Page 147 of We Redeemed the Rain

“What?”

“That if you can unwrap one, it means you’re a good kisser.” Her eyes flicked up to mine in question.

Alright, maybe she did mean for the game to be sensual.

“We could…test the results.”

I clarified, “To see if we’re good kissers?”

She nodded.

A laugh, strangled and exhilarating, bubbled up from my throat. This woman was practically begging me to kiss her. I’d burn through half a notebook trying to describe how that made me feel.

She bumped me with her elbow. “Why are you laughing?”

“Did youplanthis?”

She scoffed, a wild laugh of disbelief filling the night. “No!”

I clicked my tongue, doubtful.

“I swear I didn’t.” She placed her hands on her cheeks. They were probably red.

“You brought me out to this field to beg for a kiss. Admit it.”

She wheezed in a breath. “It’s not what it looks like, I promise!”

We laughed together as our hands clasped between us again.

In a stroke of courage, I tugged her toward me, our faces mere inches away. Her laughter quickly faded. I looked directly into her eyes. “You don’t have to beg.”

“I wasn’t?—”

I placed my index finger across her lips. “Shh.”

She fell silent, her breath heavier, her gaze roaming my face.

“I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to kiss you.”

Her gaze snapped to mine as the implications of what I said visibly turned over in her expression.

Blood thrummed through my veins.

My hand slipped over her jaw, and her breath shuddered. Masculine desire took the wheel, my baggage blindly tossed into the backseat. I dropped my face to hers. When I hesitated, Bea made the last move, lifting her chin until our lips touched.

We exhaled together. A sound of relief. A tangiblefinally.

Her lips were everything I knew they would be. Sweet, responsive, so soft. My hand skimmed down her neck, to her shoulder, gently squeezing. She felt exactly right. My hand followed the curve of her waist around to her back, pressing her in. She lifted her arms, pulling my head closer.

Our kiss was gentle and slow. A reverent voyage onto sacred ground.

For a few glorious moments, we held each other close.

I had the light—a drop of sun—clutched in my arms. And the darkness in me took it as a challenge. I felt its cold hands gripping me, dragging me back to the only place I knew.

Fear.

Even as her loving kiss moved across my lips, even as she angled her head to mine, even as she made the sweetest, quietest, happiest sound I’d ever heard—a soft hum—I panicked.

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