Page 52 of One Life to Loathe

I huffed out a laugh. “You’re not a barrel of monkeys.”

“I’ve never understood that expression.”

“Me either.”

“The donkey thing I get.”

“You’re a total donkey.”

He moved until he was standing right in front of me, his breath coming out in ragged gasps. I started breathing the same way, as if it was somehow contagious. The closer he got, the less oxygen there seemed to be in the world, even though we were outside.

He didn’t speak.

I didn’t either.

We just breathed in each other’s faces.

Yup, now we were in a soap opera of our own making.

“I’m going to kiss you,” he announced finally.

I was convinced I’d heard him wrong. “What?”

“Unless you tell me no, I’m going to kiss you.” He almost appeared to be pleading when he held my gaze. Did he not have the strength to stop himself? Because I wasn’t certain I had the strength to stop him either.

“We’ll just do it,” he continued, as if he was talking to himself more than me. “We’ll do it and kill the spark.”

“Okay.” I was so far gone in the moment that I couldn’t come up with a reasonable argument as to why we shouldn’t do it.

“Okay.” He cupped my chin and leaned in, angling himself.

I was so far gone I could do nothing but anticipate the moment our lips finally touched. I wanted to smother the flame that was starting to build. It was the only thing that would save this production.

He changed the angle and held his lips over mine, just breathing me in for a long moment. Then, as if he couldn’t contain himself for a moment longer, he pressed his lips against mine in the softest kiss I’d ever experienced.

Fireworks went off in the back of my brain, and my stomach threatened to convulse. When his tongue tentatively went on a hike in my mouth, I met it with my own.

Then it was on. I gripped the front of his shirt and his arms went around my waist. Before I even realized what was happening, he was boosting me up so I had no choice but to wrap my legs around him and hold on for dear life.

I couldn’t breathe, and yet I didn’t care. I just wanted more of this, more of this fire creeping through me. I could never get enough.

I had no idea where he began and I ended for a bit. We could’ve been kissing for thirty seconds or thirty minutes for all I knew. I’m not sure which one of us finally pulled back, but my lips felt raw, as if they’d been chafed after hours of rubbing … which gave credence to the half-hour theory.

My face felt like it was on fire, and his was red from exertion as he stared into my eyes.

“Has the spark been smothered?” I asked hopefully.

“Not even close,” he growled, reaching for me again.

“We can’t,” I insisted.

His face fell.

“Not here,” I clarified quickly. “The others are going to come looking for us. If you think they were bad before, they’re going to be intolerable now. You know, if they find us having sex in their historical cemetery.”

Leo burst out laughing.

“What?” I was feeling self-conscious as I smoothed the front of my dress. I’d forgotten all about being cold. “It’s just the truth.”

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