Page 73 of I Saw You First

“Stars fading but I linger on, dear, still craving your kiss,” the Jessica Rabbit lookalike on stage sings, and I want to kiss Abbey so badly.

I’ve wanted to kiss her since that first night at The Golden, and again at Ruh-Roh when she was nearly trampled. The night after the eval in the parking lot. The night Dex fired Tyrell. The night her battery died, and I drove her home. Every time I see her at the store, every single day. I’ve wanted to kiss her even when I’d convinced myself that I don’t have feelings for her.

Still craving your kiss.

I’m going to do it. Tonight, I’m going to kiss Abbey Rhodes.

“You look gorgeous tonight,” I tell her. “That dress, your hair, those shoes. You’re perfect. Everything about you is perfect.” I lean in, slowly, so damn slowly, but then I stop just short of kissing those sweet lips.

Not here. Not in front of all these people. The first time I kiss her, I want it to be someplace private, just the two of us. I drop my arms and take two steps backward.

She freezes and frowns. “What’s wrong?”

“Come with me.” I can’t wait any longer.

I want her.

I take her hand and tug her across the dance floor. We slip out a side door into a narrow hallway, and the door closes behind us with a snick and clunk.

“Where are we going?” she asks, breathless.

“You’ll see.”

“That’s not an answer.” She wrenches her hand from mine. “Tell me or⁠—”

I stop. I rewind my actions from the last few minutes. I’ve acted like a fucking caveman. “I’m sorry. Shit. Are you—are you afraid?”

“Of course not, unless you’re planning to murder me back here and hide my body in—I don’t know, some dusty old storage cupboard that no one uses or⁠—”

“Can I kiss you?” I blurt out.

She blinks in surprise and nods.

In a split second, my hands are on her upper arms and I’m walking her back against the wall and then my mouth is on hers, hungry, hard, my tongue slipping and sipping between her lips. I’d only meant to kiss her softly and sweetly, like I almost did on the dance floor, but I can’t help myself. I need her. It’s lighting me up, this kiss, and I want to live here now and bask in this brilliance.

She lights me up.

My life has been dark for so long, since even before my parents’ divorce, but Abbey Rhodes lights me up.

I pull away even though I never want to pull away. I need to hear her say yes. “Are you sure this is okay?”

“God, yes,” she murmurs.

“Thank fuck.”

I wrap my arms around her waist as she puts hers around my neck again. She steps up on her tiptoes and pulls me closer. Her fingers tangle with the curls at my neck. I deepen the kiss but still, it’s not enough, and I put my hands under her ass to lift her. She scrambles to wrap her legs around me, but this damn dress is in the way, and she squirms against me, and I groan. I set her down, bunch up her skirt, and tug it up until there’s enough give, and then I lift her again. This time, she’s able to tuck her legs around my back. She presses into me where I’m hard, and I grind against her, and she moans.

Yes. Finally.

She gasps as I bite her bottom lip then move to her neck, sucking, licking, biting but it’s not long before I need her lips again. Her tongue finds mine, stroking and exploring, and I feel this kiss everywhere and I know that she does, too, by her quiet moans and mews. I move a hand under her skirt, against her hot, soft skin, and she whimpers into my mouth. She moves her core against me again, and I growl, and god, if we’re this wound up already, what’s going to happen when I move my hand from the back of her thigh slowly, slowly, closer to⁠—

A loud bang and a crash somewhere behind us startle her. She plants her feet on the floor and leans against the wall, breathing heavily. Her skirt swirls back down like a curtain. Her eyes widen and lock with mine as I clear my throat and grin.

“What—what—” she stammers. “You kissed me.”

“I don’t think I was the only one involved.”

“Wil—I—you said⁠—”