Page 59 of Lost in the Moonlight

My body flamed at the tone—and what it meant.

“God… Lincoln… I’m so—” His head whipped up, finger landing on my mouth.

“Don’t you dare apologize. For what? For giving in to this thing that’s been pulling at us since we met? For feeling? For accepting a few seconds of pleasure? Don’t. Don’t you dare. It was beautiful to see you unravel.You’rebeautiful.”

A weight lifted, and I beamed up at him, his words marking me as much as his body had.

“It was just supposed to be a kiss.” My lips twisted upward. “And then…”

“And then every damn cell ignited,” he said, and I nodded, glad he’d felt it too. This was what life was supposed to be about. Not the ugly note pinned to a door, but this—passion and touch and pure humanity that burst through you without control.

I pushed back the lock of hair that always fell onto his forehead, meeting his gaze with a hungry one.

His throat bobbed. “It was beautiful. You’re beautiful. But you need to stop touching me before the hunger I feel has me hauling you onto the floor and making love to you right here. I don’t want our first time together to be fast and furious. I want to take my time with you. So, I’m not going to take our kiss and turn it into something you’ll regret later because I lost control.”

The simple idea of it, that he was about to lose control because of me, thrilled me. And I almost pushed. I looked down at his lips and felt myself leaning into him more. He caught my chin, saw the look in my eyes, and chuckled softly before stepping completely away.

The loss of his heat was almost as painful as the loss of his kiss had been. He leaned down and picked up both my T-shirt and bra. He tugged the shirt over my head with a gentleness that had me shaking from head to toe again. With want. With need. With a desire to rip it back off and do the same with his clothes. To take him up on the offer to make love on the stone tile of his kitchen floor.

The experience would be worth it, wouldn’t it? With him? A happy memory I’d have until I departed this earth. It didn’t have to be more.

I slid off the counter, and it caused our bodies to collide. The air vibrated with the unsatisfied craving humming through us. At least I knew he’d wanted this too. He’d started it, and yet, he’d also ended it.

He’d said it was beautiful. That I was beautiful.

But what did I know about any of it?

Nothing. On purpose, I knew nothing.

Whereas he’d likely had many women since that girl he’d spoken of dying in his car.

God…we’d both been talking about people we’d loved and lost.

Our emotions were incredibly high.

It was as if sharing our secrets, our burdens, had heightened what we’d already felt, taking the want already sifting between us and turning it into something more.

Except, he was right to have stopped us, because nothing we did here, nothing I allowed, would change the facts of my life—or the facts of his.

He’d said fate or angels had brought us together, but that couldn’t be true because if it were, then God was having a great big laugh. The possibility of our lives blending for more thana few days was nil. And I wasn’t sure I could survive the loss. Wasn’t sure I could inflict that kind of damage on him if he ended up feeling as bound to me as I felt to him and then I was forced to walk away. I didn’t want to be that cruel to either of us.

Chapter Nineteen

Lincoln

TURN ME ON

Performed by The Fray

When she slid off the counter, pushing our bodies back together, I was overwhelmed all over again with the scent and feel of her, aching for more of the sweetness I’d been able to savor. The sounds of her coming apart with just my mouth and a few slams of our hips hadn’t been nearly enough. I needed to know what she’d look like, sound like, feel like as she quivered around me when I was buried deep inside her, riding out the waves.

I was harder than I’d ever been in my life.

But damn if I’d take her on a cold tile floor after we’d just spilled our guts about some of the worst nights of our lives. No. I wanted the moment we came together to be just like this kitchen. Full of light and warm memories. Not an escape from the dark.

Maybe it was an impossible thing to want. Maybe there would never be that kind of a moment for me in my life or Willow in hers, but I believed what I’d told her. Fate had givenus to each other. Sienna had insisted Willow was my person, and I believed her, even if it was only me believing my own dark wishes.

So, I stepped back even farther away from her, allowing the cold air to shift between us.

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