Page 55 of The Enemy Face Off

"So why did you turn the tap on if you're not using it?"

"I need to arm myself. This kiss cannot turn into anything more, and it can't go on for too long, either. Now hurry up and get over here."

"If this is your idea of foreplay…" I reach her and smooth my hands over her soft upper arms. "Then I am all in."

"You aresoweird."

"That's already been established. Now, if you're trying toun-romantic-ifythe moment as I suspect you are…"

"Not a real word but continue."

"…Should I turn the TV on? Maybe find one of those annoying infomercials so that as we kiss, we'll hear the announcer say something like, 'If you act now, you'll receive this special bonus!' to break the moment?"

"Yes, yes. That's perfect."

I chuckle to myself as I scoop up the remote from the coffee table, find an infomercial channel, and increase the volume.

I wonder if she realizes she could have ordered me to doanything—skydive out of an airplane, climb an erupting volcano, scuba dive with sharks—and I would have done it in a heartbeat for the chance to kiss her.

I return to the brightly illuminated kitchenette and get in nice and close.

I have no idea why she feels the need to 'arm herself,'—I may have stopped using air quotes around her, but I'm still allowing them in my private thoughts—but if I only get one kiss with her, I'm going to make it the kind of kiss she reads about in her romance novels.

The kind of kiss that will ignite her entire body, from the top of her head all the way down to the tips of her toes.

The kind of kiss that she'll have no choice but to remember every time she looks at me.

"You ready?" I check, aiming for a casual tone and definitely not sounding like a man about to embark on the most important kiss mission of his life.

"I am." She nods. "And make it quick, the water's running."

"Stop turning me on."

"Call now and we'll double your order. That's right, folks, you won't just get one amazing…"

We look at each other and smile. "Come on, Payne. What are you waiting for? An embossed invitation?"

The lighting is all wrong, the water is pooling in the sink and making a gluggy noise as it goes down the drain, and the announcer yaps away loudly in the background, but as I slide my hand around her neck and bring my lips to her, everything that isn't her fades away.

A tiny whimper escapes from the corner of her mouth as I secure my other hand around her waist, bringing our bodies close.

Not touching, but close.

Close enough I can feel the warmth radiating from her skin.

Close enough it makes me wonder if she can feel my heart racing in my chest.

Her whimper turns into a moan as my tongue sweeps inside her mouth.

I rein in the primal impulses raging through my body and tell myself to go slow, determined to remember every single thing about a moment I never thought I'd be lucky enough to have.

After a few seconds, Beth returns the kiss, pushing her body against mine and forcing my back against the wall.

I figured she'd be a woman who took charge, and she does not disappoint. The only thing better than kissing Beth is getting kissedbyBeth.

"There," I whisper, using every ounce of willpower I have to pull back from her ever so slightly. I run the pad of my thumb over her lips. "One kiss."

"One kiss," she repeats with a soft murmur, lifting her eyes to meet mine.

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