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PROLOGUE
EVANGELINE
“Kiss me.”
The quiet plea floats in the limited space separating our mouths. I wait, my nerves dancing like the sparklers we wrote our names with in the night sky.
It seems impossible that it was mere hours ago. My head feels light with lust, my fingertips weightless as they flutter against my bare thigh, right below the hem of my flared skirt. Anticipation hums in my veins, buzzing like fizzy candy as I wait.
And wait.
And wait.
The moment stretches on until I feel like a rubber band stretched too tight. Hesitation hangs around his neck like a thick scarf, holding his body so, so still in front of me.
I hover in front of him, his knees bracketing me as I kneel between them. The breeze picks up the ends of my long hair, my big barrel curls long fallen in the hot night air. Grains of sand dig into my skin, but I barely feel it. My attention solely on the enigmatic man in front of me.
Waiting to see if he'll take the gift I'm offering him.
Or if he's going to brush me off under the guise of some misplaced honor.
I'm not an idiot. I know what I'm offering—and from the way his eyes darken as his gaze roams my face, I'd be willing to bet he knows too.
Nana Jo always told me that I would justknowwhen I was ready.
And even though it sounds cliche as hell, I'm on the beach with a guy I met six hours ago, andI just know.
I swipe my tongue across my bottom lip, catching remnants of the fruity wine cooler and the s'mores he made for us over the bonfire. He grunts, his hands curling in the sand next to his hips, like he has to physically ground himself.
And then I understand. It's not hesitation. It'srestraint.
There, the twitch in the corner of his mouth, the way his hazel eyes have darkened into endless pools of deep desire. “You sure, baby girl? I might develop a taste, and then you'd never be clear of me.”
I nod, my gaze zeroing in on his mouth and ignoring his half-hearted warning. If it was that at all. Him developing a taste formeisn't the deterrent he thinks it is.
He swipes his tongue along his plush bottom lip, and I have to hold myself back from leaning forward and copying his movement.
He tilts his head, looking at me from underneath his impossibly long lashes. “Need your words.”
I trail my fingertips up his arm, round his shoulder, and sink them into the hair at the back of his neck. I lean into him, making sure I fill his vision completely.
“If you don't kiss me right now,” I murmur, my top lip brushing against his bottom one. “I just might die—”
His eyes flare with heat, and before I can finish my dramatic plea, his lips crash into mine. He pulls me flush against him, the sides of my skirt riding higher on my thighs between his legs.
And I can't find it in me to care. I kiss him back with equal fervor, gripping his hair between my fingers to keep our bodies close.
The sound of the waves gently lapping the shore, the scent of the bonfire smoke, the low hum of chatter from people down the beach, it all fades into the background as we lose ourselves in each other.
I had no way of knowing that my whispered words, drenched in lust and maybe even propelled by the looming end of summer vacation, would seal my fate years from now.
That one day I might just diebecausehe kissed me.
1
EVANGELINE
“You're fired.”
