“Of course I do.”
“Really?”
She hummed with pleasure. “This was wonderful. I’d do this every day with you if I could.” Audrey took a step forward too, bridging the gap between them and running a hand along his broad chest, feeling the soft knit of his sweater beneath her fingertips. “Thank you for planning it so well—and for showing me some of the things you like.” She kept her hand there and waited, wondering what he might do if she lingered.
He answered that question by drawing her into a tight hug, tucking her under his chin and resting his head on top of hers while he enveloped her in his warmth and his scent, more concentrated than what clung to her scarf. His palm practically covered the entire back of her head, and Audrey closed her eyes as she wrapped her own arms around him, pressing her ear to his chest. His heart raced through his sweater just as fast as her own—if not faster—and she dug her fingers into his back, unwilling to let him go.
“Theo,” she whispered. “I want you to kiss me.”
He’d been gently combing his fingers through her hair, but when she spoke, they stilled. His chest rose and fell faster, but he didn’t say anything for a long moment—until he shifted his hands, drew away slightly, and placed them on either side of her face, tilting her head up to match his gaze.
“Close your eyes,” he finally murmured, his voice rumbling low in his chest. “Don’t open them. No peeking.”
Audrey did as she was told. There was a rush of cool air as he moved, and she heard the elastic release from the mask loops. His right hand still trembled at her left ear, the tremors tapping softly against her cheek. There was nothing else but the silence humming in the air and the latent sounds of the New York cityscape permeating the stillness. She waited.
And just when she thought that Theo might have changed his mind, that perhaps she might have scared him off, that her request had been too much, his lips and nose swept across her cheeks.
He drew them so softly against her skin, for a moment she thought it was a petal from one of the roses he’d given her earlier. But then he pressed them more assuredly, more firmly first to one eyebrow, then the other, before moving them gently across both of her eyelids. Her mouth went dry, and it dropped open of its own accord as Theo took his time exploring the curves of her face with his lips and his nose, his hands still cradling her head and tilting it softly this way and that. Shivers ran up and down her spine, and heat grew in the pit of her stomach as her heart raced and her breathing quickened to the point where she thought she might pass out.
No, it was more than that.
She might die if he didn’t properly kiss her.
His lips finally found hers, and as soon as they touched, a wave of sensation burst from the point of contact and rushed through her entire body, tingling all the way from the tips of her fingers down toher toes. With her eyes still closed, Audrey’s hands searched out his neck, and once she found it, she wrapped her arms around him and stood on the balls of her feet, drawing him closer and deeper. Her fingers knocked his hat off his head and she buried them in his hair.
Oh no.
It was so much softer and thicker than she’d thought it’d be, and it shifted luxuriously like silk between her fingers.
Suddenly, she was starving again.
Theo pulled away, and Audrey knew he was trying to be sweet. She knew he was being cautious, knew he wouldn’t want to push his luck, knew he probably couldn’t even believe she’d wanted to kiss him in the first place.
But she wasn’t done with him yet.
Audrey yanked his face back down to hers, and as soon as their mouths met again, their cadence increased in intensity, both of them trembling as they moved together as one, broke apart, and then crashed together like waves against a rocky shoreline. One of Theo’s hands migrated to the back of her neck, pulling her closer to him when he deepened the kiss. She opened her mouth for him, hoping, inviting,pleadingwith him to give her what she wanted, and he finally slid his tongue inside, tentatively, questioningly, tasting her and exploring her in the deliberate way he seemed to approach everything.
“Theo,” she gasped when he stopped to catch his breath. The space between them in that second was too much, and she wrenched her fingers in his hair to pull him back to her, to claim his warmth for her own, nipping at his lips in her determination to devour him. He made a low, strained noise in his throat, something halfway between a grunt and a growl before he took her mouth with his again, kissing her until their lips were raw and inflamed, swollen and sore.
It was Theo who finally drew definitively away, panting and gasping, his breath ragged and his hands shaking far more thanusual. But before Audrey could open her eyes to look at him and get a glimpse of her handiwork, he covered them with one wide palm.
“Eyes still closed, Miss Adams.” He still sounded strained, but resolute.
She huffed indignantly, but kept them shut. “Theodore Sullivan, I think I’ve just made myself pretty clear that I like your face no matter howyoufeel about it.”
He cupped her chin with his fingertips. “I know. But I need a little more time.” A few seconds later, he was smoothing her hair away from her face and tucking it behind her ears with both hands. “All right: open.”
She did.
He’d retrieved his hat and replaced his mask.
Well,fine.
Audrey supposed Rome couldn’t be built in a day. She shoved the disappointment down and chose to focus on the fact that the man standing before her and wholly intent on hiding his face had just ruined her for any other first kisses. Completely and utterlyruinedher.
There would never be another who could compare to what he’d just done.
He bent and pressed his forehead to hers, closing his eye and breathing slowly with her for a moment. “Thank you, Audrey,” he finally murmured, running his hands along her arms to keep her warm. “See you soon?”
