Page 44 of The Moonstone Major
“I cannot help it. It is all catching up to me now, and all my feelings are spilling out. I have tried very hard not to like you. Do you think I want to flutter and tingle whenever you are around me?”
He arched an eyebrow but said nothing.
“I don’t know why this should happen, because you have done nothing to encourage me. Quite the opposite. Fionn, you ignored my letters. You have avoided me at every turn since coming back to Moonstone Landing. You no longer want to be my friend, and this tears me apart more than anything. What have I done to offend you?”
“Nothing, Chloe. Dear heaven…” He raked a hand through his hair. “You have done nothing but be sweet and kind to me.”
“But I must have. Why else would you be horrified at the thought of kissing me? And yet there are times we fall back into our easy friendship and I am certain you like me. There are times you look at me and…and I simply melt. But it never lasts long, and then you hide from me for days. Do you not see how you are crushing me?”
She gave a mirthless laugh, short and pained, in the face of more silence. “You are frowning at me again. I’m sorry. I—”
“Chloe, for pity’s sake. Can’t you see you have done nothing wrong?” He sounded agonized. “Put your hands on my shoulders.”
“Why?”
“Do you want your kiss or don’t you?”
“I do.” She did as directed and rested her hands upon gloriously hard muscle.
A feral heat sprang into his eyes, a look she liked very much. “Perhaps we both need this. One kiss. Nothing more.”
Her heart took leaps as he tucked a finger under her chin and tipped her head upward to meet his gaze.
She nodded. “That is all I am asking.”
An errant wave lapped at their boots.
“Close your eyes, Chloe,” he said in a whisper, and crushed his lips to hers.
Chapter Nine
Fionn had neverfelt a softer mouth on his than Chloe’s.
Nor a sweeter one.
Nor had he ever experienced a more perfect moment.
He always knew it would be like this with Chloe.
The girl was magic.
He allowed himself this one indulgence, losing himself in the wonder of her luscious lips that sank against his with innocence and ardor. Their light, beautiful touch ignited a dangerous flame in the deepest recesses of his heart, one he had to douse soon. It never escaped his memory that he was kissing an earl’s daughter.
Kissing her.
It was an exquisite mistake that roused every aching sensation he had worked so hard to suppress. But this would always remain one of the sweetest moments in his life, and he was not about to cut it short.
The sun beat down upon his shoulders, the heat soothing and mild.
Waves broke upon the shore mere inches from them, their ebb and flow a timeless rhythm as vital as the beating of their hearts.
The air was as pleasant as any he’d ever breathed, a mix of salt from the sea and sweet gorse wafting down from the meadow.
Indeed, this day had turned out perfect.
The moment even more so.
Chloe.
