“Yes. And I didn’t want to make you mad.”
“I’m mad.”
“I see that.”
“You should have told me. All the other people you’re close to knew this information. I’m the only one you excluded.”
“You’re the only one who was on a trip overseas.” Her grip on her temper, and on the fact that she was at fault, began to slip.
“Did you keep it from your parents?” he asked. “They were in Africa.”
“I... They—they’re myparents. I had to tell them.”
“And what am I to you?”
“You know what you are to me.”
“I don’t think I do.”
“Of course you do.”
“I don’t. You almost died, and you didn’t contact me.”
She stepped close to him, scowling, her hands balled on her hips. “I didn’t almost die.”
“You could have died, Britt, and I’d have been on the other side of the world.”
“But I didn’t die!”
“But you could have. And I’d have been wrecked.”
“Any of us could die any day, driving our cars or walking down the street—”
He let out a rumble of frustration, stepped forward, and cut off her argument by taking her face in his hands and kissing her.
The shock of his mouth against hers wasn’t cold or dominating. The stunning contact was all glowing, sparkling warmth. Soft, firm lips.Hislips. Against hers. Passionate and urgent to communicate something that he’d been unable to communicate with words.
I’m kissing Zander.
ZANDER is kissing me.
He smelled like expensive cologne and heat and ocean. His breath blended with hers so that she couldn’t tell where his exhale ended and her inhale began. Every sensation was packed with miracles and overwhelming surprise and deep commitment. Britt’s pulse thundered.
She’d had no idea,no idea, that kissing him could be like this, that kissing him could set her soul on fire—
Zander pulled back abruptly.
His chest hitched with his breath. He regarded her with smoky, unfocused eyes.
She stared at him, her senses reeling, her mind staggering with the ramifications of what had just happened.
Now was the time to say ... something that would save this situation. If only she knew what that something was. Every word in her vocabulary had deserted her.
She was acquainted with physical attraction. But she was wholly unacquainted with what had just occurred. What had just occurred was physical attraction woven together with her love for Zander and their long history together—all of which had added up to make the kiss combustible.
She watched Zander’s eyes clear. Watched as intensity tinged with dismay entered them.
She didn’t want his dismay. She wanted to kiss him more so that she could lose herself all over in that delicious oblivion. Oblivion would provide an escape route from the talk they now must have.
