For a moment, I swear neither of us breathe. The rain pounds against the truck in heavy waves.
If I kissed him right now, would he think it was just a reaction to everything that’s happened? Would it drag him back to thoughts of Michael? To the way he used physical touch as a distraction from the world around him?
It’s anything but that. I wanted to kiss him at the cemetery we just left. At the hospital when he came looking for me. The night before I left for what could’ve been my last shift.
Every moment I’ve been in this cabin with him.
Back in high school.
Every goddamn day since meeting him.
I’m certain I’m about to crack when he leans away and goes for his door handle.
“It’s getting worse. We should get inside.”
As he opens the door, I clear my throat and mirror the action with mine. I’m immediately drenched, my white button-up clinging to my skin.
A warm shower sounds nice, but the thought of sharing it with Ayden sounds even better. But… he pulled away, and while I hadn’t advanced, I think he sensed I was about to.
I’m only a few feet away from the truck when Ayden’s voice cuts through the storm. “Was it a mistake?” He practically has to shout over the downpour.
I turn, looking back at him standing in front of the passenger-side door.
“Mistake?”
He takes a deep breath, lips parted as water runs down his face, his suit plastered to his body.
“Kissing me back that day.”
I angle my body fully toward him and shake my head. “No.”
“Then why did you say it was?”
I wonder if his heart is thrashing as hard as mine.
“Because, sunshine, you’re the smart one. I’m the fucking idiot.”
He shakes his head, then tilts it upward, eyes closing as he exhales a breath that makes his shoulders tremble. I can’t tell if it’s from the cold or because he’s wrestling with the words he wants to throw at me. Maybe that I’m an asshole for what I said. Which he’d be right, I really am one.
A second passes—an eternity—before he looks back at me with a small smile tugging at his lips.
“The rain really is relentless…”
I exhale, a cloud of mist drifting in front of me.
Fuck my brain. Fuck what anyone thinks. Fuck the world if it dares call this wrong. Fuck everyone else but Ayden Pierce.
MyAyden.
Just—“Fuck it.”
I’m on him before I second-guess the action, hands grabbing in his hair as I crash my mouth against his.
I push him against the truck, drinking in the sound he makes as he clutches me fiercely, arms locking around my body. Caging him here, Idevourevery inch he’ll give me. He parts for me, and the moment my tongue slides against his, I groan.
I’ve never forgottenthis. His weight beneath me, his mouth on mine, the taste of him. It’s all etched into my memory, and I want to make more of them.
We break only long enough for him to breathe and for me to whisper, “The mistake wasn’t kissing you—it was not making you mine sooner.” My lips brush against his again. “The mistake was ever giving a fuck what anyone thought. Letting other’s happiness come before mine. Beforeours.”
