Page 36 of Veil of Secrets

My hands find her waist. She grips my wrist.

Our teeth clash.

Her tongue pushes mine back. My mouth pulls hers deeper.

She breaks first—barely—just enough to breathe. Her breath hits my cheek, hot and fast.

“I hate this,” she mutters.

I press my forehead to hers. “No, you don’t.”

“I hate what it means.”

“Then don’t define it.”

I pull her back in.

This time, she groans softly. It’s not surrender—it’s tension breaking.

Her hands slip up under my shirt, dragging along my ribs. I press my body harder into hers.

Our hips connect.

Both of us feel it.

But we don’t move past it.

She kisses me again—slower this time. Her fingers flex at my sides, like she’s testing how much she can take.

I nip her bottom lip. She bites back harder.

Then breaks away, panting.

Her eyes are glassy with heat. But her hands drop.

She steps back, just one pace.

“That’s all you get,” she says, voice low. “For now.”

I nod.

“Fair.”

She turns, grabs the rag from earlier, wipes her mouth, then tosses it over her shoulder and walks toward the garage door.

She doesn’t look back when she says, “Next time you kiss me like that, you better be sure what you want.”

“I already am.”

She doesn’t answer.

Just pulls open the door and disappears.

I stare after her until the bulb above me swings again.

Still humming.

Still alive.

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