Page 86 of The Summer Swap

She opened her mouth to deny it. And then she stopped.

She was tired of denying who she was, and what she felt. She’d been honest with her parents, and even though it hadn’t been easy, she didn’t regret doing it. She could be honest with Todd, too.

“Yes. But it doesn’t matter.” She couldn’t look at him, so she fixed her gaze on the middle of his chest. “People fall in love with the wrong people all the time. It happens. It doesn’t mean anything.”

“It means something to me. It matters to me.” He was standing close to her now, so close that she could hardly breathe.

“Why?”

“Because I’m in love with you. I’m crazy about you, and I need to know if you feel the same way.” He slid his fingers under her chin and tilted her face so she was forced to look at him.

And she saw in that moment what she hadn’t seen right away.

He was nervous, too. He was vulnerable. He was feeling all the things she was feeling.

He was in love with her.

It seemed like such an impossible dream that at first her brain rejected it.

“You dated Amelie.”

“I know. Big mistake, and I’ve made a few in my life. I’m hoping we can get past that.” And right then, when she’d given up hoping it would ever happen again, he kissed her. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her and it felt even better than she remembered. He kissed her until every one of her senses were screaming, until the desire was so acute, so excruciatingly intense that she desperately needed him to do something to ease it. She needed him to do something. She gave a low moan, and he finally lifted his head. “Lily?”

Did he expect her to talk? Her brain wasn’t capable of stringing together a coherent thought. The moment his mouth had claimed hers, her brain had fused.

She looked at him groggily, saw that familiar gleam in his eyes, and finally regained her powers of speech.

“Todd Buckingham, are you laughing at me?”

“No. Definitely not. I’m smiling.” He kissed her again, but briefly this time. “You still haven’t said the words, but I’m taking that as a yes.”

“Yes?”

“You do love me.”

She couldn’t resist teasing him. “You’re very sure of yourself.”

“I’m not sure of myself at all. I’ve never been this scared in my life. You still haven’t said the words, by the way.”

She’d said them so many times in her head that it felt as if the whole world must know.

“I love you, Todd. I love you.” She tried to say it again, just so there could be no mistake, but he was kissing her again and this time there was no sign of him stopping.

His mouth still on hers, he backed her into the cottage, his hands ripping at her shirt while her fingers fumbled with the button on his shorts. It crossed her mind briefly that perhaps they should close the door, but they were too busy undressing each other and kissing, and then he pulled her hard against him and she was no longer thinking of anything but his mouth and the urgent touch of his hands and how badly she wanted him.

They tumbled onto the rug, and he rolled so that he was the one on the floor and she was the one on top. And she was happy with that because it meant she could see all of him, touch all of him. She trailed her mouth across his jaw, over his neck and lower, distracted from her purpose only when he made a few intimate explorations of his own. His skilled touch seduced and teased until she was drunk on sensation, dizzy with longing, needing more. Needing everything. She reached down, closing her hand over him and she heard the sharp intake of his breath. He shifted position and lifted her and then they were moving in a perfect rhythm, and she felt nothing but heat and sensation and the feeling that they were made to be together.

Afterward they lay on the floor, trying to catch their breath.

She stared up at the ceiling, drowsy and sated, thinking of the wonder that was Todd. “Are you alive? This floor is hard. We should have made it to the sofa.”

“Wouldn’t have made any difference. That sofa is as uncomfortable as the floor.” He pulled her closer. “I’m alive, although possibly injured. You? Any bruises?”

“I don’t care.”

“Next time we’ll aim for a mattress. Apologies for being impatient.”

“Don’t apologize.” She wanted to tell him how good it felt to be wanted that badly, but her mind was drowsy, and her eyes were closing, which was annoying because she knew there was something she’d wanted to ask him. And then she remembered. “Why did you think Amelie was only interested in you because of me?”

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