Page 66 of Burn With Me

“Eyes are up here, sweetness. I need your lips before you can go.”

“Oh, you do, do you?” I smirk at him. “And here I thought I was actually missing something.”

“You were. You can’t leave without saying goodbye,” he says as he grabs me behind the neck and pulls me toward him. “It could be bad luck.”

I roll my eyes. “Whatever you say, babe.”

I see the flash of heat behind his eyes, and I have to suppress a moan.

That is the first time I’ve called him a pet name, and it seems he likes it. Before I can think too much about it, his lips are on mine, and like every time he kisses me, it feels like my whole body vibrates with pleasure. I thought that after a while I wouldn’t feel his kisses in my soul, but I still do.

He licks the seam of my lips, and I open for him, dropping what was in my hands so I can hold on to him.

His tongue caresses mine, and I want to climb him like a tree.

All too soon, he nips at my lip and pulls away.

My heart thrums wildly as desire pools in my belly, and I follow him, not ready to break our connection.

He chuckles. “As much as I would love to take you back to bed, baby, you have to go to your meeting, and I have to go to work.”

“Then don’t start things you won’t finish.” I pout. “Fine, let me know what you want from the store because I’m going to stop on my way home tonight.” I bend over to grab what I dropped and give Penny a kiss on the head. I squeal when he smacks my butt. “Seriously?” I glare over my shoulder with my hands full.

“That mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble one day. I always finish what I start, and I’ll show you firsthand tonight.” He kisses my head.

“Promises, promises,” I say as I grab the animals.

“Have a good day, Amelia, and keep me posted on what the professor says. Oh, and I’ll have lunch sent over to you if I can’t make it over, so you don’t forget to eat.”

“I will, and thank you!” I throw over my shoulder as I walk out the door.

My heart flutters as his last statement runs through my head again. No one has ever cared if I remembered to eat other than Pam, but I think she does that because she doesn’t like a hangry Amelia.

Leo used to use my ADHD against me, and while I don’t flaunt that I have it, it does show if you’re around for an extended amount of time.

As I get the animals into the Jeep, I think back to the night after my world was flipped upside down.

While letting Penny out, I hear Luke putting some of his stuff in the bathroom.

“Um, sweetness, it’s just you living here, right?”

“Um, yeah. Why?”

“Why are there enough clothes in your closet that you need three laundry baskets, and why do you have three shelves of shampoos and conditioners in the shower?”

“Oh, I forget to do laundry because I have enough clothes, and I tend not to do it until I start to run low on sweatpants or leggings. As for the shampoos and conditioners, well . . . I’m on a hair care journey, and I couldn’t choose which products I wanted to try, so I bought several and now rotate through them depending on the day of the week. I also have a whole shelf of hair overnight masks and oils in the cabinet next to the sink.”

I feel my ears get red with embarrassment. It’s been a long time since I shared a space with someone, and I wasn’t expecting him to be over today, let alone use my bathroom . . . I didn’t do a quick clean.

“Hey, what’s wrong? It’s okay that you have a lot of hair care products, and I can do a load of laundry if you need it.”

“Normally I clean, but I wasn’t expecting you to be here tonight, or I would have done the laundry. I have ADHD, and while the rest of the house is always clean, my room has always been . . . well, a challenge.”

He walks up to me and pulls me to his chest like he can’t stand to see me panic again. “It’s okay. I forget to do the dishes sometimes, and I somehow always miss the laundry basket. No one’s perfect.”

“I know, but I shouldn’t put it off for so long.”

“Who cares as long as it gets done. That’s the beauty of being an adult.” He rubs my back, hoping to calm me down.

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