“Sophie. Look.” He grabbed my palm and nuzzled his face into it. “It’s okay. I’m okay.”
I pulled him down to hug me again, wrapping my arms so tight around his neck.
“I was so scared. I couldn’t find you,” I said into his shoulder as he rubbed circles on my back.
“Everybody is okay. Walker got a little inhalation sickness. But the factory was empty. Just some dumb kids with fireworks that got out of control. Nobody was hurt. I am okay.”
“You’re okay,” I repeated.
I leaned back slightly, thinking I’d held him enough and surely, he’d want to be free of me, but his arms remained banded behind my back. His head bent down, our faces inches away from each other. His eyes sparked as the fire died down behind us. The smell of damp and ash overtook the burning.
But I wasn’t aware of any of it. The moment held magic. There was no time. There were no governing rules of physics. There was just me in his arms. The relief was so tangible that I thought I might start crying.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
His brow was creased with worry as his gaze roamed my face, moving to the ridiculous costume I had forgotten I still wore.
I couldn’t help myself. I hadn’t been thinking for the last hour, why start now?
I pushed up on my toes and met my lips to his.
23
Pace
The kiss wasover a second after it started.
Her lips met mine, and the shock of it caused me to freeze. I hadn’t expected her here at all, and then she was running toward me, more terrified than I’d ever seen her. And she’d been scared most of our time together. And then, just as I registered that she was terrified formeand I reassured her, her lips were suddenly on me. I had been in firefighting mode. Not charming-Pace mode. Literally and emotionally, two very different hats.
I stared down with what must have been an utterly dumbstruck expression as she slowly moved back down and away from me.
She’d come for me. She’d been worried aboutme.I swelled with a feeling I couldn’t define; it was good but also made my throat tight with emotion. She cared about me and not just the list.
“Sorry, that was—” She shook her head, chin tucked to hide her face. “Sorry,” she repeated. “I can’t believe I just did that.”
My systems slowly switched over, alerting me that the incredible woman I’d been losing my mind over for the last few weeks had just kissed me, and I’d done nothing.
Fire-danger risk assessment: zero.
Desirable-woman-waiting-for-reaction risk assessment: through the roof.
“Sophie,” I whispered roughly from the smoke. I threaded my hand around the back of her neck and into her hair. I used my thumb to gently tilt her chin up for her to meet my eyes.
I was covered in soot, hands rough and cut, even with gloves, from fighting with this out-of-control blast. She was too soft and beautiful for me to cup her face like this. Too gentle, too pure to be defiled by the likes of me.
But I’d been given the go-ahead, and I was taking the shot.
My joy was too effervescent to shove back down. She’d come here for me. She’d been looking for me. She’d kissedme.
I ran my thumb over her lip, mostly healed, marveling at how soft she was, how she let me degrade her with this small touch. I grinned like the lovesick fool that I was.
Her eyes flicked back and forth as they moved over my features, wide and eager for what I’d do next.
“You just surprised me, is all. Can we try that again?” I asked.
She swallowed to take in a shaking breath. Her mouth parted slightly, and then she nodded. My smile widened, and she whimpered.
I dropped my head, letting my lips find hers. I inhaled her, hovering on the brink of pressure, my touch light so I could tease out the softness of her mouth first. Finally, when I’d felt that I’d had that initial sensation memorized, I lowered, let myself test a firmer pressure of her lips. It still wasn’t a moving kiss, more a brushing of my lips against her.
