Page 60 of The Other Room

I took a deep breath and watched another meteor streak across the sky. “You were my first kiss, you know.”

“And you were mine.”

“And...” I swallowed hard as I pressed forward. “I’ve never stopped wanting to kiss you since.”

Our heads turned, and our eyes locked. My breath quickened along with my heart. They were right there. Her lips. They were there for the taking, but fear roared inside my chest, my anxiety tearing me apart from the inside.

Her eyes drifted to my lips, then rose again, and when I looked in her eyes, I dug into my resolve. We’d wasted all those years hiding from the truth, and this time I wasn’t going to let fear stand between us.

Not this time.

I slid a hand along her face, pausing to give her time to shove me away. A moment to tell me we were just friends.

But the argument against my intentions didn’t come.

Instead she leaned forward, and I pulled her mouth against mine. Our lips connected, and I sighed into her mouth. I exhaled years of agony, torture, and desire now satiated with every swirl of her tongue. While I closed my hands around her face, I pulled her closer, every inch between us too many. My lips burned as I kissed her harder, and they finally claimed what they’d craved all those years.

Her taste.

Her touch.

Her passion.

This time she didn’t push me away, spitting out my affections. This time she wrapped her arms around my neck and melted against my body. Emotions I’d long suppressed raced each other to the surface, rejoicing in their freedom as she pulled me in closer, our kiss slowing as it deepened.

With every swirl of her tongue and brush of her lips, I felt our connection crackling to life. The walls we’d built between us came crumbling down, and for the first time in our lives, nothing stood between us. Finally, it was just us.

As our kiss softened, her lips ghosted mine. I captured her soft sigh in my mouth, then pressed my forehead to hers.

“Jo,” I whispered. “I’ve wanted this my whole life.”

Her ragged breaths danced across my skin.

“Me too,” she breathed.

I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her in tight. And now that I had her, I never intended to let her go.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

JO

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Matt held me tight, and I was grateful for the sensation to help convince myself this was real, and our kiss hadn’t just been a figment of my imagination or a vivid dream. But as his arms pulled me in tighter, I knew this wasn’t just in my head.

The kiss was real.

We were real.

“Wow,” I breathed, still stunned from the unfamiliar emotions raging inside me.

“Wow,” he responded.

His grip loosened, and I slid back, lifting my chin so I could look up at him. I needed to see his face, one more confirmation that this was happening. That I was here with Matt. Kissing him. Holding him. Feeling every one of my dreams come true.

When our eyes locked and I saw the same shock and amazement in his stare, I couldn’t help but smile.

He smiled back. “We’ve been missing out on that all these years?”