The kiss deepened, the taste of sweetness and mint, and all of him filled my senses until the rest of the world went utterly, beautifully blank.
When he finally pulled back, both of us were breathing hard, foreheads touching, smiles pulling at the corners of our mouths.
“So,” he said, voice low and rough, “was that part of the recipe?”
I laughed, breathless. “You tell me. You’re the one who ruined Santa.”
He grinned. “Worth it.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” I said, but I couldn’t stop smiling.
“Too late.”
We stood there like that for another heartbeat, both of us caught between laughter and something far deeper.
Outside, the wind howled against the glass. Inside, it was quiet except for the sound of our breathing.
I knew I should step away. I knew what getting close to Drew meant—complications, old feelings, the risk of falling again.
But for once, I didn’t care.
Because right now, in this tiny Christmas-lit apartment, with spaghetti cooling on the counter and his heartbeat steadyagainst mine, it felt like everything I hadn’t known I was missing had just walked back into the room.
And kissed me breathless.
Chapter Twelve
Drew
For a guy who’d spent the last few months getting the cold shoulder, I sure as hell hadn’t expected the night to end like this.
Her lips on mine, her hands clutching my shirt, and the world falling apart in the best possible way.
MelanieSauser, woman of a thousand snarky comebacks and one hell of a temper, was kissing me like she’d been holding her breath for weeks and finally remembered how to exhale.
And I was gone. Completely, utterly gone.
Everything else, snowstorm, spaghetti, self-control, faded into white noise. The only thing that mattered was her.
Her lips were soft but fierce, the kind of kiss that didn’t ask—itclaimed.She tasted faintly of peppermint chocolate, like Christmas and chaos rolled into one. Her fingers slid into my hair, tugging me closer, and I couldn’t stop the low sound that escaped me.
If this were a dream, I didn’t want to wake up.
I’d spent months trying to get her to look at me like this again, to drop the walls, the distance, the carefully measured sarcasm. And now she was here in my arms, under my hands, and all I could think was,don’t mess this up.
So I memorized everything.
The tiny sigh she made when I deepened the kiss. The way her eyelashes fluttered against my cheek. The warmth of her body pressed against mine.
Because there was always that voice in the back of my head whispering that this might never happen again. That tomorrow, she’d laugh it off, call it a “blizzard-induced lapse in judgment,” and go back to pretending we were nothing more than friends who couldn’t stop arguing.
So I kissed her like a man who’d already missed her once.
Her hands slid down to my chest, fisting in my shirt. I felt her heart hammering against me. It was fast, frantic, and alive, but it hit me how long it had been since I’d felt this way. Sinceanyonehad made me feel this way.
When she finally pulled back, her cheeks were flushed, her lips red and a little swollen, and her breathing was as uneven as mine. For a second, neither of us said anything.
Then she glanced past me at the counter, where the pasta still sat steaming.
