Her lip twitches and her eyes fall. “You can’t.”
“You don’t want me to?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “It’s not that.”
“Then why?” I beg.
“This is messy.” She looks up at me again. “I’m messy.”
I hold her hand tighter, gripping it close because I don’twant to comprehend the words she’s saying. “No, you’re perfect.”
She laughs half-heartedly. “I don’t belong here. Who knows what’ll happen tomorrow? Doesn’t that scare you?”
It does, but right now it doesn’t matter. I lean in closer until I’m a mere breath away. “I’m not the scared boy you remember.”
Another beat of silence passes.
It’s so quiet I could hear a leaf hitting the pavement.
She meets my gaze. “Prove it,” she whispers.
My whole body is on fire as I close the distance between us and kiss her.
Her lips are softer than I imagined, and my heart stutters as her hand cups my face, pulling me into her like she wants me to.
This isn’t just anyone. This is Emma. The girl I daydreamed about. The girl who knew all of my secrets. The girl I couldn’t forget no matter how hard I tried, and even after all our time apart, there’s still an undeniable connection between us. A magnetic force so strong I know no matter what happens, we’ll find our way back to each other.
I’m not ready to move on. I need her hand to stay on my face and her lips to cover mine. I kiss her back like I need it more than air. Like if she stops, so will my heart.
This kiss doesn’t feel like a passing moment. It’s a promise that Emma and I are mending the broken bridge separating us.
This is how we were meant to be—inseparable.
She pulls back first. “Myles, we have to go.”
I don’t want to. I kiss her cheek. “No.”
“I don’t want you to miss your game.”
“Let’s miss it,” I say right before kissing her jaw.
“You don’t mean that,” she says, biting her lip.
That only makes me want to kiss her more. “Want to find out?” I ask, aiming for her lips again.
“Myles,” she says with a laugh in her voice as I kiss her smile. “The game is important to you. We need to go.”
I kiss her one more time before I break away with a sigh. I know she’s right, but I don’t want to stop.
The sun is shining on her, leaving a warm glow on her hair, and her cheeks are so pink I don’t know how I’m supposed to focus on anything but her.
“Why are you staring at me like that?”
How could I not? She’s beautiful, and no matter how much she’s changed, right now she’s proved her kind heart is still alive and well. She’s putting me first. There has to be a part of her that’s scared to go home, and yet here she is, telling me to go back because she knows what this game means to me.
“How could you ever think you weren’t good enough for me?” I ask, but it’s not really a question.
Her gaze falters and her hand runs through her hair like she’s embarrassed.
