No. She takes my hand and brings me back to the couch, sitting close enough for our legs to press against each other. With the fire fading, there’s a slight chill in the room, and she grabs a knit throw from the back of the couch and tucks it over both our laps.
Then she looks at me with a steady gaze. Takes a breath and lets it out slowly.
“Mike.”
“Darce.”
She reaches for my hand. Threads her fingers between mine. “I don’t want to lose you again. Maybe I don’t deserve it—I probably don’t—but…”
Hope ignites. “What?”
“Will you give me another chance? Since we’re both in Sleepy Hollow. And we’re both single. And you know everything… Could we try again? Or is it too late?”
Emotion swells up so quickly I’m breathless from it.
“I understand if you can’t,” she continues in my silence. “It’s okay.”
“I can. We can.” Meeting her gaze, I add, “Yes, Darce. I want to try again.”
Tears shine in her eyes. “You do?”
“Yes.” I cup her cheek, stroking my thumb across her satiny skin. “And youdodeserve it. We both made mistakes. But everyone does. And tonight… I think it’s a pretty damn good sign that we should giveusanother chance.”
“Mike.” She blinks. “I would really, really love that.”
Maybe it’s too soon. But after nearly losing Darcy again, I’m not wasting another second.
So I lean closer. My heart thuds hard.
Suddenly, I feel like my sixteen-year-old self, kissing Darcy for the very first time.
A whisper away, I look into her eyes. There’s something in them—affection?love?—that’s so achingly familiar, it makes me want to cry.
It’s the same emotion I know that’s in mine. All my feelings for her, the ones I never lost even after all these years, right there, on full display.
And then.
We kiss.
Our lips come together, at first in an unspoken question.
Is this okay?
Then Darcy’s hand comes to the back of my neck, her nails lightly scratching my skin the way she always knew drove me crazy.
Stilldrives me crazy.
Our kiss shifts from slow and tender to a more desperate exploration. Small nips are followed by soft caresses. My tongue traces the seam of Darcy’s lips, teasing them open before dipping inside. And then wereallykiss, throwing everything into it.
All the years of longing. And the sheer joy of finding each other again.
My heart swells to three times its size, feeling like it’s about to explode out of my body.
I’m hard, painfully so, and there’s nothing I’d like more than to peel off Darcy’s clothes and make love to her. To kiss every inch of her body. To tell her over and over how beautiful she is. How she’s better than normal. That’s she’s absolutely incredible.
But that’s for another day.
And in my heart, I know there’ll be plenty of them.
