Cecilia motioned for him to stand. “Come on. Up you go.”
He rose to his feet and watched, baffled, as she licked the tip of her index finger and held it in the air. He’d never been so jealous of a finger in his fucking life.
“Perfect,” she announced, dropping her hand. Grabbing his forearms, she gently steered them in a circle, so his back was to the ocean and hers was to the Battery.
“What are you doing?” he asked, head tilting.
Cecilia curled her lips between her teeth for a moment, as she often did when she was building herself up to say something. Her cheeks were rosy, and those dark, doe eyes glittered when she let out a gusty exhale.
“I’m standing downwind,” she explained, unhelpfully.
Sloane gave her a puzzle frown she couldn’t see. “Affirmative. But why?”
She searched his visor so intently, it felt for a moment like she could actually see through it. “So you won’t smell me.”
It took him several tense seconds to catch onto what she was suggesting. “You want me to take my helmet off.”
“If I’m gonna fall in love with a man, I want to look him in the eyes when I do it,” she declared. “And if you’re gonna fall in love with me, you shouldn’t feel like you have to hide.”
He’d crashed through floors before. He’d fallen off buildings and down stairs during fights. None of those experiences compared to the way the earth fell out from under him when Cecilia saidthat.
Heart racing so fast it felt like it might pop, he rasped, “It’s dangerous. What if I?—”
Cutting him off, she told him, “First of all, I trust you. Second, if it’s too much, you can hold your breath until you get your helmet back on.”
Nervous sweat accumulated beneath the accordion folds of his collar. “Cece, if I fuck up…”
She firmed her delicate chin. “Then that’s that. But I’m not taking this any further without looking you in the eye, Sloane. And I don’t think you should, either.”
Her trust humbled him, but it was the vulnerability she asked of him that made him hesitate. His helmet had been a part of him for so long that he didn’t know exactly who he was without it.
Who do I want to be?
Sloane had no idea who he wanted to be, but he did know that all possible answers began and ended with having her by his side.
His hands trembled as he lifted them to the latches on either side of his jaw.
Cecilia’s steady gaze followed every movement of his fingers as he disengaged the seal. He lost sight of her briefly when he lifted the helmet over his head.
The cold breeze contrasted with the warm glow of the sunrise on his face. The light passed through the thin skin of his closed eyelids. Something kept him from opening them. Maybe it was fear, or perhaps it was reverence.
Either way, he couldn’t look at Cecilia when she whispered, “You’rebeautiful.”
A shuddering exhale left his parted lips. He didn’t dare breathe in yet, terrified that he’d ruin everything with one reckless gasp.
Cecilia’s hands settled on his chest, but they didn’t stay there. They followed an invisible path upward, over his shoulders and the cords of his neck, to cup his cheeks. Blood rushed to those lucky points of contact, making his skin tingle and desire sit heavily in his gut.
“Take a deep breath,” she quietly commanded.
Following her orders instinctively, he tilted his head up to avoid any hint of her scent on the wind. “Why?”
Cecilia guided his head back down with those careful hands. “Because I’m going to kiss you, Sloane.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE
His eyes snappedopen just in time to see her stretch onto her tiptoes. The length of her body pressed against his, sending a shockwave through him as she effortlessly guided him down to her. He was helpless. Utterly and completely helpless under her command.
