Page 82 of When in December

I was all too willing to give him full access. Through my lashes, I watched the way his lips parted and slid over my mine, heavy with want. But I wouldn’t miss this, not for a second.

Aaron Hayes is kissing me. This is real. This is happening.

And I realized it might’ve been one of the things I’d wanted so deeply for far too long.

Aaron let his mouth trail down toward my neck, skimming over the sensitive skin there before he pulled back. There was a single moment, giving us each a breath, before another kiss came down again—less teeth, more tongue.

He lavished me with this kiss, and I didn’t want to break away.

I didn’t want this to end. Once it did, I knew all too well that everything up to this point could all come crashing down. It would be just like it had been when I was in high school. Everything and then nothing. A grand reveal, only to feel like a certain spot in my chest was being yanked out and crumpled up.

Like it would with my plans for this stupid cabin, which was also now becoming one of my favorite places to be.

But it would end. It had to.

Did it have to?

Common sense taking over, I shoved him back. Or maybe he shoved me back—gently.

It didn’t matter so long as the kiss ended quickly.

Maybe not as quickly as it should’ve.

“We shouldn’t,” I gasped, trying to be quiet. It was only us in the room though, not another sound other than the heat kicking on.

“Did I make a mistake?”

“No. Don’t worry; you didn’t make another mistake,” I said.

This one was all on me.

It was all on me and yet …

Aaron pulled back as he looked down at me. “Another …”

My chest heaved forward, back arching, as if I could make it the rest of the way back to his mouth.

I wasn’t ready to let go yet.

Aaron’s brow creased with confusion.

“Poppy …” He said my name. A little strong. A little surer.

He didn’t call me homemaker or the bane of his existence. Not even teasingly, like the way he whispered the name Snow Angel—angel coming out like his last breath escaping his lungs, breathless for me.

“Poppy.”

Were my lips that memorable? They couldn’t be. They were just lips. Pink and a little chapped from being outside in the cold.

I couldn’t help it. I reached to touch them. Aaron watched me closely as I ran my fingertips along the bottom. They were damp and swollen compared to before.

Before Aaron kissed me.

And I didn’t want to let go.

Dropping my hands, I slid them up Aaron’s arms. They felt amazing. He felt amazing. I didn’t know if they were so toned because he had been helping me work and carry things all week or if they always had been and I was noticing because I was finally touching him, feeling the smooth blond hair over his forearms and higher, around the curve of his biceps.

When I traced up the side of his shoulder, Aaron was still staring at me. Waiting.

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