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Her lips part under my touch.
She leans in.
Then stops close enough for her breath to touch my mouth.
“P.S.,” she whispers, “frosted brown sugar Pop-Tarts are the ultimate choice.”
This fucking woman.
I drag my thumb along her bottom lip, slow enough to make her breath catch. Then I swipe my tongue over that smart, dangerous mouth.
Her hands fist in my shirt.
My mouth finds hers, and everything else drops away.
Her mouth opens under mine, sultry and eager. My hands move to her waist, fingers spreading there. She folds into me, one hand pressed over my heart, the other at my neck.
And I’m done pretending I will ever let go.
TWENTY-SIX
STAY STILL
CLAIR
His mouth moves over mine with a hunger that strips the world down to skin, heat, and the rough sound he makes when I pull him closer. My back meets the bark of a tree, but the scrape barely registers because he’s everywhere. His hands at my waist. His chest against mine. The smoky, earthy scent of him wrapping around me until the cold, the dark, the dead, all of it falls away.
There is only him.
I grip his shirt and drag him closer, refusing to let even an inch of space exist between us. He answers with another low sound against my mouth, and it sends heat spiraling through me, sharp and immediate.
Somewhere in the distance, a branch snaps.
Leon stills.
So do I.
His body stays pressed to mine, but every line of him goes alert. One hand remains on my waist while the other shifts slightly, ready to reach for a weapon that isn’t there. For a few seconds, we listen.
No groans. No footsteps. No rustle of anything moving closer.
Just the woods. The wind. Our pulse pounding too loud.
His gaze returns to mine.
The danger doesn’t kill the moment. It sharpens it.
Because we both know how fast everything can be ripped away.
When he finally pulls back, we’re both breathing hard. His forehead rests against mine, his eyes searching my face like he’s memorizing this moment. Then he lifts one hand, slow and careful. “I love you too.”
My heart cracks wide open.
A smile breaks across my face before I can stop it. “Yeah?”
His answering smile is soft.
Devastating.
