saw. It was real. I wasn’t dreaming.

“Right? I’m freaking out a little bit right now. I can’t believe that just happened.”

Tyler nods his head in agreement and signals the bartender.

“We need two shots of Crown for me and my buddy here. The most epic thing in the entire world just happened and we need to celebrate,” Tyler tells the bartender.

The guy pours us two overflowing shots of Crown, and when he walks away, we each grab our glasses and hold them up in the air.

“Tonight we toast to something amazing. A man was brought to his knees and will never be the same again,” Tyler states.

I wasn’t actually brought to my knees since I was sitting. But it works. If Charlotte had kissed me while I was standing, I probably would have lost all feeling in my legs.