Page 74 of One Touch

Rules are made to be broken.

At last, he found my lips, kissing me with such confidence it was like he owned me.

Then, eventually, he pulled away.

“Fuck,” he said, “that was . . .”

Romantic? Out of this world?

“Sexy,” was the word he finally chose.

“It really was,” I said.

But it had been so much more. And it felt like both of us were too scared to say it.

“Only one problem,” I said, flashing him a mischievous grin.

Concern furrowed his brow. “What?”

“You didn’t turn into a werewolf,” I replied.

“Oh yeah?” he asked, his eyes filled with mirth as he growled in my ear, tickling me and then biting down on my neck so hard I squealed.

“Hey, vampires bite necks! Not werewolves.”

“This werewolf does whatever he goddamn wants,” he replied. Then, he looked down at me and his expression became instantly serious. He looked at me for quite some time. “That was definitely longer than five seconds. And frankly, if we stay out here much longer, holding each other like this, it might count as a slow dance.”

I smiled. “You’re right. We’d better go to bed. We’re doing great at following the rules.”

“We are,” he agreed. “Let’s go to bed. To our separate beds.”

“Right.”

As he walked me back inside, I fought the urge to hold his hand. I muttered some of our “no romance” rules under my breath, but as I did so, I glanced back at the full moon.

The moon seemed to wink at me.

Too late to be worrying about the rules, kiddo, it whispered to me.Way, way too late.

Chapter 14

Ethan

Iwas suffocating. Thecrisp white collar of the tuxedo shirt felt as though it was a cable tie. I coughed, tucked a finger in, and tried to loosen it.

“Isn’t it normally the groom who’s meant to be nervous before his wedding?”

I stood next to my brother, Cole, as we looked at our reflections in the tailor’s full-length mirror. We couldn’t have looked much more different. Cole was the very picture of relaxed confidence, with a wide smile on his face and a playful gleam in his eyes. By contrast, I looked exhausted and stressed. My shoulders were hunched, and my lip twitched like someone was tugging at my mouth with a string.

“I’m fine. Just not the greatest fit is all.”

“You sure that’s all it is? You’ve been kinda antsy all morning.”

“I’m tired. Tired from the training.”

It was true that I was tired. But it wasn’t the training. It’s because I’d been up all night thinking about Lily. Me and her, under the stars. Fucking.

I’d tried so hard to make it just a physical thing. Going outside. Engaging in a little dirty talk. Entering her from behind.

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