Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 103754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
His gaze dips to my mouth before licking his lips and sliding back to my eyes. Taking hold of my hand, he brings it higher against his chest and holds it to his heart. “I don’t think you’re so off base.” He stole my breath the moment he spoke, but the admission is what makes my heart thunder in my chest. His arm wraps around me and pulls me close. Dropping his head to mine, he whispers in my ear, “The feelings I have for you never died, Spark.”
I want to crumple to the ground, to wallow in the swoons of hearing my nickname again. I don’t. Instead, I try my best to hold my composure despite the tears wanting to blur my vision by clinging to him in return. Tucked in his arms, I’ve never felt so safe in life. As no time has passed, every emotion I felt for him six years ago comes rushing back. “I’m starting to think we’re cursed.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Our timing is always off.”
“Don’t worry about timing and some made-up construct of the value.” He kisses the side of my head and whispers, “Tonight, everything has changed, but I still owe you something.”
I lean back and look up at him. With his arms wrapped around me like I’m his entire world, I ask, “What is it?”
“Hello.” One of his hands slides up into the back of my hair, loosening the strands from the comb and hairpin I used to secure it. Plucking one, he tosses it to the kitchen counter before retrieving the other and doing the same. My hair comes down in waves of light blond sections, hitting my shoulders and then falling over them.
I smile and whisper, “Hello.” It might not have been a proper hello with a dramatic kiss like I thought about—in the hallway outside the party, on the street when we left the pub, earlier when we confessed feelings that probably should have stayed locked up a while longer. It’s worthy of propriety and what we need to start over.
And then he kisses me.
CHAPTER 20
KEATS
Ididn’t expect to kiss her, but she welcomed it by gripping her fingers into my shirt and pulling me to her. Her lips mold to mine, and a moan escapes her as she kisses me back. I move in, my body pressed to hers against the counter, and caress her cheeks while my fingers dip into the sides of her silky hair.
I pull back, leaving my forehead against hers. My breathing is as erratic as I feel inside. She drives me wild. Always has. With my eyes closed, I kiss her temple and lean back to look into those hazel eyes again. “I want you so badly.”
Her hands slide up to my wrists as if she needs something stable to hold on to. Gripping them, she whispers through jagged breaths, “I do, too, but—”
“It’s not the right time. I know. I just—”
“I know.” She nods, her lids dipping closed as if she aches for me as I do for her. “I feel the same.”
I hate doing it, but I take a step back, shoving my hands in my pockets, and give her space. It’s torture being this close to her again without taking it a step further. I’m just not sure what tomorrow brings with so much unresolved still hanging over our heads, taunting us.
She brushes her hair out of her face, the length so much longer than I’ve seen it. Strands puff in front of her face when she blows out in annoyance. “Do you have a hair tie or rubber band, or something that I can tie my hair back with?”
“Um . . .” I glance around, but nothing triggers an idea in the kitchen. I open a few drawers to look before I say, “I have a paperclip?”
“Can I ruin it?”
I drop the paperclip when another idea comes to mind. “How about a shoelace?”
She smiles so damn prettily that I might have to restart my heart. “A shoelace works.”
Rushing toward my bedroom, I say, “I’ll be right back.” In my closet, I look for the cleanest pair of shoes I own. No way am I giving her a dirty shoelace to put in her hair. I pull my nicest Italian shoes from the shelf. It’s a pair I only wear on special occasions and undo the lace.
When I walk out of the closet, I stop when I see Sosie standing in the doorway. Her eyes travel from the small tree on my nightstand to me in the opposite corner. “So this is where you keep your secret stash of holiday decor.” Her smirk holds hints like she knew I was a closeted Christmas lover, to signs that she loves being let in on the secret of where I hide my decorations. “Hiding them in the bedroom so only you get to enjoy it.” She crosses the room but glances at me. “Unless you have it in here for when you have company.” Her grin falters before she sets it right.