“Brittany is jealous of you, and I can see why.”
“You can?” She cocks her brow slightly as if she’s waiting for the punch line to a joke.
There is no punch line.
“Yes.” I press my lips to her right cheek, and her breath hitches. “I can.”
She pulls back a second and peers at me as if she’s trying to decide whether I’m telling the truth, her shoulders tight as if she doesn’t believe me. Like she doesn’t think shedeservesto hear this.
Well, she’s going to hear it loud and clear.
I press my lips to her left cheek. She smells like cotton and strawberries—clean and sweet, just like her. “Your sister’s jealous because you’re beautiful.”
“Stop it.”
“I’m serious. I don’t just give out compliments because I want to. You are, and sometimes I wish you could see what I do.”
Coco bites her bottom lip as she watches me timidly.
I brush my lips over her forehead. “And you’re kind.”
Her body goes still.
I kiss her nose. “And thoughtful.”
Her lips. “And caring.”
My lips hover over her mouth.
“Should I go on?”
There’s what feels like an infinite pause. Her gaze flickers between my eyes like she’s testing every word, weighing whether or not to believe it.
I brush my lips across the top of her forehead, where the hairline meets her flesh. “I’m not blowing sunshine up your ass.”
She laughs, and in that moment she breaks open, and I take everything she’s willing to give.
“You can go on if you want to,” she admits.
I drop my gaze to meet hers. “I could go on all day about you.”
She rolls her eyes, but I keep my focus on her. She squirms a bit, like she’s got ants in her pants. But then she looks up at me, and I’m there, staring back at her, not going anywhere.
That’s when her body settles, and the room suddenly buzzes with energy.
No, not the room.
She does.
Coco buzzes with electricity. Like there’s a firecracker living inside her, dying to get out.
Oh my God. The magic.
There literallyisa fire inside her.
I’m not sure she even knows it.
But she should. She should definitely know it and celebrate it.
