Her breath caught and she had to force her lungs to work.
This washersong. He’d writtenhera love song.
Sure, perhaps she did have a thing for colored contacts, but she didn’t realize he’d write an entire song about it. A song with such depth and heart that made her fight tears so she wouldn’t cry out the green contact lenses she’d picked to go with the red dress.
He finished and she didn’t even care there was a parrot tossing out lines during the ceremony. The guests applauded, but she was only vaguely aware of their presence. Stuck in place, in a time bubble where she wasn’t entirely sure what to do, why she was there, or what came next.
She didn’t care, either, because right then she was herself and it was perfect. This was life with Knox—random pirates and birds.
Knox handed the guitar back to Tanner and took his place beside her again. She pushed up on her tippy toes when they were back side-to-side.
“I feel like I owe you a monologue or something,” she said into his ear.
“Pie,” was all he said, raising his eyebrows.
Yes, after that, she owed the man a whole bakery of pies.
“By the power vested in me, by the Church o’ the Flying Spaghetti Monster”—Bax leaned into their space, getting way too close with the bird—“That's wha’ it’s called. Didn’ make it up.” He leaned back. “I now pronounce ye ol’ mate ’n beauty. Ye can kiss if ye wants t’.”
She slid her gaze to Knox. He stared at her; head tilted to the side.
One second. Then two.
“Are you going to kiss me or what?” she asked.
He moved in so their mouths were close, but not touching.
“Figured I’d let you kiss me,” he said against her lips.
Ugh, the man was amazing and so frustrating all in the same moments.
So she did kiss him. Mostly because that song was phenomenally kickass. Also, because she wanted to and he had most definitely earned it.
Her mouth met his and her whole body both strung tight and relaxed all at the same time. He kissed her back, not being ridiculous about it and opening his mouth for tongue on tongue, but with restraint she wanted to break through. Restraint she wanted to prove she could overpower.
So it was she who parted her lips. She who opened her mouth and tested with her tongue. She who melted into him and didn’t come up for air. Because he tasted like spearmint, and smelled of sawdust. And she was one hundred percent off kilter, and he was a life raft. Safety in a sea of sharks.
So, uh-huh, she kissed him. Didn’t stop.
The catcalls started, so she probably should’ve used that as a cue to step away. But all the pent-upeverythingspilled into that kiss.
A tap on her shoulder brought her up from the waves, but she didn’t break the kiss.
Neither did he.
“Ye two might wants t’ get a cabin,” Bax said, still tapping away at her shoulder.
Oh, yes, there were people here watching them. Cameras clicking away. Knox released his grip on her, and she did the same.
Bax had been tapping on both of their shoulders, apparently, because he didn’t stop when they quit snogging.
They both shrugged him off, she glanced at Knox from under her wicked-long fake eyelashes. He was grinning a total shit-eating grin.
“Seven-point-eight,” he said at the same time she said, “Total ten.”
She probably should’ve removed a few percentage points since neither of them read the room and paused without intervention.
Yet…
