Sudden shyness overtook me as Cole locked his gaze with mine. When his thumb caressed the back of my hand, the fine hairs on my arm stood at attention. I read a thousand questions behind his eyes.
“What?” I asked, out of breath for no reason at all.
For a moment, he was silent.
“Am I pushing my luck?” he whispered.
I blinked. “Wh-what do you mean?”
He tilted his chin back and forth between us and clasped my hand tighter. “This. Trying to get close to you.”
A nervous joy fizzed inside me. “No,” I managed, but the word was barely audible.
He watched me for a moment, and then his focus fell to my lips. My lungs filled with the cruelest anticipation. A rush of déjà vu crowded my head. I remembered that long ago morning — leaning in and surprising him with my kiss — as if it was yesterday.
The need. The heady rush of my own recklessness. The clean, male scent of his skin.
It was just the same. I needed to pull back. Ava would walk in any second. Maybe I could get some air. A glass of water. I wet my lips with the tip of my tongue, and in that instant, I saw Cole’s pupils dilate.
Then his mouth was on mine. And time stopped.
I sucked in a startled breath at the feel of his firm, silken lips. But the touch of his mouth, even in those few seconds, was not enough. My hands broke free of his and caught his face, his stubble a welcome rasp against my palms. I pulled him into me just as I felt one arm close low around my back, and then a hand cradling my head.
Cole shifted, tilting my head back, and as though the instinct were written in my bones, I opened for him. A mingled sound of satisfaction and suffering rose from his throat, pulling a higher-pitched echo from my own. His kiss was searching, all heat and hunger. And the long-lost taste of him — pure and unmistakably Cole — made me want to weep. I would have known him by his kiss alone.
My tongue came alive at this reunion, stroking his, tangling with it, and finally venturing into the hot well of his mouth. At my invasion, his hands roamed over me, pulling me against him. The hand at the back of my neck swept forward before fingertips traced my cheek. The one at my back ranging up my spine and charting me rib to rib.
My entire body felt as if it was made of tiny windchimes. Each of his touches resonated down my every sinew in a tingling song. I was mad for him. Ravenous for him. As if I’d been starving forever. I barely recognized myself, and yet, in his embrace, I felt more myself — moreme— than I had in years.
If he got up and walked away from me now, I’d be ruined.
That thought splashed like ice water, and I stilled. Breaking the kiss, I pushed myself away.
“Hang on,” I said, catching my breath, closing my eyes.
I heard Cole exhale three times.
Then his thumb caressed my cheek. “Elise,” he whispered. “Look at me.”
I opened my eyes and found worry etched in his. He was watching me so closely, I felt exposed. See-through.
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” he said.
I let go a breath. No way. How could I tell him how much letting my guard down with him terrified me? I shook my head. “I can’t. Tell me what you’re thinking instead.”
Those firm, silken lips I wanted to kiss again shaped into a half-smile. “I’m thinking about nine different things.”
“Like?”
He ran his thumb over my cheek again. The temptation to close my eyes and lean into his caress was a real threat.
“Like I’m wondering how badly I just freaked you out… And I’m asking myself if it’s possible that kiss didn’t just feel as amazing for you as it did for me.” His expression was so open and vulnerable, I found enough courage to respond.
“I’m pretty freaked out. But, no. It’s not possible.” I swallowed and went there. “It was… heaven.”
Cole’s nostrils flared as his chest rose. “Thank Christ,” he breathed. Then he shook himself. “But why are you freaked out?”
“Cole.” I spoke his name as though the answer should be obvious, but I sure as hell couldn’t say it aloud. I’d sound like an idiot if I told him how afraid I was he’d disappear on me again. I had no right to feel this way. He owed me nothing. “Maybe we should call it a ni—”
