Page 36 of Make Your Move

Now I’m the one who isn’t amused. “You do know we’ve gone this long thinking we got away with it.”

Lincoln chuckles. “Nash thinks I did it to fuck with him, so your secret is still safe from him.” He opens his car door before looking at me again. “I’ll let it go for now, but you owe me a secret by the end of the night.”

He gets out without another word and walks over to my side. I open the door before he gets the chance to, and he raises an eyebrow but doesn’t comment on it as he holds his arm out to me. I thread mine through his, linking both of our elbows together as we walk to the new restaurant.

“Welcome to Carcillo’s,” he tells me with a soft laugh as we walk up to the front of the building. “The home of carbs.”

I laugh with him. “My favorite.”

His expression is unreadable, but the flames in his irises come to life as he stares back at me.

“Mine too.”

“Oh shit,” I mumble, laughing as I drop my keys onto the porch. Lincoln leans against the front of the house beside the door as I lean down to pick them up. “Why the hell didn’t we leave a light on before we left?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” he says, chuckling as he turns his phone’s flashlight on. “Here, this should help.”

Using the light from his phone, I’m able to see the keyhole in the door and slide the key right into it. I let out a sigh of relief, a smile still on my lips as I feel the alcohol swirling in my system. We had a few drinks while we were at dinner, so I’m nowhere close to being drunk, but I can feel the warmth and fuzziness from it.

“Got it,” I tell him as I unlock the door and push it open. I turn back to look at Lincoln. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

He stares at me for a moment, the smile falling from his face as he takes a step closer to me. “I don’t want you to have to remember what it was like without me here.” He stops as his feet reach mine. His hand is warm as he slides it along the back of my neck, tilting my head back to look up at him. “I’m sorry I left, Nova. I’m sorry I never called.”

My heart crawls into my throat, but I shake my head at him. “You don’t have to apologize for chasing your dreams, Lincoln. I would have never expected you to do anything but that.”

“I could have called. I could have come to see you.”

“You had no obligation to me. There were no ties between us,” I remind him, my voice barely audible. “I don’t hold it against you.”

“I wish you would,” he admits, his breath fanning across my face. “It would make this a lot easier.”

“It would make what easier?”

His eyes travel to my lips before reaching my gaze again. “Not kissing you.”

My breath catches in my throat, the butterflies swirling in my stomach. My heart hammers harder in my chest, giving me the final push I need.

“Kiss me, Lincoln.”

His name barely leaves my lips before his mouth is crashing into mine. His lips are soft, and he kisses me with a tenderness that has me feeling like I might melt. With one hand around the nape of my neck, he wraps the other around the small of my back, pulling me flush against his body. I feel his legs pushing mine as he backs me into the house and kicks the door shut behind us.

His tongue slides along the seam of my lips, and I part them as he deepens the kiss. He tastes like cherries and chocolate from dessert. Our surroundings fade away, and I cling to his shoulders, holding on as he kisses me until all I can see or think about is the way his mouth feels melting with mine. He breathes me in, stealing the air from my lungs until it feels as if there’s nothing left. My body’s starved for oxygen and starved for him.

Abruptly, he pulls away, leaving my body in a state of shock as it registers in my brain that I desperately need oxygen. I’m left breathless, struggling to catch my breath. “Why did you stop?”

Lincoln sucks in a shallow breath, his eyes closing as he presses his lips against my forehead. He lifts his eyelids, pressing his forehead to mine. “Because I’m barely holding on to my self-control here.”

I stare at him, my eyes bouncing back and forth between his. I feel like I’ve spent an entire lifetime dreaming of this moment. Lincoln may not want the same things as I do, but we both want each other. Can’t that just be enough for now?

“Fuck your self-control,” I tell him, lifting both of my arms to link them around his neck. “I want you, Lincoln.”

He pulls back, just enough to get a clearer look at my face. “Nova…” He pauses, tilting his head to the side as he brings one hand up to stroke the side of my face. “My beautiful supernova…I need you to know, if we cross this line, there’s no going back, baby.”

“I don’t want to go back.”

His throat bobs as he swallows hard, but he doesn’t move. It’s almost as if he’s contemplating whether he wants to cross the line. As if he’s trying to tell himself there won’t be any going back. We won’t be able to return to the way things were before this moment.

The torment in his expression is washed away by the fire that burns brightly in his eyes.

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