Page 135 of Resorting to Romance

I am frozen in place, afraid this fragile confession will shatter into a thousand shards if I move toward Mila or even say another word.

She loves me?

She loves me!

As if she knows I need the reassurance, she says it again. “I love you, Kai.”

I reach my hand across the space between us and cup her jaw, running my thumb along her cheek. “I want to kiss you, Mila.”

“I want you to kiss me. Please, Kai. Kiss me.”

She doesn’t have to ask me twice.

I lean in and she bends toward me. This kiss isn’t to fend off Brad or Aima. It’s not to convince someone we’re dating. Thiskiss isn’t practice. When our mouths align and her lips brush across mine, everything in me sparks to life. This kiss is Mila and me, finally expressing our love for one another. I kiss her softly, lingering on her lips with mine. She wraps her arms behind my neck and I pull her closer. The swing moves erratically and we pull apart, laughing.

“We need a do-over,” Mila says.

“Definitely.”

“We can do better.”

“I know we can. We definitely can. Come over here.”

Mila shifts so that she’s right next to me, and then I take a risk and pull her so she’s sitting sideways on my lap, her legs extending out onto the swing. And this time when I lean in, she’s right there, tilting her head up, her eyes fluttering shut just before our lips meet. She tugs at my neck, pulling me near and I run my hand down her arm slowly, finding her fingers and entwining them with mine and resting our enjoined hands on her thigh.

I kiss her reverently, savoring the feel of her, listening to everything she’s telling me without words. And then our kiss roars to life, like a fire that started slowly, but was licked by the wind causing the flames to spread suddenly.

I need her. And she’s telling me she needs me too. Wants me. Loves me. It’s all here in this kiss. We’re mouths and hands and mingled breath. She’s vanilla and cinnamon and warmth and home. All I am yearns for all of her. And she’s here, giving and taking, opening for me, saying yes to our connection—yes to us.

I place a final gentle kiss to her lips and then to the tip of her nose, brushing her hair away from her face, letting my forehead drop to hers. Our eyes lock in the dim light of nighttime. She’s a vision, staring back at me with hope and contentment etched across the shadows of her features.

“Kai,” Mila breathes out my name like a precious secret she’s been keeping.

“Hmmm?”

“I didn’t even finish readingyour letter.”

Keeping one hand wrapped around her waist, I bend down. I retrieve the letter from the floorboards of the porch and hand it back to her.

“I wrote it so you could read it whenever you want. Again and again if you need to. I didn’t know if you would want me, or if telling you how I feel about you would scare you off.”

“I want you. So much. I’ve never wanted anyone this way.”

She reaches up and runs her fingers through my hair. I close my eyes, acutely aware of each spot she gently grazes across on my scalp. I hear the low rumble of contentment rise up from within me.

Mila wants me.

It’s a heady drug, finally holding a woman you’ve been pining away for, and I’m in no hurry to let her go—not tonight or ever.

Mila giggles. “You like that, huh?”

“I do. Everything you do, I like. But especially that.”

She does it again.

I wrap my arm around her and pull her in so her head is tucked beneath my chin and she’s nestled against my chest. And then I place a kiss on the top of her head.

“You have to set the pace here,” I tell her. “And we don’t have to talk about anything more tonight. Just know, you’re calling the shots.”

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