She doesn’t. She stays.
And fuck me, she’s closing the space between us. I swear if she tilts her head an inch more, I’m done for. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to make a move this badly in my life.
I can’t. Not unless she does.
This has to come from her.
Her eyes are locked on mine. “What are you thinking?”
I swallow hard, the dryness in my throat almost painful. “I’m thinking you should probably back away,” I say, but the words come out like a growl, a sound I barely recognize as my own. It’s rougher than I meant, but hell, it’s impossible to hide how much she’s messing with me.
Her lips curl into that teasing smile, and damn, it should’ve been a warning. “Probably,” she says, but still doesn’t move. Instead, her hand slides up my forearm, slow and deliberate, the touch sending a shock of electricity straight to my groin. “But what if I don’t want to?”
My jaw tightens, my pulse thumping so loud in my ears I can hardly hear anything else. Every fiber of my body is begging me to pull her closer, to breathe her in, to feel her body against mine. I resist, and instead grit my teeth, the heat from her hand spreading through me like wildfire.
“Then you’re going to make this a whole lot harder for me,” I mutter, the words scraping out of my throat like gravel.
Her smile widens, mischievous and knowing. She’s aware ofexactlywhat she’s doing to me. And then, just when I think I might lose it, she leans in a fraction closer, her breath warm against my ear. “Maybe I like making things hard,” she murmurs, and hell, I damn near lose it right there.
I don’t even have time to fully process what she says before a booming laugh bursts from me. It’s ridiculous, helpless. I’ve completely lost control of the situation. And the sparkle in her eyes? Hell, it’s driving me absolutely mad.
It’s like fate gave me everything I’ve ever wanted…and then laughed in my face, making her so damn impossible to reach.
“Kiss me, Callan,” she dares. “Before I lose my patience and start kissing you myself.”
Well, now she’s really done it.
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
I don’t waste any time. My hand finds her face, my touch gentle, but everything else about me? Far from it. My mouth crashes into hers, desperate and ravenous, like I’ve been starving for this for far too long. She gasps against me, and that sound…god, it’s like a spark to a fuse, sending a rush of heat straight through my veins.
Her lips part, giving me just enough space to dive in. I taste and explore every inch of her with a hunger I don’t want to fight.
I lose track of time, place, all of it. The only thing that matters is her. The way her fingers tug at my collar, how she bites down on my lip hard enough to make my blood burn.
I pull back to meet her eyes. She’s lost in this, too, her pupils blown wide with desire, and fuck, it drives me crazy. “Careful,” I murmur, my voice rough and barely holding on. “I might bite back.”
She presses her lips together in this teasing, innocent pout, but there’s no hiding the devilry dancing in her eyes. “Is that a promise?”
A low groan rumbles deep in my chest, and hell, every part of me wants to pull her right back to me, to taste that wild, intoxicating energy between us again. Then reality crashes in like a cold bucket of water, and I’m reminded of where we are.
We’re smack dab in the middle of my brother’s wedding.
I shift my gaze to check where the hell we are. Knox and Juliette are staring at us, jaws hanging open like they’ve never seen two people kiss before. Lucy’s looking like she might pass out, her eyes wide with shock, while Rose is barely holding it together, amusement written all over her face.
Then there’s Bree. She follows my gaze, sees the audience we’ve unintentionally gathered, and what does she do? She laughs. Not just any laugh, but that genuine, carefree kind that makes everything else fade away. Her head tips back, and thesound hits me like fireworks going off in the dead of night. Bright, explosive, and impossible to ignore.
And hell, if I’m not laughing, too. It’s contagious, and before I know it, we’re both sitting there, grinning like a couple of fools. Her eyes are shining, her smile lighting up the darkness around us, and for a second, I forget everything. She’s perfect.
But damn it, as much as I want to pull her into my arms again and kiss her senseless right here, right now, I need to get a grip. This is a wedding. There are guests.
As she wipes away the tears from laughing so hard, there’s a shift. There’s that look in her eyes again… The one that tells me she’s not afraid to bend a few rules if I’m game. If she keeps looking at me like that, I’m going to need to find something to hide the bulge in my kilt.
“Come home with me, lass.” The words spill out before I have time to think, but it feels right. So damn right.
Her smile turns wicked. “Took you long enough to ask.”
I chuckle, leaning a little closer. “Had to make sure you were actually up for it, Sunshine.”
