“And so I keep telling myself it’s fine. I’m fine! That this thing we have now—this friendship or whatever the hell it is—is enough. That I should just leave it alone before we screw each other up all over again. I don’t want to lose you! I don’t want to say the wrong thing! And I tell myself that’s okay. And it’s okay. Itisokay. But then Roxy gets in my head about the what-ifs, and suddenly, I’m standing on your porch in the middle of the night like a complete idiot because apparently I just can’t—”
Harley took two quick steps in my direction, forcing my hips against the porch rail. His hands found my face, and his mouth landed on mine, shutting up my stressed-out rambling. I grabbed onto his shirt while the world tipped slightly under the heat of his mouth.
For a moment, my brain couldn’t process what was happening. All I knew was that his hands were on my face, and his mouth was on mine in a grounding kiss that cut straight through the chaos spiraling inside my head.
Everything fell silent inside me. The wild thudding of my heart, the frantic spinning thoughts, the panic clawing through me. All of it just… stopped.
And in the quiet, a realization flickered to life, slow and disorienting.Eighteen years ago, I’d done this exact same thing to him. It had worked back then.
Apparently, it still worked now.
As he broke the kiss, those blue eyes I’d missed more than I was willing to admit searched my face—gauging my response.
“You good?” Harley whispered.
“Huh…” I let out softly. “That works surprisingly well.”
“I don’t hate you, Mav,” he whispered. “Even in our worst moments, I never hated you. I just loved you more than I knew how to put into words.”
I swallowed hard. His fingers drifted down my neck and over my shoulders. He gripped the collar of my jacket, fidgeting with it as we stood there.
“But I can’t do this right now,” he continued, and my heart dropped out. “Not here. Not with Aria asleep in the house. This isn’t a conversation to have right now.”
“Oh.”That was a fair point.My fingers tightened on his shirt, and I tested the waters as I pulled his body flush to mine. He went without hesitation, which was a positive at least. The warmth of his body almost made me moan—almost. I bit it back, determined to hold it together.
“Let me take you to dinner,” Harley said.
“A date?”
“Yeah, a date.” He nodded. “We can talk, and we can figure out what comes next. I can’t promise anything, Mav. Andthat’s nothing against you. That’s just being realistic. A lot has changed, and we have a lot to figure out.”
“That’s reasonable.”
“I’ll text you.”
“Okay,” I whispered. I could be okay with that. I had to be okay with that. He was right. We weren’t the same people—not by a long shot. And he had Aria. We had a lot of little ins and outs to figure out if we wanted to make this work.
Still, that didn’t settle the uneasy feeling in my chest. It was a lot to process, and my mind was struggling to catch up. It’d be okay.
It had to be okay, right?
Before I could say something more, Harley leaned in and kissed me once. Twice. Three times. There was no urgency in it. No need to ground me or pull me back from the edge. It was slower—intentional. His lips brushed against mine with a tenderness that made my body melt.
His hand slid up and into my hair as his lips parted slightly in a silent invitation. My tongue stroked his in a burst of something sweet that made me moan. Each movement was a silent conversation of sighs and soft touches as we re-explored one another without haste. My fingers splayed over his sides, digging into his muscles, anchoring his body to mine. I felt him everywhere, and my nerves hummed with the contact.
When he finally eased back, it was by inches. His forehead rested against mine, our breath mingling in shared exhales.
“I’ve missed this,” he murmured. “I’ve missed you.”
I smiled as I kissed him again because he wasn’t the only one.
CHAPTER 93
harley
Flushed, I shut the door and locked it. I sank against the wood with my heart thundering in my ears. Not from anxiety, but rather from the rush of adrenaline. A ridiculous smile spread over my lips. I couldn’t help it.
Maverick had kissed me.
