Page 28 of The Bright Side of Christmas
“Why are you doing this? Why doyouhave to do this?”
I pause, brow furrowed.
“Because they need help, and I’m Wren. I have to help.” The words slip out without my thinking them through, and with them, Adam’s eyes widen.
“Youhaveto help?”
I falter, not realizing those are the words I said, before I shake my head.
“No, I mean, Iliketo help. I’m helpful.” He stares at me like he’s waiting for me to finish, so I do in one long breath that takes a weight off my chest. “I have to hang up the lights for Mr. Campbell, and then I have to get to work where I have to be cheery and also firm for two dozen second graders and also fit in doing their trimester reports, and I have to do this this morning because tonight I have parent-teacher conferences and I might make questionable choices, but I’m not hanging lights in the dark.”
I take a breath, and the strangest mix of clawing anxiety settling in and a weight being removed from my shoulders fills me as I get all of this off my chest.
“I can’t do it tomorrow after school because I have to go to the fundraiser at the bar, and now that I’m thinking about it, I promised Nat I’d assemble the raffle baskets and make them look all pretty, but I have to get these stupidlightsup because it’straditionfor the entire town to be lit up, and this ismy yearand the entire town is relying on me to make everything festive and perfect just like my grandmother would do and?—”
I have about a million more things to add to that list, but I’ve stopped.
I’m stopped because Adam is in my space, chest against mine once more in a way that is so reminiscent of what happened in his house the other day. His fingers tighten on my waist a bit more, his other hand resting on the door behind me beside my head and effectively caging me in place in an all-too familiar position.
“What do you need, Wren?” he asks, so low and sweet.
“Ineedto get you out of my way so I can go finish hanging those lights.”
He shakes his head. “No, no. That’s not what you need.”
The hand on the door shifts, pushing a piece of hair back gently, almost reverently, before moving back to the door. My chin tips up without my mind even directing the action, and my eyes go wide as I take him in, all dark eyebrows and long lashes and high cheekbones. His constant brooding has left a permanent crease between his eyebrows, which some people might see as a flaw, but on him, it just adds to the overall package.
And just like in his house the other day, I want Adam to kiss me.
In fact, it’s beginning to feel like a need. For some strange reason, I think if he kissed me, everything in the world would be right, if only for a moment.
“Tell me what you want right now, Wren,” he whispers, breath coasting along my lips. “For once in your life, ask for whatyouwant.”
“Adam,” I whisper, unsure of what to say, but the word parts my lips, and my body shifts closer to his, pressing my chest further into his. He lets out the smallest groan, one I feel more than hear, and liquid heat moves through me.
“Ask me to kiss you,” he says.
My eyes go wide as I feeleverythingright now. The warmth of his body before mine, the cold wood of my front door on my back. My pulse pounding against my neck, the excitement coursing through my veins as I have him so close, my breath leaving my lips, and his coasting along my skin. It’s as if my mind is trying to capture everything, every moment and feeling, for later.
“What?”
“Tell me to kiss you. Ask for what you need, baby.”
I stare up at him, a mix of awe and confusion and, shockingly enough,arousalclouding my mind.
But mostly, confusion.
I’ve never had toaskfor a kiss.
“You want me toaskfor a kiss?”
“Hell, yeah, I do. You don’t ask for anything from anyone, but you’re going to ask for this. When I finally kiss you, it will be because you wanted it. Because you initiated it. My sweet little people pleaser is going to demand what she needs.”
My jaw is slack with his words, and even though frustration courses through me, heat moves through me as well, settling between my legs.
My sweet little people pleaser is going to demand what she needs.That shouldnotbe hot, right?
A million responses go through my mind, but only one leaves my lips. “Whenyou kiss me?”
