Page 78 of Doyle

He stared at her, and a smile edged his mouth. “Yeah, I think it is.”

She met his eyes, and an emotion flickered in them—maybe hope, maybe respect.

Maybe something more, because suddenly she saw herself in his gaze, disheveled, dirty, even scared, but... not alone.

Not forgotten. And she blamed that—along with the fear, the panic, even the relief—for the fact that she grabbed his shirt and pulled him down to herself, for the fact that she leaned up and kissed him.

He didn’t move at first, and she didn’t care. She held on to him and the kiss and?—

And then he broke free of his shock and came alive to her touch. He wrapped one strong hand around her neck, held her there, and kissed her back. He seemed urgent, and perhaps also full of fear and relief and panic. And there was a hunger in his touch as if...

As if he’d discovered that he, too, wasn’t alone.

He tasted of heat and sweat and even strength, a surety she wanted to cling to, and she softened her mouth, closed her eyes, and let him take over.

Let him taste her desperation, her fear, her relief too.

Could be this was a panic kiss, the kind of kiss that told them they would survive. That they were in this together.

Partners.

She wasn’t a fool, though, and even as she wanted to give way to the crazy impulse that surged inside her—the one that saidmaybe—she remembered his words on the beach.“Juliet will always be with me.”

Right.

And then her own words in the tunnel—“Probably like how you looked at Juliet.”

She was kidding herself to think that she could replace his true love. And she wouldn’t be the second choice. Not again. Even to a memory.

She wanted to be the One.

But for now, right now, she had him, so she kissed him with the same ardor that he kissed her with, needing whatever piece of him that he could give her.

He finally lifted his head, breathing hard, and met her eyes. She held his gaze and offered a tiny smile. “Okay then.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Ready to get out of here?”

He nodded, backed away, his gaze still on her.

Aw,and now she had to fix it. “Thank you for saving me.”

He swallowed, frowned.

“Doyle. Don’t let your brain get tangled up with this. I just... panicked. Maybe got carried away. But I’m good now. You?”

He seemed to sigh then, relieved perhaps, and he nodded. “Right. Yeah.” And then he smiled and winked, and why had she said that?

It didn’t matter. He found his footing and climbed out of the cart, extending his hand to help her out.

She managed on her own but grabbed on to his arm to steady herself. Dust still clogged the air. “I hope... the kids...”

“Let’s get out of here, and then we’ll figure out how to circle back and locate them,” Doyle said, and yes, that made sense.

He took her hand, squeezing, and she squeezed back as they headed down the tunnel toward the opening to the sea.Please let it not be blocked...

But the farther they ventured into the passageway, the more the dust cleared. The smell seemed to dissipate too, the scent of the brine and sea filtering into the darkness. The rhythmic thunder of waves hitting the cliff wall beat into the night, louder as they walked.

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