Page 90 of The Difference Between

I’m older than him, our lives might as well be on different planets, but I am so thankful he’s here that I can’t ignore this feeling that’s growing. For him. Something bigger than friendship. Every difference between us paling to the fact I’m letting him hold me and there’s no place else I’d rather be.

“Sorry,” I whisper, prying my body from his.

His hands move to my face. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” I nod and sniff. “I’ve never been trapped in a closet.” I force a soft laugh. “Or had someone exploit my weakness to hug me.”

His chest vibrates with a laugh and his hands drop from my face to my hips. “You hugged me back,” he says. “If that didn’t work, I was going to try dancing.”

“Funny,” I whisper.

From the bedroom, comments are made about where furniture would fit. It’s only a matter of time before they look in the closet.

Through the dark, my gaze collides with Gavin’s. Panic over being in a tight space is fading, but it doesn’t change our situation. It also doesn’t quell the fresh desire I have to run my fingers through his beard.

So marks my descent into madness.

The woman’s voice says, “Do you think a TV would fit on that wall?”

We have to get out of here, but our only play is to wait.

“What are you thinking?” Gavin whispers.

“Um.” I swallow. “How much worse this situation would be if you were all cleaned up and in a suit.”

He puffs out a laugh as my thoughts spiral in a million directions, all of them involving more closeness. With him. Even though we’re in a dark closet that just minutes ago tried to kill me and we need to get out of here and his hands are on me and mine him, I want more.

I also have the uncanny need to come clean.

“I have to tell you something,” I whisper at the same time Theo announces, “Over here’s the spacious walk-in closet.”

Theo keeps talking as the doorknob turns, and Gavin whispers, “Don’t fight me.”

Three things happen at once: light slices through the dark closet, my heart stops, and Gavin’s mouth crushes against mine.

I freeze—Gavin is kissing me—then melt right into him.

When his fingers dig deep into my hips, mine slink through his beard then into his hair.

When his tongue swipes across my lips, my mouth opens to let him in.

When Theo says, “Whoa!” I can’t pull away to acknowledge him because Gavin’s tongue touches mine and I want to suck it down my throat like a six-mile-long spaghetti noodle.

His beard scratches my face, and I moan.

Into him.

With an audience.

It’s Gavin who pulls away first, chuckling as he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand while looking at Theo.

“What I tell ya?” Gavin asks the gaping strangers as he grabs my hand—he has to because my knees are one breath away from buckling. He guides us around Theo and the speechless couple. “Think we’ll need a place with more bedrooms.”

We make it out of the room and down the stairs and onto the porch before my brain resumes functioning.

Gavin saw me panic over being in a tight space.

Gavin hugged me.