Page 88 of One Little Kiss
I love Mara, but she’s so not on my mind right now. But Noelle’s got this shy vibe going on that makes my heart twist with a surge of protectiveness and affection. So, I go with it…
“Why’s that?”
“Because she takes this scavenger hunt very seriously.” Her gaze fixes on my throat and this new, sweet, vulnerable side of Noelle might just kill me.
I fell in love with my best friend a long time ago. Is it possible to fall even more right now?
A thought hits me and nearly brings me down at the knees.
It’s not just possible to keep falling. It’s probable. With a shock to the system, I can see a lifetime stretching ahead of me. A lifetime of discovering every different side of Noelle. A lifetime of watching her grow and mature and reinvent herself…
A lifetime of falling in love over and over and over again.
She peeks up at me again. “We should probably tell Mara not to worry…”
“Are we still talking about Mara?” My brows draw down a bit.
Her lips curve up in a tremulous smile. “I just think we should tell her that I’ll have to forfeit the scavenger hunt.”
“You will…” I say.
She nods, and her shaky inhale puts me on edge. There’s so much hope and fear in her eyes it takes everything in me not to kiss her senseless just to distract her from whatever’s going on in that head of hers.
But then she lets out a sharp exhale and straightens a bit. “Yeah, I mean, if Leah can’t participate because she’s your cousin, then your girlfriend definitely shouldn’t be allowed.”
The air rushes out of me in awhoosh.
Just when I think I can’t love her any more than I already do…
“I mean it’s not really nepotism, but it’s close, right?”
My answer is a kiss. This one is slow and gentle, and she makes the sweetest little moaning sound as she slides her arms around my neck to pull me in even closer.
I could stay like this forever. Kissing my favorite person is better than anything I’ve ever known. But we’re in public and the wind is making Noelle shiver. So eventually, grudgingly, I pull back and kiss the tip of her nose. “Noelle…”
“Yes?” she whispers.
“Will you come back to my house and watch horrible movies with me?” I can’t help myself as I steal one more kiss.
She grins against my lips. “I thought you’d never ask.”
EPILOGUE
Noelle
Elijah’s killingme with his cocky smirk. I don’t know whether to smack him or kiss him.
Or maybe both.
Probably both.
He arches a brow. “Listen, woman, you can’t tell me what to do.”
I roll my eyes at the ‘listen, woman’ part but choose to ignore it. He’s trying to distract me but it’s not gonna happen. “You’re not allowed to throw your future away for me. I’m not going to allow it.”
“Allow it?” he mutters. “Jeez, we’re a couple for a few weeks and you think you own me.”
He can’t hide a grin as he says it, and his eyes sparkle with pleasure. He loves this. All of this. And so do I.
