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“I see what you mean.” He stares into the woods for a moment before pulling a utility knife from his pocket.
I flinch. “What’s that for?”
Dash presses a hand to his heart. “Your lack of faith wounds me.” He marches to the nearest tree and begins carving a crooked heart.
Tears blur my vision as he adds our initials in the center. No one has ever written my name on a bathroom wall before, let alone a tree. This man—a man I barely know—cares enough to immortalize our names together in something that will outlive us both.
“There.” He pockets his knife and takes my hand. “Now you’re part of the forest, too.”
23
Modern Love
“Oh my God.” A moan of ecstasy rolls out of me as tingles work their way through every fiber of my being. “Where have you been all my life?”
Dash’s eyes sparkle in the firelight as he gapes at me, so distracted he doesn’t notice the ball of flame engulfing the marshmallow at the end of his outstretched stick. He clears his throat. “How have you never had s’mores before?”
With another toe-curling groan, I catch a glop of molten fluff and melted chocolate with my tongue as it oozes from between two graham crackers. “Clearly, I’ve been cheated and deprived my whole freaking life.”
Dash shifts his weight on the log and his thigh brushes mine. “That’s sad.”
“Tragic, really.” I stuff the last bite between my lips and lick the sticky residue from my fingers, one digit at a time.
He inhales sharply and chucks his burning stick into the fire, seconds before the flame reaches his hand. “You’re killing me, you know that?”
A laugh rolls up my throat, because I know. I totally know.
With a devilish grin of his own, Dash dips his head and leans in. “You, uh, missed some . . .” His sweet breath washes over me as he rasps his tongue from my chin to the corner of my mouth, sucking my lower lip between both of his before releasing me.
A violent shudder cuts through me.
He chuckles, bringing his lips to my ear. “Now who’s laughing?”
His dark whisper sends a prickle of heat rippling through my core.
“Not me.” My voice cracks, my insides melting like a flaming marshmallow on a stick. “Definitely not laughing.”
“Good.” He brushes loose tendrils of hair from my neck and kisses along the curve of my jaw, fanning the out-of-control flames raging within me and sending molten heat spreading down . . . down . . . down. “Because this isn’t funny.”
“Not . . . funny . . . at all.” I can barely breathe to get the words out.
Day-old stubble skims my cheek as he continues his sensual assault, his hot mouth moving to my exposed throat, kissing a blistering trail to my collarbone before nipping his way back to my ear.
Oh God.
Unable to think straight, I ball my hands at my sides, restlessly waiting for him to make his next move. He hooks a finger under my chin, tilting my head and dragging my gaze to his.
The crackle of the fire and the katydids singing in the trees fill the void as the silence between us stretches to the breaking point. Barely an inch separates us. All he has to do is lean forward to close the gap. All he has to do is kiss me.
He shifts again, resting his forehead against mine. The smoldering heat in his eyes challenges me to surrender. Begs me to give in. Little does he know how close I am to doing exactly that. Then he slips his fingers under my shirt, grazing my stomach as he inches his way toward the swell of my breasts. My nipples tighten with anticipation, and I let out a ragged breath.
Dash’s lips curve into a wicked grin. He has me right where he wants me, and he knows it.
A moan escapes me. “Now who’s trying to kill who?”
“Killing you is the last thing on my mind right now.” He cups my face in his hands and closes the distance between us, capturing my eager mouth in a fiery kiss.
He tastes like toasted marshmallow and chocolate, and I don’t care that I’m basically re-creating a page out of my mom’s diary. Or that I’ve known him for only a handful of days. God help me, I’ve wanted him since the first moment he spoke to me in that greasy diner.
