Page 106 of And Now, Back to You

I arch beneath him but he doesn’t stray from my mouth. He doesn’t push for more. I toy with the hair at the nape of his neck and I feel his lips twist into a half-moon smile against mine, amused. I make a helpless, happy sound and he echoes it back, deeper and rougher. An ache blooms the longer he kisses me, a sharp want that pulses and spreads.

“This is how it should have been,” he says against the curve of my jaw. “From the very start.”

“I don’t know about all that.” I press my head back into the pillows, giving him more room. “I kind of like the way we started.”

He leans back. “All that arguing?”

“Mm-hmm. It makes me feel like I know all the shades of you.” I reach for his glasses on the nightstand. “Here,” I say, unfolding them, taking extra care with the part I accidentally snapped during our run-in at the station. Jackson ducks his face down so I can slide them over his ears. I do it carefully, smiling at him when they’re in place. He blinks at me from behind the thick lenses and—this is nice. Being here. With him.

“Delilah,” he starts to say, “I think I—”

The rest of his sentence is stolen by the sharp flare of every light in our room. They turn brighter for half a second before they snuff out completely. Even the tiny green lights on our devices go dark, the cheery fire that’s been roaring in the fireplace for days sputtering out with a hiss.

We both freeze, staring at each other.

“Was that the power?” I whisper.

“Yeah, I think so.” Jackson pushes himself to his knees and looks over his shoulder, then out the window. Beyond the frosted glass is a downward slope to the lake, dotted with strings of golden globe lights. I can see the glow of them when I’m lying in bed, the light fighting from beneath a foot of snow. All of them, like stars caught in the rocks of the cliff.

Those lights are dark now. There’s nothing but snow as far as I can see.

“Looks like it might be out for the whole lodge.”

r/HEARTSTRINGS RADIO

LEAKED AUDIO REMIX

ORIOLESMAGIC28: Not to be dramatic, but this audio changed the course of my life.

BALTIMORON78: Would it be weird if I made this my ringtone?

CHAPTER 26

JACKSON

The cold sets in quickly.

I tug Delilah out of bed and force my sweatshirt over her head, and then another one on top of that.

“Don’t you think this is a little—Jackson—” I tug her pale purple beanie over her head, covering her eyes. She pushes it back up, smiling up at me. “I think you’re overreacting a little bit.”

“I’m not.” While I have no doubts that Lottie has a backup plan already in the works, I’m not interested in watching Delilah shiver through her poorly insulated weather gear while the generator gets going. I reach for my jacket and tug it on. “I don’t want you to be cold.”

“I don’t think I’ll be cold for the next millennium, Jackson.” She lifts her arms. They rise two inches. It’s possible I did, in fact, overreact. “How am I going to get out of all this stuff?”

I give her a loaded look.

Her cheeks immediately pinken. “Ah, yes. Nothing says take me to bed quite like forcefully tugging a woman out of three layers of sweatshirts, I guess.”

I rub my palm against my jaw, hiding my grin. “I think you look cute.”

She glares at me from the other side of the bed. “Oh, good. Even better.” She forces her feet into her boots, grumbling under her breath the whole time. “It’s like the turtle suit all over again.”

I round the edge of the bed and grab her hips, holding her steady. “You’re always cute.”

She pouts. “I liked it better when you said I’m so beautiful it makes you mad.”

I can’t resist. I lean down and suck a kiss against that full bottom lip. I think I’ve finally figured out how to crack open the part of me that doesn’t have to run through every worst-case scenario before making a decision. I just need to kiss Delilah. She silences all the fuzzy, staticky parts of my brain.