I moved closer to her, boxing her into a corner.
She started laughing and whining, holding her hand in front of her. Like she was taming a wild beast. “Let’s talk about this, Jack. Be reasonable.”
Once the towel was tightly wound in my hand, I snappedone end letting the other hit a cabinet door with a loudcrack. She screamed. I did it again, faster this time. She bounced on her toes in a clash of delight and terror, her brown eyes dancing and pleading. The stress and fun of the moment made her brows pull together and her hair fall in her face. “Jack, stop!”
I would never actually hit her with the towel. A damp towel could give someone welts. But she knew it was flex. All for show.
I snapped a cabinet for the third time, and she bolted from the corner before I could reload.
She was so cute.
Before I realized what she was doing, she thrusted her hand inside the bag of powdered sugar on the counter and held a fistful at eye level. We faced each other with our weapons. Her voice, wobbling with laughter, urged me. “You better think about what you’re doing before?—”
I let the towel fly and she threw white dust at my face.
“I cannot believe you.” I laughed, reaching for the sugar bag myself.
In thirty seconds, we did substantial damage to the kitchen. There was powdered sugar all over the floor and counters, all over Miranda’s shirt and face. She was laughing with wild abandon. I let the sound wash over me, warm me from the inside out.
If I ever entertained for a second that there was anyone on the planet for me besides her, I was dead wrong. Miranda was perfect.
If I was a schedule, she was the freedom.
The whimsical to my practical.
And the heart for my brain.
Everything I wasn’t. Everything I wanted.
It’s why no one else had ever been able to take her place.
I loved her before. I loved her after. I loved her now.
We had chased each other back around to the sink. She reached it first, flipped it on, and grabbed the sprayer. “Call a truce now or I’ll spray.”
“Fat chance.”
Water hit my face. I wrestled it out of her hands and dragged her over to the freezer while she kicked. Holding her around the waist with one arm, I took a fistful of ice with the other. Down the back of her shirt it went. But I wrapped my hands around her back, holding the ice in place so it didn’t fall out. She was laughing, screaming, beating my chest and trying to push away.
“Jack—Jack, please. Please! I can’t handle it.”
Her squeal turned into a distressed sound, and I immediately loosened my hold. Ice clattered to the floor and her shoulders dropped. She breathed heavily, a smile still on her face. “You—you aresoawful.”
Maybe I was awful.
Because the only thing I could think about was towing her to the shower and washing the sugar out of her hair. She was still pressed against me, my hands on her back.
“Okay, truce,” I rasped.
“About time.”
She looked up. “You are soaked.” She swiped my forehead with her hand. I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. The game had escalated into something else entirely. My pulse was chaotic with adrenaline. The feel of Miranda’s feminine curves was a provoking and torturous experience. My need for her was thrown wide-open, full throttle.
She squirmed. “You’re not going to let me go?”
I shook my head, my insides clenching as I realized letting her go was absolutely not an option. “No.”
Her gaze snapped to mine. She must’ve seen the desirewritten there because she drew a quick breath, her footing faltering. Confusion shone in her eyes as she searched mine. Her lashes fluttered closed for a brief second as I reached up to push damp hair out of her face.
