For a second, the world seems to still.
I take slow steps toward her, testing the space, the tension stretching thin. “Good,” I say, voice low. “Because I’ve been thinking about it ever since.”
Her breath hitches, and I let a slow grin tug at my mouth.
“Still,” I add, tilting my head, “if ‘liked it’ is the best I can get, maybe I should try again. See if I can raise the score.”
Her lips part slightly, her pulse fluttering at the base of her throat. “Do you think you can?” she asks, a challenge hidden in her tone that makes something hot spark in my chest.
For a heartbeat, neither of us move.
But because I can’t help myself, I reach out, brushing a damp strand of hair away from her face and tucking it gently behind her ear. My fingers linger, tracing the soft curve before I let go. A small shiver runs through her, and the sight of it nearly undoes me.
The air feels charged, alive.
I take one more step closer, close enough that her breath fans across my skin, and murmur, “Careful, Haven. I might start thinking you want me to.”
Her lips curve in the faintest smile. “Maybe I do.”
I didn’t come here for this, but that’s all the invitation I need.
Reaching up, my fingers brush her jaw, my thumb tracing the corner of her mouth. She draws in a sharp breath, her eyes flicking to my lips and then back to mine, and that’s it, the last sliver of restraint I had disappears.
The distance between us shrinks to nothing as I lean in, slow enough to give her time to pull away, but she doesn’t. Her eyes flutter closed, her breath catching just before our lips meet.
The first touch is soft, tentative, testing, slower, yet somehow even more passionate than the charged kiss we shared in the snow.
She tastes exactly the way I remember: sweet, intoxicating, and far too easy to lose myself in. Her lips part beneath mine, soft and yielding, and I capture her bottom lip gently between my teeth.
The small gasp she lets out undoes me.
I take advantage of the opening, sliding my tongue against hers in a slow, deliberate tease that pulls a shiver through both of us.
The kiss deepens until thought slips away entirely. Her fingers trail from my shoulders down my chest, bunching the fabric of my shirt in her fists. When she tugs lightly, I break the kiss just long enough to help her pull it over my head and toss it aside.
Her palms flatten against my bare chest, tentative at first, then surer, tracing the heat that’s already burning between us.
The contact sends a jolt through me, every nerve sparking alive. I draw in a shaky breath, catching her waist and pulling her closer until there’s no space left at all.
We stumble a few steps back, still kissing, until the back of my legs hit the bed. The momentum takes us both down in a rush of warmth and tangled limbs, her laugh muffled against my mouth before it melts into another kiss, hungrier this time, impossible to stop.
Then the spark between us flares, and the kiss deepens.
For a heartbeat, the world is nothing but the press of her and the quiet thrum of want between us—until a knock sounds on the door, sharp and sudden.
“Honey?” Haven’s mom calls from the hallway.
We break apart instantly, both of us breathless.
The doorknob rattles, and before I can even move, Haven blurts, “Don’t come in! I’m naked!”
I almost choke on my tongue when the words leave her mouth.
Haven winces, eyes wide in horror as she realizes what she just said, but mercifully, the door clicks shut again.
I blow out a shaky breath, pulse still racing.
Haven scrambles off me. Sliding off the bed after her, I rake a hand through my hair, searching for my shirt.
