Page 160 of Collided

Grabbing a ball of cotton, she stands in front of me and looks up at me expectantly. “I can’t reach you.”

“I don’t want you to reach me.”

Lifting on her tiptoes she steps closer. My body turns hot, and my arms drop from my chest as I stare at her in surprise.

The cotton ball presses against my split lip that aches like shit. But with Hope standing so close I can barely focus on the twingeof pain. All I can think about is how extraordinary her brown eyes are and how much I like them.

Her adamant gaze hits me as she says, “I will always reach you because you’d do the same for me.”

“No, I won’t.”

Hope smiles. “Liar.”

“That’s the truth.”

“You’re right. It must be. I don’tknowyou.”

The slash of her words makes me grimace, reminding me of how I behaved earlier.

“You do know me,” I whisper.

“Then why did you tell me otherwise?”

“Because I’m a fucking asshole.”

She bites her lower lip to hide her smile.

Dabbing off the blood on my lip she patches up my knuckles and bruises. Once she’s done she takes a bit of cream and applies it to my lip. The way her finger touches my lip makes heat crawl across my chest and travel downwards.

When she keeps rubbing it I know I can’t fucking take it anymore. The girl is giving me a fucking boner.

I attempt to move away but in doing so I make her lose balance and she falls on me. Our fronts press together, and she holds my biceps for support. With a groan I tilt my head down, only to see her looking up at me.

Brown eyes. So fucking perfect.

My gaze drops to her lips. Pink full lips with a delicate cupid bow.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers and tries to step back, but my arm circles around her waist and keeps her close to me.

I don’t want her to go. For this moment she’s managed to quieten my thoughts.

Using my other hand I brush away the loose strands of her hair that fall on the sides of her face. Her beautiful, sweet face.When I first saw it I thought she was pretty, but she’s much more than pretty. She’s beautiful, selfless, kind, considerate, and the sweetest person I’ve ever met. It’s not just her beauty that attracts me to her, it’s those other things too.

I look at her lips, fighting everything in me to not press mine against hers and see if she tastes as sweet as herself.

I bet she does.

Very slowly, I lean down, adamant to kiss her but I stop when I’m a few centimeters away. I feel shallow breaths leaving her mouth and her body stiffening in my arms. I search her eyes, but they’re closed as if she’s blocking out what’s about to happen.

My heart dives straight into the pit of my stomach and dread fills me.

Hope is terrified.

I don’t know what or who. She’s willing to act like it’s a passing thing rather than live in the moment. It’s now how I want our first kiss to be.

I touch her lower back, and she jumps. Wide eyes and a face as white as a sheet stare back at me.

We stare at each other until she frees herself and runs out of the bathroom.

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