I nod.
The smile on his face spreads as he leans in, touching it to my lips, and I kiss him back.
It’s just the pressed together kind, and yet … my inside feels like they wanna jump to the outside. Maybe get in line to be next.
Too soon, Tristen pulls away just far enough to rest his forehead on mine, the sides of our noses touching.
“I’ve never wanted to get on my knees more than I do right now.”
A heat I don’t understand pools low in my stomach and on my face.
“What?” The one word barely eeks out past the building thickness in my throat.
“Would you let me, Emmett?” He steps closer, his body heat like a caress to my entire front, his actual hands coming to rest on my shoulders. “Let me taste you? Not right now, but some day?”
Taste me? Like …
I swallow hard at the way his breath shakes from him and washes over my face, my own steadily speeding up.
“I-I-I don’t k-know.”
He smiles anyway, even though I feel like that’s not the right answer, and kisses me again. It’s quick. Soft. But then he’s gone, turning back to the stove and messing with the pans on top of it.
I take a long breath. Like I’m coming up for air.
Maybe … maybe there is no wrong answer to that.
“You wanna grab the garlic bread from the freezer?”
I nod to his back and pull the box out. It’s the only new thing in there. The only thingedible.
“Thanks, bubs. Now come back to your spot so I can do this and see your face at the same time.”
Listening to his soft order is easy, watching him even easier.
Every so often, he pushes his glasses up, and I can’t tell that he doesn’t realize he’s doing it as he moves until his hands are full and he looks up at me with them halfway down his nose.
“Lil help?”
My face flushes, I can’t explain why, and I reach to touch the thick frames. He moves his head toward me, placing them just right with my assistance, and that heat I felt low in my stomach flares again.
“Thanks.” He flashes that crooked tooth. “It’s almost done.”
It smells just like that night at the firehouse, the first time he took me with him, all fresh herbs and tomato sauce.
It’s just as overwhelming as it was that day, but tonight … it feels more … right. Like the scents aren’t as bad as the first time and that maybe life isn’t as bad as I thought it was then.
Tristen’s still here after all. That’s gotta say something.
He tilts his head, and I just know that he’s inviting me to grab plates, to eat with him, and it feels good.
Not wrong or terrible.
Just …normal.
It’s the first time I felt normal in this house.
Chapter 60
