Even though he didn’t say a word, his actions tell me that he’s trying. I feel the steady rhythm of his pulse. I’m aware of every point where our bodies touch. The solid warmth of his chest. The way his breath stirs my hair. That he could hold me all night like this and not tire.
We listen to the storm, wrapped in warmth and something neither one of us is brave enough to name until I shift position and gaze up at him. “Patton?”
“Winnie,” he says softly as if finally ready to answer my question.
I adjust my position so we’re facing each other.
The warm amber in his eyes says so much without him having to utter a single word.
His gaze drops to my mouth.
My lips part slightly.
He crooks his finger under my chin.
I lean closer, silence eating up the distance between us.
The smart thing would be to pull back. To remember the bet, the complications, the fact that we work together and no one in this town misses a trick, even if we’re locked in here, alone.
But I stopped being smart around Patton Cross when he brought me coffee. Or maybe even before that. My mind didn’t want to admit what my heart knew.
He frames my face with his hands and lowers his lips to mine. I meet him halfway.
This kiss isn’t like the sweet brush of our lips in the snow after the town council meeting.
This is months of tension and denial and want exploding all at once.
His mouth is firm and sure, tasting cool like peppermint. My hands fist in his shirt, pulling him closer, and he makes a sound low in his throat that sends electricity down my spine.
I melt in his arms.
His fingers sweep along my jaw, tilting my face up as he covers my mouth with his again. My heart throbs so hard I’m sure he can feel it. When his lips slide across mine—soft, then demanding—I’m breathless and completely undone.
His hand cups my face, thumb grazing my cheekbone as he kisses me deeper. Everything swoops—my stomach, my thoughts, my grip on reality.
Patton’s raspy breath mingles with mine when we switch positions and find each other again and again.
My fingers slide to the back of his neck, and when he deepens the kiss, everything disappears. The kiss sends me to the heights, to the clouds. It’s just moonlight and stars up here.
My fingers tangle in his hair as we press closer together.In any other circumstance, I’d fight for my breath. Even though I’m engulfed in fire, I don’t need oxygen. I don’t want this to end.
Pulses pounding, he slows and his lips glide against mine with a tenderness at odds with the desperate way we’re holding each other—as if afraid the other is going to disappear.
We break apart just long enough to gasp for air, foreheads pressed together, before diving back in.
This time it’s deeper, slower, like we have all the time in the world and nothing else matters except this moment, this room, this connection we’ve been fighting since the day we met.
When we pause again, we’re both breathing hard, lips swollen, eyes dark.
“Wow,” I whisper.
“Yeah,” he agrees roughly.
We’re still tangled together, hearts racing, the air between us charged as our lips meet once more.
24
PATTON
