Page 33 of Hats off to Love

She’s still pushing and trying to make a play off her words, seeing each other. I glance to Stokes to take cues from him.

He sighs as his hand wraps around me and grips my hip. Every time he does this, I feel claimed, which is completely absurd. Suzy sees the movement, and in my peripheral vision, I see her shuffle on her feet.

“If I’d had my way,” he says, still not really looking at her, gazing at me with his serious face again, “almost thirteen years.”

What he’s really saying is, if he’d had his way, he would have sent me back to whatever hole he thought I crawled out of almost thirteen years ago.

Suzy lets out some kind of shocked noise at his admission, and I turn to her and say with a huge, winning smile, “Way, way back.”

She pauses as she looks at us both, like really looks at us. “It seems so,” she replies in a defeated tone.

Finally.

“If you’ll excuse me, I hear my father calling,” she says and then walks off. The air around us instantly warms, and my shoulders drop as the tension I didn’t realize had bunched up my muscles releases.

“Well, well, well,” I say to him once we are alone, and I turn so I am still in his arms and our bodies are flush. “You are so going to owe me, Whitlock. This is the second time now I’ve had to save you from your adoring fans.”

He grimaces and says, “I know,” his gaze roaming my face.

And then he bends down to kiss me. It’s not a deep kiss, but it’s sweet, and also unexpected. It’s not a quick peck either. He holds his mouth against mine and breathes in through his nose. Of course alarm bells are going off in my head, screaming, Abort! Abort! but I can’t help the way my body melts against his. He’s familiar in a way I wasn’t expecting, and my heart pinches.

“This is so weird,” I whisper against his lips.

He freezes then asks, “Is it?” while kissing me again and pulling my bottom lip in between his teeth.

Lord, have mercy on me.

My breath catches, and my stomach tightens with feelings that are unfamiliar when associated with him.

What is happening right now?

Eventually he drags his mouth across my cheek to my ear. “I told you I would kiss you again.”

My hands tighten in the fabric of his shirt at his waist, his skin warm and solid underneath. “Yeah, well don’t get used to it,” I tell him, though really it’s me who needs to not get used to it. I’m pretty sure kissing him could become addictive, and I can’t have that, at least not with him.

“Oh, Thorney.” His hand dips low on my back, anchoring me to him. “Why are you such a pain in my ass?”

I lean back a little. “Me? I’m the pain?”

He sees the flash of annoyance in my eyes and grins with triumph in his. “You know we’re being watched right now, right?” he asks, tucking a loose piece of hair behind my ear. Shivers chase his fingers, and I hate that my eyes want to roll back in my head.

Instead of answering, I play my part by running my hands up his chest and over his shoulders, and I rise up on my toes so he can better wrap me in his arms. His eyes flare briefly at the contact, but then it’s gone as I’m enveloped in sage, melons, and worn leather.

Maybe they are watching, maybe they aren’t. All I can focus on is that I’m hugging Stokes and Stokes is hugging me.

What’s shocking is that I don’t hate it.

After a long moment of me having my head on his shoulder with my eyes shut while breathing in the familiar scent of him, he pulls back, looks at me fondly, and quietly asks, “Are you ready to go?”

My eyes search his. “Mission accomplished?”

He lets out a deep sigh. “God, I hope so.”

LUVU TEA

CHOMPING AT THE BIT

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