Page 89 of Colliding with Ten

“Why?”

I stroked her cheek. “Because you mattered to me before I had a right to say that.”

She laid her hand on my chest.

“You had every reason to think I’d move on.” I paused. “But I couldn’t.”

Her lips parted.

“And then Denver happened. After that, pretending I was just checking would’ve been a lie.” After I said it, I realized it was true. Shay had seen it first, and I had been slow to admit it.

The room felt smaller, my focus narrowed to her eyes and the rapid rise and fall of her chest. Her eyes dropped to my mouth, and my heart kicked. We looked at each other for a moment, and I wondered: if I tried, would I have the strength to walk away? But the thought went no further. She sighed, then bridged the last inch between us.

At first, it was barely a kiss. Just the brush of her mouth against mine, tentative, as if she were giving me one last chance to stop this. Every thought I’d had about being careful, keeping this uncomplicated, about the rivalry and her brother, went somewhere in my head I couldn’t find them.

She exhaled, her mouth trembling against mine. I tilted my head, finding the angle to taste her. My tongue brushed the seam of her lips in a slow lick. She parted them, and the sweet taste of her, a burst of flavor from the chocolate milkshake, lingered.

Fuck.

I tore my lips from hers. Not going far, just wanting to see her face. Her eyes opened, dazed.

“Are you sure about this?”

She nodded, still stunned. Then she smiled, and I wanted to live inside it.

Whatever distance I’d kept these past few weeks, no version of tonight put us back where we were. I kissed her again, this time without hesitation. My hand held the nape of her neck, fingers threading through her curls as I pulled her closer, as if we weren’t already as close as two people could be.

She sighed against my mouth, fingers tugging and curling into my t-shirt. I loved the way she kissed with her body, leaning into me. I sucked her bottom lip into my mouth, and her breath hitched. She opened for me, letting me explore. Her tongue would press forward, sneaking in for a taste. I followed, chasing her. When my tongue touched hers, the sound that rumbled out of me was primal, vibrating like a bass note. Every moment she let me taste her, the barrier between us opened more. After tonight, I was never gonna recover, and I didn’t care.

Then the urgency slowed. I drew out the kiss, letting each press of my lips linger a little longer than the last until we weren’t moving, just breathing each other in.

I pulled back first because I was the selfish prick who wanted to see what effect I had on her. Her eyes stayed closed, lips parted and swollen. My thumb played with her bottom lip. The physical evidence that I’d been here, and she’d let me, gave my heart a gallop. I watched her come back to herself, eyelids fluttering as her fingers loosened their grip on my shirt. In her eyes was only heat. Then slowly, her eyebrows notched into worry, lips parting to say something.

I dropped a kiss onto her forehead, wanting to erase that look. “I know.”

Whatever she was about to say—that this was complicated, that there were reasons this was a bad idea—I already knew it. It didn’t change anything. Her eyes searched mine for an answer that I didn’t have either. But one thing was for sure: she wasn’t falling alone. I was right there with her.

I pressed one more kiss to the corner of her mouth, then leaned my forehead against hers.

“The Great Attractor,” I murmured against her skin.

She pulled back a bit. “What was that?”

“Nothing.”

“No, you said something.”

I exhaled, half-laughing at myself. I hadn’t meant to say it out loud. “It’s an anomaly in space. There’s this region about two hundred and fifty million light-years from here. Scientists can’t see it because it’s hidden behind the Milky Way, but they know it’s there because everything in our corner of the universe is being pulled toward it. Hundreds of thousands of galaxies, all drifting in the same direction, drawn by something they can’t explain.”

She looked at me, confused. “And you’re thinking about this thing right now?”

“I had a plan tonight to study film, get a decent night’s sleep, fly home tomorrow, and get back to the season.” My thumb followed the line of her jaw. “Instead, I’m on this couch, watching horror movies I don’t care about, kissing a woman I shouldn’t be kissing, and not regretting a damn thing. Every time I try to stay on course, I end up here. With you. I’m pulled in by something I can’t see, can’t explain, and can’t stop.”

She exhaled, smiling and understanding now.

“That’s the Great Attractor. And you’re that for me.”

Her fingers curled tighter into my shirt as she pulled me back for another kiss. The spell of it lasted another minute, our moans and breaths mingling until she pulled herself from me, resting her head on my chest afterward.