Page 23 of My CEO Neighbor
"Ted," she whispered.
"What?"
"Stop talking."
Monica closed the distance between them, her lips finding his in the darkness.The kiss was soft at first, tentative, like she was giving him a chance to change his mind.But when Ted's hands slid into her hair and he kissed her back with three years of suppressed hunger, tentative became urgent.
Monica tasted like mint tea and like everything Ted had been too busy to want.Her mouth was warm and responsive under his, and when she made a soft sound against his lips, Ted groaned back.
This was what he'd been missing.This was what Gwynne had tried to tell him, what his body had been craving beneath the caffeine and adrenaline and relentless forward motion.Connection.Presence.The simple, complicated pleasure of being entirely focused on another person.
Ted deepened the kiss, his hands tangling in Monica's hair, and she responded by pressing closer, her body warm and soft against him.He could feel her heartbeat, rapid and strong, matching his own.
The elevator jolted.
They broke apart, both breathing hard, as the car shuddered and dropped several inches before catching again.Emergency lighting flickered back on, harsh and sudden after so much darkness.
Ted blinked in the sudden brightness, disoriented.Monica's lips were swollen from kissing, her hair mussed from his hands, and she was looking at him with an expression he couldn't quite read.
"The power's coming back," she said unnecessarily.
"Yeah."
They stared at each other in the yellow light, the intimacy of the past few hours suddenly feeling exposed and fragile.Ted could see Monica's face clearly now.The flush across her cheekbones, the way her pupils were still dilated, the slight tremor in her hands as she smoothed her hair enchanted him.
She was beautiful.More than beautiful, she was real in a way that made him ache for things he hadn’t known he wanted.
Chapter Five
Monica
Monica felt the world shift when the emergency lighting flickered back on, harsh and intrusive after the intimate darkness.Ted's face was inches from hers, his hair disheveled from her fingers, and the air between them crackled with the electricity of what had almost happened.
What had happened.
The kiss played on repeat in Monica's mind—the way Ted's mouth had moved against hers, desperate and seeking, like he'd been drowning and she was air.The way his hands had trembled when they found her face, reverent and careful despite the hunger she'd tasted on his lips.
