“She’s an adorable girl, Emma. It’s impossible to be unhappy when you’re around Olive.”
She sent him an appraising look. “Do you consider yourself unhappy?”
He mulled her question. Did he? Yeah, things with his mom could be tough but for the most part, he enjoyed his life.He had a challenging job he loved and friends he could always count on when he needed them.
Still, he had to admit he sometimes felt like something was missing.
“Not unhappy, though maybe not quite... content. Does that make sense?”
“Yes,” she answered, her voice low. “Perfect sense.”
Did she feel the same? Was she lonely sometimes?
Their eyes met and Bryce felt the air between them change. The empty trailhead parking lot faded away, leaving only Emma, bathed in the late-afternoon sunlight. Without conscious thought, he found himself stepping closer, drawn by an invisible force.
“Emma,” he whispered, his voice barely audible over the distant crash of waves and the breeze in the treetops.
She didn’t back away. Instead, her gaze flickered to his lips, then back to his eyes. It was all the invitation Bryce needed. Slowly, giving her every chance to pull away, he leaned in.
Their lips met softly, tentatively at first. Emma tasted of sunshine and lip balm, with a hint of cinnamon that reminded him of the cookies they’d shared earlier.
The scent of sunscreen lingered on her skin, mingling with something uniquely her. Bryce’s heart raced as the kiss deepened, becoming more urgent, more needy.
His fingers found her waist, pulling her closer as her hands slid up his chest to rest on his shoulders.
Bryce wanted to lose himself in her, to keep kissing her forever. Each brush of her lips sent sparks through his body, igniting a fire he’d long tried to ignore.
But even as he reveled in the kiss, a small part of his mind reminded him of reality. Emma wasn’t ready for this, for them. With immense effort, Bryce slowly eased away, his breathing ragged.
As their eyes met again, a mix of emotions swirled in Emma’s gaze—desire, confusion and a hint of fear.
“I thought we said we weren’t going to do that anymore,” she murmured, her voice husky with lingering desire.
He gave her a long, slow look. “When I’m with you, Emma, I can hardly think of doing anything else.”
She sent him a startled glance, and he saw color flare on her cheeks. After that kiss, did she really not have any idea how attracted he was to her?
Even if she didn’t know the deeper feelings he was only now admitting to himself, she had to have some clue that he wanted to go on kissing her forever.
“I always had a crush on you in school. You knew that, right?”
She stared at him, eyes wide. “No! You had a funny way of showing it. You were always teasing me. I always felt like you were laughing at me for not being as cool as you and your friends.”
“I was never laughing at you. If I teased you, it was out of sheer jealousy. I wanted you to smile at me instead of smiling at everybody else in school.”
She swallowed hard, looking stunned.
“I planned to ask you to the junior prom. I was trying to get up my nerve and then... well, then your dad died.”
“And my whole world fell apart,” she said quietly.
“Yeah. You were in the hospital first then had his funeral and everything. I knew a stupid school dance would have been the last thing on your mind.”
“Probably,” she admitted.
“If things had been different, would you have gone with me?”
She appeared to consider the question. “I don’t know,” she said, honesty in her voice. “I might have thought you were too wild for me back then. You scared me, if you want the truth.”
