Page 49 of Brighter Together

The other settles against my jaw.

And Tommy kisses me back.

Slowly at first.

Carefully.

As though even now he is giving me the chance to change my mind.

I just move closer, and his fingers tighten slightly in my hair.

He deepens the kiss. His tongue brushes my lower lip and heat shoots straight through me.

I open for him.

A low sound comes from somewhere in his throat.

That nearly destroys what little self-control I have left.

Months of wondering.

Months of fantasising.

Months of thinking he barely tolerated me.

And now he’s kissing me like he has been holding this back the whole time.

Maybe he has.

My fingers curl into the front of his shirt.

I want to climb across the centre console.

I want his hands everywhere.

I want to know exactly what else Tommy Atkinson has been keeping behind all that grumpiness.

Which is precisely why I make myself stop.

I pull back.

We are both breathing too hard.

Tommy’s hand is still in my hair.

His forehead almost touches mine.

Neither of us speaks.

If I stay here another thirty seconds, I’m going to invite him upstairs.

And if he says yes, I’m absolutely not going to make sensible decisions about my boss while he’s taking his clothes off.

I need one night.

One night to think.

To work out whether I’m brave enough to risk the best job I’ve ever had for something I suddenly want far too much.