Page 82 of Came the Closest

Arms circle me from behind. Cheyenne rests her cheek sideways on my back, her palms pressing into the cotton of my t-shirt, into my abdomen. I’m vaguely aware that I should be the one holding her, but for the moment, I’m selfish. I take the comfort she offers, and I hold onto it for dear life. I inhale deeply; lavender perfume and sticky July heat and honey-vanilla periwinkle hydrangeas.

“I’m proud of you, Collie,” she whispers, and she kisses my back.

“I’m scared,” I tell her.

Cheyenne slips between the railing and my body. Her palms find my jaw, and she looks up at me with tears in her shimmering eyes.

“Me too,” she admits. “Does it feel right?”

I nod without hesitation.

And then I kiss her. My hands pull her warm body into mine and my mouth claims hers fervently. Cheyenne moans in the back of her throat and my chest rumbles with relief. I pause only long enough to toss my phone on the wicker sofa before I’m kissing her again.

Her fingers press against my neck, urging me closer, and her bare knee bumps mine as she lifts onto her tiptoes. Everything about her is soft—her skin beneath my fingertips, her curves against my hard ridges, her lips beneath mine—but it’s also urgent. We’ve kissed before, and I’d like to think I have her memorized. I don’t. Those kisses weren’t this.

Then, we knew it was going to fizzle, that it wouldn’t last longer than a fleeting summer storm.

Now, with desperation, this kiss says we’re going to last.

The difference is stark and electrifying and passionate.

Cheyenne whimpers when I kiss a line across her jaw. Her breath heats my skin, every nerve in my body on high alert to her. The sounds she makes, the taste of her, the feel of her body against mine.

“I love you,” I say. My mouth brushes the tender skin below her ear.

Cheyenne grabs my face, and for a split second, I freeze. But when I see the smile on her face and the fearlessness dancing in her eyes, that heat kindles hotter than it ever has, pooling heavy within me.

“What did you just say?” she demands, though it can hardly be called that. Not when her mouth is swollen from my kiss and her flush rivals the deepest red roses.

“I said,” I murmur, kissing her collarbone, “that I love you.”

“What was that? I couldn’t—”

Growling, I kiss her more fully, if only to silence her smart retorts. She lifts on her toes, her desire matching my own. Her mouth tastes of wedding cake and spearmint toothpaste, her skin of lake water and humid summer air.

Seconds blur into minutes, our mouths dancing between bruising urgency and tender caresses. The heat of the night can hardly compete with the heat between us. Her hands pressed into my lower back and my chest heaving against hers. Cheyenne pulls my head down and places her mouth near my ear.

“I’ve never stopped loving you, Colton Del Ray,” she murmurs.

I take those words and I let them penetrate my soul. I tuck her in my arms, our elevated heartbeats thundering shamelessly. My hand wanders under her loose t-shirt, pressing flat into the flushed skin of her lower back, and I press my lips to the top of her head.

Wordlessly, she shifts until our arms align, her right and my left. I trace the connecting freckles with my gaze while she draws it with her fingertip.

“That’s what we are,” she begins, borrowing my words from years and years ago.

“Infinity,” I finish.

“Infinity,” she confirms.

TEXTS BETWEEN TRAVIS & COLTON:

Travis: Colton you cannot be serious!

Travis: At least think it through!!

Travis: Don’t ignore me. You’re contractually obligated to listen to me. I am your manager!

Travis: You didn’t think it through did you?

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