“You know, another woman tried to jump me from across the table today,” I mention in a low voice so only she can hear.
Her left eyebrow arches. “Oh, really?”
“Lily tackled her,” I say.
“Is Lily here now?” Her eyes are intensely green, like new spring leaves after a fresh rain.
I shake my head. “Not that I know of.”
She smiles at this. “Well, I guess I’m a lucky fan.”
She wraps her arms around me, her hands on the back of the chair, then she leans in, her hair becoming a shield around us as her forehead rests against mine. Her lips are just there, and my eyes drop to them.
I can feel everything.
The hard hammer of my heart. The blood rushing through my veins like a raging river. The heaviness of my own lips as they become a magnet drawn to hers. The way I want to break myself open and be consumed by her radiance.
Then she laughs as if she can feel how everything inside of me is gravitating toward her like she’s the sun and I’m the Earth. Or Saturn. I’ll even be Pluto—small, forgotten, maybe not the most important, but still orbiting, drawn to her, like I’m beginning to think I always will be.
“Are you going to kiss me or not?” she whispers with a smirk.
I don’t make her ask again.
I pull her closer to me, my hands firm on her lower back, and when my mouth meets hers slowly, it’s as if light has found my darkness, and I let the heat of it sear through me. Her lips open, and I can feel her smile against me before she kisses me again, this time with such intensity that I swear I see new colors behind my eyelids, as if she just created something new in me, or maybe woke up things I never knew to remember.
I’d be okay sitting here forever. It really is the best seat in the place.
Our mouths move effortlessly, and yet with gravity, as if we’re exploring a new world together. My hands find her hair, and her fingers tug at mine. We’re lost in this moment, and I never want to be found.
When someone clears their throat,I ignore them. Rachel does, too, which makes me smile into her kiss.
Her lips just feel so good against mine, and I’m not about to be the first one to pull away.
Another guttural sound from someone that I can feel standing beside us.
Now Rachel begins to laugh, her breath hot in my mouth. She sits up straighter, leaning away from me as she wrangles her hair with her hands. I balance her on my lap with my hands still firm on her back.
I look up, my lips feeling swollen, and see Melanie with her eyes wide in surprise, her arms crossed, and her foot tapping.
“This isn’t exactly on the schedule,” she says.
I smile at her. “Last minute change.”
She rolls her eyes, tilting her head toward the long line that I’ve forgotten about.A line that has their phones out, lights on, and is documenting every single second of what just happened between Rachel and me.
“You’ve got a few more books to sign,” she says. “Rachel, do you mind being a little less distracting?”
Her lips look as swollen as mine feel.
“I do kind of mind, actually,” she replies. “I prefer to be very distracting.”
She swings a leg around the chair so she can stand, and then she takes a couple steps back. “Can I be distracting from right here?” Then she moves behind me, putting her hands back on the chair, hovering behind me so I can feel her close but not close enough. “What about from right here?”
I can’t help it. I laugh out loud.
Melanie sighs even though she’s trying not to smile. I can tell by the way she’s looking at us that she’s already beginning to spin this, to make it good PR.
“I think you both need some space, at least some time to refill with some oxygen after that make-out session. You can be distracting from ten feet away.” She shoos Rachel.
