Her hands settle on my shoulders. Her legs straddle mine. My heart forgets how to work properly.
“You’d let me do anything?” she whispers, eyes drifting to my mouth.
I nod, breathless. “Anything.”
She leans in. “Good to know.”
Her thigh presses against mine, her grin doing that dangerous little thing where it tugs higher on one side. “You remember how you found me?” she asks. “Scrolling shorts during lunch?”
I groan immediately. “Oh no. We’re doing this now?”
“You were just a little lurker,” she says, poking me in the side. “A digital voyeur. Admit it.”
“Okay, first of all—rude. Second, yes.”
She cackles. I roll my eyes but let the memory play anyway, yeah I remember.
“I wasn’t even watching gaming stuff that day,” I mutter. “It was like, dog videos and dumb fails. Then I scroll past this clip of a girl in a headset with ridiculous ears, yelling at her squad.”
She gasps. “The ‘bush’ clip.”
“Yup.” I shake my head. “You flamed some poor guy for trying to snipe from a bush while sprinting. I had no clue what game it was I just couldn’t stop watching you laugh.”
Her grin softens, just a little.
“So I clicked through. Watched a few streams. Subscribed. And then, when I finally worked up the nerve to say something in chat, I asked if your loadout was intentional or an accident.”
Haven lets out a bark of laughter. “That’s right! You asked me if I meant to run dual pistols.”
“You roasted me immediately,” I say, grinning. “Called me a ‘sweet clueless soul’ and told me to ‘just stay behind the payload and bring snacks.’”
“Which, to be fair, is still great advice.”
“And I’ve been following you around like a lost puppy ever since.”
She hums. “You were so quiet at first. Sweet little ghost viewer. Didn’t know you were a whole Carter.”
“Didn’t know you were going to wreck me, either,” I murmur.
I remember all of it. The exact moment I saw her for the first time and thought oh, this one’s going to matter.
Her lips brush mine soft at first, barely a kiss, just enough to tease. Then she deepens it, her hips rolling forward just enough to make me gasp. My hands find her waist instinctively, trying to anchor myself in the feeling of her.
She breaks the kiss with a little smirk and whispers, “I bet you’d look really pretty in rope, Carter.”
I groan, tipping my head back against the couch. “Are you trying to kill me?”
“Little bit,” she hums, brushing her nose against mine.
My hands slide under her hoodie, splayed over her hips, fingers flexing as I try not to grind up against her like a guy who’s completely lost control.
Ihaveand I’d lose it again for her in a heartbeat.
The front door creaks open just as Haven’s dragging her fingers through my hair again.
Tate steps in with his hood up, bag slung over his shoulder, and yep. There it is, the unmistakable smell of cigarettes.
I wrinkle my nose. “Seriously?”
