Page 15 of A Midnight Kiss on Ever After Street
I could look into his eyes for the rest of my life. I could feel safe in these arms forever. The respectable distance between us has gone and my body is pressed against his as closely as possible. His fingertips are so warm through my dress that it feels as though they’re leaving permanent brands on my skin. There’s a deep cleft in his chin and I let my thumb rest in it as my fingers skim his jawline, brushing against the edge of his mask.
His eyes close and that sense of peace settles over me again, like nothing I’ve ever felt before. It would be so easy to curl my fingers around his mask and gently pull it away and remove mine as well. Would he complain if I did? It doesn’t seem like he would, but this night, this ball… Maybe the magic is in the anonymity. I can say anything to him, I can be honest, because neither of us know who we’re dancing with. Will that be ruined if we take off our masks?
I like being the glamorous and mysterious partygoer. The elegant mystery woman with the sleek and styled hair and the dress that looks like the sky. What if I take off my mask and he’s disappointed? What if we make plans to see each other again, and next time, the frazzled woman who turns up will be wearing combat trousers, a tape measure around her neck, and have hair that looks like it’s been styled via the medium of sticking fingers into a plug socket?
I amnotthe person I look like tonight. This night is perfect. I don’t want to ruin that by revealing my true self.
The music from below continues and my fingers can’t stay still. They trace up and down the back of his neck, into his dark hair and across the thick elastic that holds his mask on, and back down again. His hands skim up and down my back, his arms around me, holding me steady with every shiver that runs through me each time he reaches the top of my dress and his fingers brush the bare skin of my back. It feels more intimate than anything has ever felt before.
‘Can I ask you something?’
‘Mhmm,’ I mumble in response, unsure if I’m capable of actual words.
‘Am I imagining this?’ The words don’t come out right and he swallows and clears his throat. ‘I feel like I’ve met someone I was meant to meet. I feel at ease around you, and I’m not the type of person who feels at ease aroundanyone. There’s something in the air tonight. Do you feel it too?’
I pull back and look up into his eyes. ‘I was hoping you were going to say that. I thought maybe I was the one imagining it.’
‘Can I…’ We’ve stopped moving and his fingers come up to trace my jaw, and his eyes focus entirely on my lips, leaving no doubt about what he’s asking. His arm that’s around me has loosened, allowing me to step away if I want to, and he makes no move to get any closer without permission. Little gentlemanly things that make all the difference.
I nod.
He tightens his hold on me and his other hand tilts my head gently as he bends and his head lowers, tilted in the opposite direction to avoid our masks clashing.
It’s like electricity when his lips touch mine. A buzz that blocks out everything else in the world. Every hair on my body stands on end and every pore turns into a goosebump. I let out a moan at how good it feels. I’ve never felt this special before. My fingers slide along his jaw and curl into the short hair at the back of his neck to pull him closer, and he moans into it too, and it makes it feel even more intense that kissing me is having an effect on him too.
It’s the most perfect kiss I’ve ever experienced. The kind of kiss they write fairy tales about. A kiss that I’ll tell my grandkids about someday and they’ll think it’s a thing of myth because kisses like that don’t actually happen in real life.
I’veneverkissed someone I don’t know before. I’m far too sensible for that sort of thing, but it doesn’t feel like I don’t know him – it feels like I was meant to meet him too, and the universe did what the universe does to ensure we were in each other’s path tonight.
Everything outside of his lips and his body has faded into nothing and the only things I can focus on are his mouth and his dark and alluring aftershave and the feelings tingling through me, a wave of happiness that’s making me emotional at howrightthis feels.
And then… a banging filters through the haze of kissing him. Something distant and faraway and not as important as the kiss. No, it’s not a banging. More of a clonking. A dong, like a chiming.
Chimes! Midnight! I scream and push him away. ‘I have to go!’
He pulls back in surprise. ‘What?’
I stare at him in horror. This has to endnow. ‘I’m sorry, I have to go. I wasn’t meant to be here, and…’
He looks like I’ve punched him in the face. His eyes behind the mask don’t hide any of the shock and disappointment, and his lips move as though he’s struggling for something to say. ‘No, don’t. Please.’
God, this guy. Every fibre of my being is screaming at me to stay. Like an anchor pulling me backwards, and my mind is racing. What’s the worst that can happen if I’m not there when Ebony gets back?
She’ll never agree to hand The Cinderella Shop over to me if she knows I’ve broken her trust like this.
This guy is something special. I know that. I’ve never felt like I do tonight. I want to stay. I want to take my mask off and tell him everything about me and I want to know everything about him. But I’m always annoyingly sensible. I don’t take chances. I don’t rock boats. I don’t want to upset people, and if my aunt knows I went to the ball, everyone else on Ever After Street is going to know too. They’re going to know I let them down. That I didn’t stand up to the threat of a supermarket like they did. That I came to the ball thrown only to support the selling of the castle.
‘Thank you for an incredible night. This isn’t you, it’s me. I should never have come here.’
His fingers hold onto mine for as long as possible as I back away, until just the tips are touching. He’s leaning forward to prolong the contact and it feels as if they drop in slow motion. I look around for an exit. Back through the castle will take too long. That corridor, having to get him to find the keys or the secret brick or whatever, prolonging the agony of saying goodbye, it’ll be impossible. My eyes fall on the low wall he vaulted over earlier, and I lift up my dress and make a run for it.
‘Wait, don’t go. Tell me your name! Your number! Where to find you! This can’t be over!’
Ithasto be over. I was never meant to be here, and I can’t explain that to him, not in a way that makes sense. ‘I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I don’t want to go – Ihaveto go. I’m too sensible for my own good too. And I’m late. I’m so late.’
I throw my legs over the wall and my body follows, dropping down onto a grassy verge, and then down steep concrete steps into the castle gardens, rectangles of lawn surrounded by smooth paths, statues and fountains and pretty white benches. There are well-maintained flowerbeds bursting with spring flowers and freshly trimmed topiary shapes everywhere, and I dodge around them and run.
It’s midnight. If my aunt’s flight was on time, she’s already at the shop. And if I’mnot, she’s going to know exactly where I’ve gone.
