Page 80 of Fall Into Me

“Cali,” I said, voice sharp and urgent, stopping her mid-step. She turned in an instant, eyes raking over me with a furrow between her brows. Assessing.

She stepped toward me, and whether she knew she was doing it or not, her hands gripped fistfuls of my shirt, pressing her body against mine and then her head started to turn over her shoulder.

“There’s a crowd,” I murmured, my hand sliding to the nape of her neck, fingers threading into the silky strands of her hair. “And we do have appearances to keep.” My thumb brushed against her skin, tilting her head back ever so slightly.

“If they don’t think we’re in love,” I rasped, my lips hovering just over hers, “Then we’ll just have to rectify that immediately.”

I didn’t let her think about it. I didn’t give her time to argue. I kissed her.

Maybe what was happening hadn’t actually hit her, or maybe she was a stellar actress because she kissed me right back. It was like stepping directly into a moment in time I had fucking dreamed of, day after day.

Her body melted into me, lips soft and eager. This kiss was nothing like the one I had stolen from her weeks ago.

Yes, there was a crowd across the street, but it was more of a group of older women who were promptly bustling into what looked like a fabric store from the glance that I gave them.

I was expecting Cali to give me a tight-lipped nothing before dragging her hand across her mouth and saying I had cooties or something equally as ridiculous.

I hadn’t expectedthis.

She met my hesitance with an arm sneaking around my neck to pull me closer to her. I whimpered—fuckingwhimpered—at the way she let me pull her close. At the way that I got to feel her, feel the wayshewanted me close, the way she kept me there.

Leaning down, I wrapped an arm around her and backed us into the alley before she wrapped her legs around my waist, and I pressed her against the wall.

Cali’s hands were in my hair, gripping the strands in tight fists, tugging until the bite of pain made me grunt, going straight to my cock.

Gone was the fight she carried in every interaction since I’d arrived. Kissing her now felt like returning home after war—raw, tender, and too overwhelming to fully process.

She didn’t fight me and if she had drawn a line in the sand for herself, she stepped over it willingly.

The way her mouth moved with mine wasn’t angry. It was desperate. It wasstarved. It was like she missed me in the same way I had missed her, even though the very sentiment of that seemed impossible.

She tasted perfect. With every swipe of my tongue into her mouth, she pulled me tighter into her, her hands tugging harder. Her moaning pleas turned even more urgent.

My hand snaked between us, brushing the button of her jeans.

My fucking luck, this was the first time she’d worn pants to work in two whole fucking weeks. That was when we pulled apart, when those wide, trusting eyes I remembered but hadn’t seen once since I got here settled onto me. Open and guardless and wanting.

Just when she pulled back to give me room, a delicate throat clearing came from the mouth of the alley.

“I…am so sorry to interrupt this.” Sammy had her eyes right on the ground beneath her feet. “But we have a bit of a line and…” She gestured toward the front of the café.

Cali’s eyes were on me, widening with each passing second as she realized that we’d been practically dry-humping on a wall next to her place of work, and not silently.

I slowly dropped a frozen Cali to her feet, unable to stop the full-body shiver at the feel of her pressed against me. It was a fucking mission to drag my eyes from hers, lids still heavy with the need that made my balls ache so damn bad the need to reach into my pants and squeeze them was almost overwhelming.

I leaned around the corner just to come face-to-face with what was, just as Sammy said, a very big line of people waiting to get the best coffee in town. The first person I saw was Ashton, who was smiling at me like he should be committed.

“Hey, Fane!” he yelled, or more accurately screamed, drawing every single pair of eyes. He then proceeded to point at my crotch. “Is that a portafilter in your pants, or are you just happy to see me?”

I ducked back behind the wall, cussing out my best friend while I shoved my hand into my jeans to readjust my now painfully hard cock. Cali’s hand flew up to cover her mouth, a second too late in stopping the chortle that erupted from her. Her wide eyes met mine before she threw her head back and let loose the loudest cackling laugh I’d heard in years.

Her eyes were squeezed tight, but still a tear escaped and fell down her cheek. She was powerless to stop it all the while she clutched at her stomach, letting wave after wave of laughter just pour out of her.

I stood there, stunned stupid for a second. Watching her. Listening to her. Fucking bewitched by her.

I snatched the keys from her hand and threw her over my shoulder again, giving her ass another smack and marching her around the corner.

Ash’s grin was maniacal and spent the entire time I was unlocking the café poking Cali in the ribs.

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