So, no, it wasn’t fate, but an opportunity I won’t waste but will use to my advantage. She shouldn’t have caught my interest. Now, it’s too late for her.
“I know enough, Viviana,” I say and cup her face, slamming my mouth on hers.
She resists me for a few seconds, trying to push me away, but I deepen the kiss, and the fight leaves her. Curling her fingers into my lapels, she melts into my arms, kissing me back with the same frenzy as if wanting to make up for the last month.
I kiss her until I deprive my lungs of oxygen. There is no escape for me either. Her floral scent permeates the air, driving me wild.
With her glassy eyes and swollen lips from the kisses I can’t abstain from stealing, she looks dazed. Mine.
Chest panting, she slips from my hold, and I let her, just for playing’s sake.
If she runs, I’ll chase. The thought alone makes me hard as granite.
Her brows pinch in confusion. “What is it about you?”
So damn cute.
I smirk, loving that I have this effect on her. “I could ask you the same.”
The most radiant smile paints her face.
“You’re Evie’s brother, an absent one at that.” She scowls as if grasping for things that could keep us apart. She’s so adorably innocent.
“I have my reasons.”
She looks sideways, chewing her bottom lip. “Now what? We simply can’t?—”
“Can’t what?”
Stretching out her arm, she gestures between us. “Continue where we left off.”
She takes a step back for every step I take in her direction until her back meets the window—trapped in my lair, flush against my chest.
I palm the glass by her face and lower my head, witnessing her chest falling and rising in rapid breaths.
“Haven’t you heard of personal space?” She huffs, but the sound lacks vigor.
“We eradicated that a while ago.” I chuckle, loving to call out the part of her she keeps hidden from everyone but me.
“I haven’t forgotten.” She rolls her eyes. “No need to remind me.”
“I could also show you.”
A smile teases her lips, and it makes me want to become a fool for her just to witness that delighted look.
“There’s my girl.”
She opens her mouth, surely to contradict me when I pin her with an intent stare. “Don’t contradict me. Or do, and we’ll skip the talk for me to prove it to you.”
Being the smart woman she is, she closes her mouth, pursing her lips. The small rebellious streak puts the biggest grin on my face.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, playing with a strand of her hair, the need to touch her overpowering me. My troubled mind eases. She’s not a figment of my imagination anymore. She’s real. I found her. I got her back.
“Needed a break. Your beach house is beautiful.”
I nod. The only thing I care about is that she likes it.
Inching closer, the floral scent with vanilla notes blends with a scent uniquely hers, intoxicating my senses and making me want to bottle it.
