Footsteps approach as Ollie and Val enter just a minute after us. “Pretty cool lightning show outside, huh?” Val asks, her excitement leading me to believe that she must have missed most of the showdown between Ollie, Cameron, Delaney, and me, for her to still be in such a good mood. When we are all quiet in response to her question, she asks another one. “Where’s Leah?”
“Probably still in her room,” I say. “I should go get her.”
Before I can remove my hand from Cameron’s grasp, he squeezes it tighter. “I’ll go with you.”
“Here, take my phone,” Ollie offers, and Cameron reaches out to grab it, then we head down the hall together.
“Let’s stop in my room first so that I can get my phone too.” We make the detour to slip inside. I try to let go of his hand again when we enter so that I can get my phone from where I left it on the bed, but instead he gently whirls me back around to face him.
“What?” I ask, stomach dropping in anticipation that he is going to finish what I tried to deny was starting downstairs, but instead, he holds the light up to my forehead.
“Let me check you out real quick.” He pushes my stray hairs back with his free hand.
“I’m fine,” I argue, but let him look me over.
After his assessment, he states, “No blood, just a knot.”
He lowers the phone light to point at our feet, but the hand he was using to push back my hair lingers, pausing when his thumb reaches my cheek, and the rest of his fingers curl lightly around the back of my neck.
I freeze at the contact, and he falters, too, pulling his hand away. In the haphazard view from the phone’s flashlight, I see his Adam’s apple bob up and down.
“I’m going to grab my phone,” I say.
This time he doesn’t try to stop me when I turn away.
My face tingles from where his warm hand was just touching it as I unplug my phone from the charger, pleased to see that it reached full battery before the power went out, and swipe to unlock it so that I can check my most recent messages. The storm must have knocked out the network connection, too, because my phone is SOS only. I can still see my missed calls and unread texts, though, the most recent of which is from Scott.
Scott:We just got the call! Baby boy is on the way!
Gabe:Driving to the hospital now. Will call later when we have news!!!!!!
I gasp and do a little dance, unable to contain my excitement.
“What’s going on?” Cameron asks but stays where he is across the room.
I turn on my phone’s flashlight and turn back around to face him. “My brother and his husband are adopting a baby, and the birth mother just went into labor!”
“That’s incredible, congratulations,” he says with a wide smile. “Do you want me to step out so that you can call them back?”
“I can’t, the phone is SOS only,” I say. “Maybe once the generator is back on, I can do a Wi-Fi call or something.”
“If we don’t get power back soon, I will personally drive you around until we can find a signal, because I can’t have you missing out on all that.”
I melt at his offer, because driving around in the rain is the absolutelastthing he would want to do right now, and yet I believe that his offer is a legitimate one. Even if he had to face his biggest fear and only ended up driving me around at five miles an hour to make sure we were safe, I believe that he would do it if it meant he could help me call my brother. Because even though I am not sure what this is between us, the way he looked at me downstairs when he told me what my writing meant to him, and the way he is looking at me right now, feels like he would give me the entire world if he could.
I don’t know if it’s the excitement of my nephew’s birth, the fact that I bonked my head on the door a minute ago, or the way that this stunning man is smiling down at me, but when Epic Drew proposes a crazy idea, Cursed Drew happily moves aside and lets her take the lead.
Cameron stops breathing as I take one step towards him, then another. I lift my eyes to meet his gaze, and his eyes search mine in the dim light with a mixture of confusion and awe.
The room is silent. I hesitate for a split second to allow him a chance to tell me that he doesn’t want this, and that I’m not about to ruin everything between us by taking it one step too far. I can see the gears turning in his mind as he realizes what I am proposing, but his answer becomes clear when his gaze dips down to my mouth, and back up again. I take that as a yes and push up on my toes so that I can firmly press my mouth to his.
He exhales sharply the second our lips connect, and I marvel at how soft and warm and perfect they feel, even better than I imagined they would. I fall back down on my heels and he blinks down at me, stunned. My muscles coil in anticipation as he searches my eyes for a few painfully long seconds. I made the first move, so if he wants to continue, then he will have to make the next.
When even more seconds pass, I start to think that I’ll just have to be content with that single, perfect kiss. I avert my gaze in disappointment, which must have provided him with what he was looking for, because he finally reaches forward to grab the back of my neck and crushes his lips back down onto mine.
All my senses become laser-focused on Cameron. There is nothing else on earth but our kiss. No curses. No crazy retreat guests or dead parents. No more playing small or living quietly. No. This kiss isloud. A statement we are shouting into the void that has, for so long, tried to drag us down with it. We are fighting back, and we are taking this moment for ourselves, despite everything that makes it unorthodox.
Our breaths become ragged as we fight to bring our bodies together so that there is no space between us. I grumble in frustration at our height difference and how it makes it impossible for our bodies to match up the way that I want them to. He must feel the same, because not a second later, he flexes his hand on my hip and brings the other back up behind my head and starts to walk forward. I move backwards, secure in his grip, until my back hits the wall. It feels cool against my feverish skin, and when he brings his lips down to mine again, we finally have the pressure that we were so desperate for before.
