Page 43 of Teasing

There are few things in life as relaxing as summer rain on a warm night.

—Emmie’s Secret Thoughts

Maverick smiles, and it silences my mind in a way nothing ever has. The worry stops. The anxiety stands still. And the debilitating fear of what life will bring falls somewhere to the hidden places in the dark recesses of my mind.

There’s only him and me and this crazy,crazymoment frozen in time.

“Tell me why you’re not what I need, Emmie. Because I’ve been trying to ignore this pull. Forcing myself to ignore the way I want you. In my life... In my bed...”

Oh holy hell.

With one hand wrapped around the back of my neck, his thumb rubs along the bottom of my jaw and sends a cool chillover my heated skin. “And it’s not working anymore,” he groans, and the sound is deep, and gravelly, and oh so sexy. “Hell, I don’t know that it ever worked.”

Mav’s dark-blue eyes are hungry as they focus on my lips, and my blood hums under my skin, and I push everything else away and focus on him.

“Do you want to kiss me, Maverick?”

“I’m not sure I’ve ever wanted anything more, Em.” His calloused thumb brushes over my bottom lip, and I dart my tongue out and taste his skin, in love with the way his pupils practically explode. “Emmie...” he warns.

This is it.

This is the moment.

The one where I choose a path and pray it’s the right choice.

God, I wish I had a better sense of direction. I close my eyes and whisper, “You know, I get lost everywhere I go.”

The way this man laughs is one of the most beautiful sounds I’ve ever heard. “You found us.”

“You were pretty hard to miss, considering you moved in next door, all scary and growly and demanding.” I think back to the way he was ready to go to war over my camera, and now knowing him the way I do, it’s even hotter than it was that day.

His eyes narrow as they search my face. “Is that how you see me?”

“I see so much more.” I slowly shake my head. “You scare me, Maverick.”

“Tell me why, Em. I’m a man who doesn’t trust easily, and I want to trust you, but you don’t make it easy.” Tension pulls tight in every beautiful muscle in his body.

We’re right there... on the precipice of something huge.

I feel it in my soul.

How I answer him is going to change everything. For both of us. So bracing myself for the fallout, I do the only thing I can. I give him me. I choose the truth. Even if it hurts.

My top teeth drag over my bottom lip as I fight for words that will be kind to my heart. Ones that won’t hurt as much as others would. Not an easy thing to pick when they all feel like I’m about to flay myself wide open and stand in a shower of lemon juice.

“Do you remember wanting my camera?” I ask and am rewarded with another smile.

A brilliant one. Damn, this man should smile more.

“I started calling you Cujo in my head after that,” I admit, my nerves rising like the creek’s tide. “But here’s the thing—there’s a reason I take pictures. I take them of everything.” I swallow and force myself to keep going. If I hesitate now, I’ll never get through this. “Unlike the rest of the world, with hundreds of pictures sitting on their cell phones that won’t ever be printed out, I print mine. I love mine. Every picture I take is for a reason. A memory. A stolen moment in time I don’t want to forget.”

“What do you do with them?” The question is cautious. He wants to know, but I think he’s scared I’ll freeze up.

Probably not wrong.

My heart pounds against my ribs, threatening to crack open in my chest.

“I have dozens of scrapbooks. Years of memories. Vivi and Camden are the only two people in the world I’ve ever talked about this with.”

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