Page 298 of As the Rain Falls
Make him stop.
Please, I’m ruining everything.
Beckett breaks the kiss.
“Hold on,” he murmurs. “Can we stop for a second?”
My lips tingle. His are swollen, the same color as my favorite gloss.
My breath catches.
“Why?” I ask, leaning in to kiss the corner of his mouth, insisting on the wrongness even though I shouldn’t. “Did I do something wrong?”
Beckett smiles at hearing that, his gaze overflowing with fondness. “No, baby. You know you didn’t.”
“Then let’s keep going.”
Destructive.
I am officially completely destructive.
“Cass,” he warns.
I kiss him, and he kisses me back, but it’s lighter now. Something has shifted, like he’s thinking this through now.
I exhale against him. “Kiss me, please.”
“Slow down, I’m being serious.”
So am I, Beckett. So am I.
I tilt his chin up, bringing him closer to me. He kisses me first this time. Slow, just how I like it, but then pulls away again. I start growing impatient.
“What now?”
“We’re friends, you and I. Very good ones. I don’t want things to get weird eventually, so maybe we should talk to each other.” He kisses my wrist. “Communicate, and all that.”
I stiffen, the phrasing bothering me.I’m more than a friend at this point, or at least I should be. And then suddenly, I thinkback to that note I was writing on my phone and how he still hasn’t asked me out.
“Is that really all I am to you?” The words come out a little snappier than I mean for them to be. “A friend?”
“That’s not—”
A short, indignant exhale escapes past my lips.
The same ones he just kissed.
“Do I taste like a good friend to you? Is this what we’re doing right now?”
“This is exactly what I’m trying to prevent,” Beckett points out. “I’m trying to take care of you here.”
I don’t know why, but what he says saddens me.
He wants to handle me with care. I just want to be his.
“So, you’re denying it?” I press. “I’m not yours.”
“Yes, you are.” He kisses the corner of my lips, like he can’t help himself. “And no, baby. I’m not denying it. I like you more than a friend, too.”
