Page 77 of No Headlines Please

He was right. Guilty or not, I was having a terrific time. As for giving away his food, I would definitely need to tell him what I'd done.

Maybe he'd understand. After all, it's not like I was selling the food for illicit drugs or designer shoes.

By the time we reached the elevators, I knew exactly what I had to do. I had to tell him now, before guilt made me even more crazy.

As I reached out and pressed the button to go down, I turned to Maddox and took a deep, steadying breath. "Can I confess something?"

His eyes locked on mine. "Anything."

As I stared up at him, the planned confession died on my lips. There he was – dark-haired, broad-shouldered, and distractingly male. Even worse, he was looking at me like there was nowhere else he'd rather be.

Wow. My heart didn't stand a chance.

But that didn't stop me from confessing.

I just made a different confession, that's all, because already, I was blurting out, "When I left earlier – you know, to change my clothes? – I almost felt like I should kiss you goodbye."

His gaze warmed, and the butterflies in my stomach went absolutely wild. For a moment, both of us stood utterly still. I still couldn't believe I'd said it, but I had no interest in taking it back.

His gaze lingered on my lips as he asked, "Almost?"

At something in his voice, my brain gave a stupid little stutter. "Well…yeah. I mean, I didn't actually do it…kiss you, I mean."

"You're right. And you wanna know how I know?"

"How?"

"Because I'm pretty sure I would've remembered."

I let out a breathless laugh. "Pretty sure?"

"Definitely sure."

My pulse was racing now. "Well, for what it's worth, I still kind of want to."

Again, his gaze dropped to my mouth.

I bit my lip. "Or…you know…you could kiss me."

To my infinite relief, his hand settled at my waist, and he drew me tight against him.

For one dizzying moment, I lost myself in the feel of his body against mine – the clean scent of him, the warmth of him, and the hard muscles of his chest.

But we weren't kissing.

Not yet.

He tilted his head lower. I tilted mine higher. But just before our lips touched, he softly teased, "You kind of want to?"

Oh, screw it. The other confession could wait. I pressed my lips to his, which of course, sent my pulse into immediate chaos.

I slid a hand into his dark hair and rose onto my toes, chasing the kiss before it could slip away. As his mouth moved against mine, every other thought in my head simply ceased to exist.

It was just me and Maddox, alone in the whole world, until the ding of the elevator had us pulling apart at the last possible moment.

The doors slid open, and I stifled a groan.

Good Lord.