She drops my hand, planting both of her palms on her hips with a take-charge expression on her face and impatiently looks at me. “Where’s my ax?”
Whoa, now that’s not an expression you want to hear from a woman every day.
It’s wild but yet hot.
I walk to the porch where I keep several of my best throwing axes on a stand and run my hand along the row until I get to the lightest one. Her cyan-blue eyes track me as I walk the ax down to her and hand it over. “Can I walk you through a toss?”
She grabs the ax with both hands, her lips curling as she scrutinizes the ax. “This will do.”
There's just enough of the sunset left to give us the light we need, and I stand back a few feet and hold my hands up to walk her through the motion. “First, you want to look at your target and never take your eyes off it. Then you raise your arms upslowly, keep your ax steady, and be careful not to drop it behind you.”
She mimics my actions and then sets her gaze back on the target. My heart is ramming against my chest, and everything rolls out in slow motion. Her form is decent, but I still flinch when she releases the ax. It sails across the yard, snagging the target on the bottom right. “Not bad.” I push my bottom lip out, pretending to be impressed.
Her face is a blend of doubt and triumph, and she steps to the side. “Your turn.”
I rub my hands together again, teasing her. “Time to watch and learn.” To make it fair, I walk up to the target, take her ax out and return it to the porch. I retrieve the heaviest one for myself and turn back to the target. “I’ll stand way back here to give you the advantage.” This is like taking candy from a baby. She must know this is a setup. I stand back, stretching both ways at the waist, building up the anticipation for her.
One firm toss across the yard, and I’ll finally know what it feels like to have those sweet lips on mine.
My gaze wafts to her, and a beaming smile is spread across her gorgeous face. Shoot. Her button dimple on her cheek is even creased. My stomach wooshes. I’m such a sucker for dimples.
“What are you waiting for?” She bats her lashes at me, and I swear her dimple winks.
“Ah, nothing.” I square my feet to the target and raise my ax, but a wave of guilt washes over me. I instantly lower the ax and turn toward her. I was only trying to impress her, but this isn’t right. “Look, this clearly isn’t a fair bet. I’m going to win.”
Her bright eyes shine up at me, and the smile on her perfect-kissable lips doesn’t deflate. If anything, they appear to plump up more, enticing me in. I can almost feel her sweet pink flesh when she lowers her voice, “That was always the point.” Shegives me a nonchalant side-eye, and the twinkle that sparks out of the corners of her eyes tells me she was here for the kiss too.
A shot of electricity shoots straight through my chest and doesn’t stop until it zaps my heart, firing all my insides. My brain shuts off, and a pull of gravity draws my gaze back to her mouth. Her eyes widen, and I can’t help act but out of pure instinct when she bats her lashes. She strides over to me. Even with her shoulders back, she’s still at least a foot shorter than me. She doesn’t stop until she’s fully in my wide space bubble, close enough to nudge my elbow. “You know if you quit, not only am I going to think you suck, but I’m going to tell everyone you lost.”
“Everyone? You don’t know anyone here,” I puff out, enjoying her sass. She’s standing so near me, the heat of her body wafts off her, engulfing me, and makes it impossible to think about anything else than how perfectly kissable those lips are.
She’s so close, I could lower my head straight down and land perfectly on her lips. She’s unwavering, not backing up even a toe. She’s practically begging for this kiss. I twist my lips into a line of flirtation and lower my head, speaking low, “I just need to make sure you aren’t going to hold a grudge when I win, because I always hit my target.”
A visible swallow rises and lowers in her throat, and she holds my gaze level with so much potency, adrenaline flits through my veins. I love the feel of her gaze on me, and coupled with the heat permeating off her body, there’s so much magnetism drawing me closer. “No grudges.” Her words release me from our hold, and I remember I’m holding an ax.
The way she smiles has my heart slamming against my rib cage. She has to know what’s coming, and she clearly wants this as much as I do. I take a safety step to the side to clear space between us, and raise my ax. My hands warm as a blush flutters through my whole body in anticipation. I don’t even need to watch, the ax lands in the perfect middle of the target.
I turn toward her, ready to feast my eyes on her beautiful smile. I shake my head, backing out of the competition. “It really wasn’t fair,” I say, but before I can continue, she closes the space between us. A hand snakes around my neck, and she pulls me down to her while she rises to the tips of her toes.
It's fast.
It’s a little bit feral.
My heart expands, drinking her in as her body comes even closer.
Her lips capture mine, and she takes all the breath I have, erasing every ounce of insecurity I had over this bet. I wasn’t taking advantage of her any more than she was of me. It’s confirmed even more when I feel her smile into our kiss. Whatever this is, it’s mutual. When she pulls away, she leaves me standing with my mouth dropped open.
“So much for being just friends.” I reach up and physically close my mouth with my hand. “At least we got the hard part out of the way.”
A serious line pins between her brows as she gazes back at me. I hold my breath as I wait impatiently to hear what she has to say.
She can’t be mad.
She kissed me.
Her lips purse out, and I bite my cheek, waiting.
“Maybe it was meant to happen.” A simple gesture follows, where she grabs my hand, pushing her fingers between mine, and smiles sweetly at me. My heart swells, feeling her hand in mine, and her gaze so steady on me it’s as if she has nowhere else to go. “Now, let’s see about that dinner you promised me.”
