“Yeah?” He checked across the street toward my apartment, then me. “You good?”
“Never better.” I stood tall as I curled my fingers around his neck. “Never happier.”
“Sarah,” he whispered.
“Will you…kiss me?”
I heard the bag land on the sidewalk behind me as his hand went around my waist. He pulled me flush against him. “I thought you’d never ask.”
“I wasn’t ever going to.” I leaned in to him, suddenly desperate to taste his lips. To feel that cool metal barb in the middle of his tongue. Ever since I’d decided to try this with him, it was like a beacon. A lighthouse in my stormy life.
He pressed his forehead against mine and asked, “What changed?”
“Everything. You changed everything.”
His other hand burrowed through my hair and cradled my head with a tenderness that defied his rugged appearance. I closed the distance as I hooked my hands on his shoulders and pressed my lips to his.
Despite the arctic air swirling around us, he was nothing but warmth to me. And it spread from my face, down my neck, and straight to my chest. He held me against him, his mouth soft, yet firm.
I rose to my tiptoes; even in my three inch heels I needed to be taller, closer to him. To get lost in him. A swirl of strawberry from our cheesecake wrapped around my senses as I opened my mouth slightly. His breath mingled with mine, dancing to our own music. Our own beat.
Draped by the snow fluttering around us, all sound faded from my awareness until I could hear only my heart pounding. Pounding with excitement and possibly love... Couldn’t go there yet, but something was going on. Deep inside me. And Drey awakened it with startling force.
He tilted his head slightly, then suckled my bottom lip. I curled my arms around his neck and pushed up even more, opening to him. I found that barb in the middle of his tongue, and I let out a moan. He drew in a sharp breath and hugged me tighter, taking the kiss deeper.
Taking more of me with every gentle caress as he explored, tasted. The magical warmth burst into a hot need low in my tummy, and I sighed. No pressure to take it further. No pressure to do anything else other than stand here in the snow, kissing him, made it all that more exciting. Before, there was always an end result: sex. But tonight, I felt none of that pressure.
Just got to enjoy the bubbling feeling in my stomach that came with my first kiss. My first real kiss with a man who respected me. Ugly past and all.
I eased back, severing our connection only for a quick breath. He stayed close enough that our noses touched.
“That was totally worth the wait.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Drey
Afterthatkiss,Ifelt more drunk than after having finished off half a bottle of wine! I knew I would, though, staring at those intoxicating lips all night. And the smiles she offered so freely as she danced in the snow.
It was like she was finally free. Able to enjoy life. And the thought that I might have had something to do with that puffed out my chest even more as we took the last steps to her apartment.
“Here,” she said, handing me her keys.
Hopefully I didn’t drop the damn things I was shaking so much, and not only from the cold. I shoved the key in and pushed open the door. I gave a quick sweep of the room and reached in for a light switch.
“I always do that, too. Hate walking into a dark room.”
“Why?”
“Never know what’s lurking.”
That statement sliced through lust’s fog that’d shifted into my sight. The distant look in her eyes reeled me into the moment.
“Nothing in here tonight, so we’re good,” I said, stepping into the room first.
“One night at a time.” She followed me in. “Thanks.”
“For.”