My hands hovered for a second —don’t rush her, don’t ruin this— before I let my fingers skim the zipper. I tugged it down slowly, the sound absurdly loud in the quiet room. The line of her back was revealed inch by inch, warm skin begging for my hands.
“Junie…” My voice was barely a whisper.
Her breath hitched, just once. “Yeah?”
“You’re gonna kill me.”
She laughed — nervous, breathy — and it broke me.
The dress slipped down further, pooling around her waist.
When she looked back at me over her shoulder, nothing butthe skin of her back and with that look in her eyes? It was over for me.
“You’re staring,” she teased, but her voice wobbled.
“Yeah,” I admitted, no shame, no apology. “Can’t help it.”
Without another beat, I snatched up the shirt I had slept in last night, holding it out for her. “Here, smells like me.” I winked, delighting in the blush that continued to darken her cheeks.
She glanced back at me. “Turn around, cowboy.” The words were soft, laced with anticipation and something else… something that set the blood in my veins alight.
“Yes, ma’am,” I obliged quickly, ducking my head as I spun around. I swore my heart stuttered as I heard the quiet stirring of air when she dropped the dress.
She turned back to pullmyshirt on, letting the dress fall to the ground at her feet. And that’s when it hit me — there hadn’t been anything under the dress.
“I’m decent.” But her voice was anything but.
I couldn’t stop staring. The graceful line of her spine. The curve of her hips as the slip settled around her waist.
God.
There was a feeling in the air. I didn’t know if I was drunk on the high of the premiere, of the good press, or justbeingnear her.
Who the hell was I kidding?
Ofcourseit was her.
When I turned, her fingers were in her hair, plucking different pins and clips out of her locks. “You have to stop looking at me like that,” she whispered.
“Like what?” I took a step closer, heart racing, palms sweaty.
“Like you might consume me if you get too close.”
“And if I do?”
She swallowed, eyes never leaving mine as she discarded her hair pins. “It scares me, Ansel.”
“I know, baby.” Another step. It took everything in me not to raise my hands — approach her like a timid animal.
This was…
It was huge.
I couldn’t fuck this up.
Whateverthis might be.
“You did so good tonight,” and she preened, the corner of her mouth tipping upsogently. “Marianne, my publicist, said that everyone wants tobeyou, June.”
