Page 99 of Forbidden to Fall

James’s gaze was fixed on me, like he was waiting to see what I did next.

But as the door shut, muting the sound of the rain in the unlit bakery, I was suddenly unsure what came next. My hand was still in his, but I just…stopped and looked at him.

We stared at each other in silence, then he took a step toward me. And another. And another, until I had no choice but to let him run into me or to step back. Chin up to meet his gaze, I took a step backward in tandem with him, my pulse rushing and uncertain.

He grasped my waist just in time to soften my back hitting the counter.

Gaze pinning me in place, he gripped my waist with both hands and lifted me onto the counter. His eyes never strayed from mine as he stepped into the space between my knees.

Water was trickling from my hair, but I let it run its course, afraid to even blink.

James moved a lock of drenched hair off my forehead, his fingertips grazing my skin before he let his hand slide down. His thumb came to rest on my cheek while his fingers curled softly around my neck.

I took him in, drinking in every detail—the subtle sheen on his cheekbones from the streetlamp outside to the shadow his brow cast over his eyes, like I’d been waiting my whole life to see him from this vantage point, without interruption. When my gaze reached the curve of his lips, I closed my eyes, a request to explore them again with something other than sight alone.

I didn’t have to wait long. His lips covered mine, warm and soft. I shivered anyway.

He kissed me like it was our only chance. Every tip of his head, every taking of my lips thawed me, heating me from the inside out in a way dry clothes or a fire never could have.

He kissed me like he’d been wanting to, like he’d thought about it—dozens of times, maybe.

And I didn’t just let him. I kissed him back like I wanted to, like I’d thought about it dozens of times. Because I had.

His hands settled on my thighs, his splayed fingers warm as his lips met mine, over and over, each time different and new. Then they slowed, our lips lingering until they finally broke apart.

His gaze took me in, soft but piercing. Unapologetically staring at me just like I was staring at him.

Another little shudder ran through me.

He chafed my arms. “You must be freezing.”

“Actually, I was imagining what Mrs. Keller would do if she walked in right now.”

James smiled. “What would she do?”

“Me sitting on her precious counter? And you…”

“Doing this?” He kissed me again, sending an explosion of butterflies from my stomach all the way into my throat. He broke his lips from mine. Barely. “I don’t think I can stop kissing you, but as for her precious counter…” He lifted me off of it and stepped back so he was holding me up and I was looking down at him. I crossed my ankles behind his back and smiled as he lifted his chin and kissed me again.

“Think she’d still be mad?” he whispered against my lips.

“She’ll survive.” I stopped any chance he had to respond.

I was too drunk off of James to care what Mrs. Keller would think, too intoxicated by this open and unfiltered version of him. I thought back on the day I’d first seen him at the sugar shack. I hardly recognized that man. He’d warmed up so slowly, so gradually that I’d barely noticed how different he’d become.

But only with me.

“I could do this all night.” He lowered me until my feet hit the floor. “But you’re soaked through.”

“So are you.” I brushed a drip before it could trickle from his hair into his eyes. “At least I can get dry clothes from upstairs.” I stopped. “Actually…”

I jogged over to the front door of the bakery and locked it.

James watched as I returned to him, a quizzical light in his eyes. “Am I being held hostage?”

“I don’t know. Are you? I can let you go…”

He grabbed my hand and threaded his fingers through mine as if to say I won’t let you.