Page 22 of The Doctor's Truth

I can’t help it—I find myself leaning in. I nuzzle against her, my warmth seeking hers. I feel her breath on my cheek when her lips part. My mouth finds hers in the dark. I don’t plan it, I don’t even think about it—it just feels natural, kissing her like this. The ocean sea licks our ankles and her small body snuggles tighter against mine.

Our kiss is slow, unhurried. She tastes like ChapStick, soft and feminine, and I want to savor this. This moment exactly as it is.

When the kiss breaks, she lets out a small laugh. She tucks herself in, drawing away almost shyly. “Should we…go inside?”

“Absolutely.” Even in the dead of winter, a single kiss from her has me warm all over.

I glance back at Donovan. If he noticed our kiss, he doesn’t say anything. He stands there, straight as an egret, eyes on the ocean. Sipping from his wineglass.

We walk away from the lapping shoreline. “We’re heading inside,” I tell him.

“I’ll be right there,” he replies. His breath crystalizes in the night.

I chase Kenzi inside. The sand grows cold under my bare feet, and we do our best to kick it off on the mat in front of the screen doors.

We slip inside, and I pull the glass door closed behind us. Immediately, Kenzi hugs herself and shivers. “God, the winters get brutal here,” she says.

I slip my hands over her sides and rub over the soft curves of her body. “I’ll warm you up.”

She grins up at me. “You’re handsy.”

“Do you want me to stop?”

“I should say yes,” she says.

“Probably,” I tell her.

“Probably.”

For a moment, we just stare at each other. Shivering.

“Fuck it,” Kenzi says. She grabs my shirt and pulls me in.

We’re kissing again. God. I love kissing her. This time she opens up more to me, letting me inside her mouth. I taste her tongue, and she moans, a sound that vibrates through me and makes me diamond-hard.

We stumble through the house, and I lose my footing. We fall on the couch together, and she takes the breath out of me when her body collapses on top of mine.

Kenzi cackles, and the sound warms the entire house.

13

Donovan

I stay outside a little longer, wrestling with my demons.

Seeing them kiss like that…it woke something up in me I thought was dead.

I want nothing more than to get in the middle of them.

But there’s something inside of me, aching. Something I’ve kept bottled up for over a decade. Because the truth—the real, capital T Truth of it all—is that I’ve only ever loved one person in my entire ugly existence.

Kenzi Stratton.

And if her lips touch mine…

I’m afraid my truth will come spilling out.

I steel off my nerves, finish my wine, and tell myself to hold it together. But when I go inside, my resolve immediately cracks.

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