Even if it meant catching fire.
Chapter Twenty
Ben
I’d had good kisses before.
Even great ones, by some people’s standards.
But nothing,nothing, like kissing Fifi.
It wasn’t just a spark. It was a full-body surge, like plugging into a live wire and realizing you never wanted to disconnect. Her lips had tasted like chocolate and firelight and something maddeningly addictive. Her fingers had clutched my shirt like she didn’t trust the earth to stay solid beneath her feet.
And hell, I didn’t either.
Because everything I’d been trying to hold back cracked wide open the second I kissed her. All the reasons I told myself to stay guarded, to stay out of it—safety, distance, logic—melted faster than the marshmallow she never finished toasting.
I hadn’t meant to kiss her.
Not yet.
But then she looked at me with those impossibly wide eyes, mouth twitching with words she hadn’t said, and I couldn’t hold back anymore.
Now I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Or her.
Or the way her body fit so easily against mine like we’d been circling this moment for longer than we knew.
I could still feel her in my hands. The heat of her waist, the shape of her back. My thumb ached from where it had brushed her cheek.
We stood close, her breath catching, her chest rising and falling just inches from mine.
Neither of us moved.
Neither of uswantedto move.
She smiled, the kind of shy, stunned smile that felt like the aftershock of something much bigger. “Well.”
I raised a brow, not ready to break the tension. “That’s all you’ve got?”
Her lips twitched again. “I’m collecting my thoughts. Give me a minute.”
“I think I short-circuited mine.”
She let out a breathy laugh, and I swore the sound alone made my chest feel too tight.
“Okay, I—” She rubbed her fingers together, visibly flustered. “Full disclosure. I’ve never kissed a guest before.”
I blinked.
“You haven’t?”
She shook her head, eyes wide and bashful. “Nope. Zero guest-kissing record. This is new territory.”
I tried not to smile, but it slipped out anyway. “Well, I’m honored to have broken the streak.”
“Youshouldbe. I have standards.”
