Her lashes fluttered once more, blinking away fresh tears pooling there.
I couldn’t see her cry. Couldn’t feel my heart break with the idea that she might reject me. She had a million reasons to say yes to giving us another chance, but a million more reasons to say no. My mind was too scrambled to come up with pleading words, my adrenaline from the fight waning.
“I’ll wait inside so you can have time to think,” I forced out quietly while turning like the axis of my world was about to fall off-kilter.
But a barely-there whisper had me pausing, my heart rate spiking like in the last crucial seconds in a race.
“Kiss me.”
My head turned, chin nearly touching my shoulder as I wondered if I’d heard her right.
“Kiss me, Beckham.Please.”
There was no stopping me as my body swiveled and I raced for her like I couldn’t breathe until my next breath was with her lips on mine. Those five steps were the longest, most tantalizing distance a man had ever walked. My feet planted on either side of hers, my hands cupping her cheeks and tilting her head at the perfect angle.
My lips crashed to hers, the universe exploding into a million stars at the sheer force of it.
She tasted like rainy summer nights, winters on the ranch, and home.
Myhome.
My Parker.
Our mouths worked overtime, trying to make up for the years spent apart. For the weeks spent craving. For the stolen glances and dreaming of each other’s taste.
Her hands fisted in my shirt over my chest, tugging me impossibly closer. Our bodies were flush to one another as my hands slid into her hair, trying to memorize every part of her while I had her. The past merged with the present, every stolen kiss from our childhood zipping through me like a live wire as I met her stroke for stroke.
Our tongues danced, teeth clashing and breaths clouding.
I could taste her for a million years and still never be satisfied. With her, I always craved more. With her, I could drown and never wish to come back up for air. With her, I was whole.
Her hands slid up my neck, tiny icicles gliding over the inferno I’d turned into. I sucked in a breath, forcing our lips apart.
My forehead fell to hers as I covered her hands with mine. “Your hands are frozen.”
“I don’t care,” she admitted breathlessly, trying to inch forward and kiss me again.
“I do.” I held our hands between our chests as we tried to catch our breath—and maybe our sanity. “We can go inside.”
She shook her head like she was afraid that if we did, this dream would cease to exist. But then her hands quickly unwound from my own, and she set them on my ribs.
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” I pleaded, desperation and a hint of fear coating my words.
“We broke the rules.”
I nearly groaned. She and these rules would be the death of me. “We’re still doing that?”
She narrowed her eyes on me, and I almost laughed. Parker, clearly worked up and fighting her desires, was adorable when provoked. “Yes, we’re still doing that.”
“How many more do we have to break?” My tongue lapped out at her puffy lower lip.
Her chin tilted up, a heavy, wanton breath escaping her. “One.”
“Which one is that?” I murmured, lips and mustache ghosting over her cheek until my mouth hovered over her earlobe.
“No sex.” She barely managed to get the two words out as her eyelids shut.
I nipped her ear, a small moan building in her throat. “I can take care of that.”
