840It Was Only a Kiss.
Chapter One:
"I'm bored!" Shelby groaned, sitting down on the short wall that held in the water from the mall's fountain.
"Me too!" her brother, Paul, replied, sitting next to her and dropping his shopping bags at his feet. He looked up at their other brother, Justin, and then glanced around the busy mall. Back to school shopping sucked. The three of them thought so anyways. Unfortunately, that consensus wasn't shared with their other brother and sisters, who were still going strong in their shopping spree even after five full hours.
The Thornton Sextuplets had been big news seventeen years ago when they were born in the small town in southern Illinois. Multiple births were still rare way back then, and the mostly-healthy sextuplets had ended up in the news, on television, and several guest appearances throughout the small metropolitan area.
Their fame had eventually fizzled out over the years, and even though the rest of the world had forgotten them, the sextuplets continued on. Tomorrow, all six of them would start their senior year at Southern Heights High School.
"Let's do something!" Paul exclaimed, resulting in an immediate groan from Justin.
"You two are still grounded after your last stunt!" Justin chastised.
Shelby grinned. "Nothing dangerous…..or destructive," she said, looking pointedly at Paul.
Paul grinned, his long locks of blond hair falling over one eye. "Nothing dangerous," he agreed.
The three of them sat in silence as they thought of something interesting to do. Justin mentioned a few random things that Shelby and Paul shot down right away.
Paul checked out a group of girls who walked by, making flirtatious faces at the few who looked his way. "I've got it!" he blurted out, only seconds after the group of giggling girls turned the corner.
Shelby and Justin looked at him in anticipation.
"I dare you to kiss someone."
Shelby laughed. "That's stupid!"
"Oh come on! I'll do it too! It'll be great!"
"No," Shelby replied.
"It's a bad idea," Justin put in. "Shelby doesn't need that right now."
Shelby glared at her dark-haired brother. "Are you trying to protect me?" she sneered.
"Shell, after what you've been through….."
Shelby shut out Justin by turning to Paul. "I'll do it."
"Shelby!" Justin warned.
"Awesome!" Paul exclaimed, rubbing his hands together.
"Rules," Shelby started. "No one we know. Has to be someone we'll never see again."
"Agreed," Paul said. "Oh, and they have to stop the kiss."
"What?" Shelby and Justin said simultaneously.
Paul grinned wickedly. "You can't pull away until they do, and you can't tell them you have to kiss them on a dare."
Shelby bit her bottom lip in thought. "Eh, okay. But, you first."
"No problem," Paul told her, his eyes already scanning the vicinity for his potential victim.
"Oh, and I get to pick her out."
"What?" Paul complained.
Shelby grinned. "Rules, dear brother. Rules."
"Fine, but she has to be hot. Someone I'd want to kiss."
"Agreed," Shelby said. "Same for me."
"Deal," Paul said. "Now find me some hot chick!"
Shelby chuckled and looked around the mall. There were some girls she recognized from school. Pretty, but Paul would definitely see them again. A girl she hadn't seen before came out of the Pretzel Shop, but she knew she wasn't Paul's type, so she looked on. A trim girl with long, brown hair stepped out of Victoria's Secret. She looked to be older than them, maybe twenty, but Paul never stipulated age. "Her," she said, pointing to the pretty woman.
Paul smiled openly when he saw the woman Shelby pointed to. "Deal!" he yelped, hopping off the wall and walking towards the woman.
Shelby and Justin watched as Paul approached the woman, said something to her, and then grabbed her and kissed her.
"One.. Two.. OUCH!" Justin exclaimed when the woman pulled away and slapped Paul across the face. He shrugged at her and then turned around, his hands in his pockets, as he walked back to the fountain.
Shelby and Justin laughed hysterically as they watched their brother saunter back over to them.
"That was great!" Justin announced, forgetting he had originally been against this idea.
Shelby just kept laughing, her sides starting to ache.
"Ah, now it's your turn. Shall we see who gets the longer kiss?" Paul asked, his eyes dancing with amusement.
"I'm sure I can break your two second record," Shelby laughed.
"We'll see," Paul told her and then sat back down beside her. He glanced around the mall, searching for his sister's victim. "Him," he said only seconds later.
"Who?" Shelby asked, craning her neck to see where her brother was looking.
"That guy in the Westwood Prep jacket."
Shelby looked at the boy Paul was pointing out. He was tall, with dark hair and eyes. Gorgeous, really. She never would have even considered getting his attention in any conventional way. He was way out of her league, but it didn't matter. She'd never see him again. "Alright," she told him nervously and stood up. After adjusting her shirt, she looked defiantly at Paul, "I'll beat your two seconds." Without another look, she strolled over to the model-looking creature across the way.
He looked up when she was half-way to him. She was expecting him to look away, or to at least throw her an offensive look, but he didn't. He just kept watching her. Her nerves danced around in her tightly-wound body, and more than once, she almost quit and turned back around. She reached him and stopped once she thoroughly invaded his personal space.
"Hi," he said in a husky, masculine, way-too-sexy voice.
Shelby smiled sweetly, something she could do very well. "Hi, please forgive me for this," she whispered, and then, with her hands on either side of his face, she pulled his lips down to hers.
She counted in her head. "One.. Two.. Three.. Four.. Five.. Six.. oh shit! What is he doing?" her mind went numb after that as the stranger deepened the kiss, his tongue sweeping unexpectedly into her mouth. She didn't pull away, she couldn't! It was part of the dare. She had to let him end it. But it seemed as though he had no intention to.
He moaned in her mouth, his tongue gliding over her teeth and gums. He pulled his tongue out of her mouth, but didn't stop the kiss, only continued with sucking and nibbling on her lips. She moaned in pleasure, her eyes closed, and her hands finding their way under his shirt.
Finally, his lips left her body, his hands had entangled themselves in her auburn hair and remained there as he set his forehead against hers. "Did you lose a bet?" he asked her in that same husky, sexy voice.
"What?" she asked in a daze, her mind still fuzzy from the amazing kiss she just experienced.
"A bet? I can't think of any other reason why a beautiful stranger would just launch herself at me like that."
"Oh!" Shelby got out, her mind still fighting to return to reality. "Uh, sorry. I-I've got to go," she told him and then pulled out of his grasp. She turned and ran back towards her brothers, her mind still spinning.
"Wait! Stop! What's your name? Will I see you again?"
Shelby stopped and turned around, but didn't take any steps back to him. "No, sorry. It was part of the dare." With a shrug of her shoulders, she awarded him with a small, shy smile and then took off again. Knowing the guy could easily spot her at the fountain, she only stopped there long enough to grab her bags, and then kept on fleeing from the scene.
Justin and Paul followed her, laughing their butts off the entire way.
"That was one hell of a kiss, sis! You should have got his number or something! He was definitely into you."
"That wasn't part of the dare. It had to be someone we'd never see again, remember?" Shelby sneered, her hands still trembling from her erotic moment. She dropped one of her bags, and then had to pick it up three times before getting a good grip, her hands shaking the whole time. She placed her hand over her forehead and closed her eyes. "Tell me he didn't follow us."
"Naw," Justin said, glancing behind them as he said so. "He was watching you like a hawk, but he never left his spot. I think he was still recovering from shock. What the hell, Shell! I was two seconds from pulling you two apart. Are you sure you didn't know him?"
Shelby dropped her hand and nodded her head slowly. "Yeah, I'm sure. I've never seen him before. Let's go wait in the van for the others. I don't want to run into him again."
Paul laughed gleefully. "That was so awesome!" he cheered, grabbing a few of his sister's bags and heading towards the exit. "I'll text Mike and let him know we're ready to go now."