Page 11 of Booked for the Holidays
His voice vibrates through me. My tongue darts out to wet my lips. His eyes drop, tracking it. On a sharp inhale, his fingers tighten around my wrist like he’s deciding whether to pull me in.
This is it.
The moment I’ve been afraid to hope for, right in front of me.
Before I lose my nerve, I lean forward and kiss him.
For one sweet heartbeat, the world stops. Liam’s lips are soft but firm, tasting like cinnamon and heat and something I want more of.
And then…he kisses me back. Harder than I expected. Like he means it. Like he wants it, too.
His free hand cups my jaw, his thumb grazing my cheek as a low, desperate sound rumbles from his chest. It’s relief and need and passion, and it breaks me open in the best way.
I sigh into his mouth, knees pressed tight to his thigh. I want more. I want all of him.
Our kiss becomes more frantic, and I move to straddle him. My skirt rides up my tight-clad legs, and I’m barely aware of the sound of paper—my business plan—falling to the floor. I don’t care. All I care about is the way he’s holding me like he can’t help himself.
“Juniper…” His voice is rough against my lips.
“Hmm?”
He kisses me again, slower, deeper, like he wants to memorize my taste. Then he pulls back just enough to look at me. There’s a look in his eyes I can’t place—part longing, part panic.
“That was…unexpected,” he says with a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. But we’re here and this moment won’t recreate itself, so I go all in.
“Liam, I want you to be my first.”
He blinks. “First…what?”
“Sex.” I force the word out, barely more than a whisper. “I want it to be you.”
He goes completely still beneath me, then his hands drop away like I burned him. The warmth in his face drains.
“Wait—what?” His voice is hoarse.
“I’ve thought about it for a long time,” I rush on. “I trust you. I want it to be?—”
“No.” The word cuts through me like a blade. “Juniper, no. That’s…no.”
He shifts beneath me, trying to stand, and in the scramble, I lose my balance and land hard on the floor with a yelp.
“Shit—” He drops down beside me instantly, his hands on my hips to steady me.
But I’m not steady. I’m falling apart. And my heart is pounding for all the wrong reasons now.
“I didn’t mean to…” He drags a hand through his hair. “God, I shouldn’t have—I got caught up and—Juniper, I didn’t know that’s what this was.”
“Why not?” I hate how fragile my voice sounds. “Why can’t it be me?”
He doesn’t answer right away, just stares at the floor like it holds a map out of this mess.
“Because you’re—” he pauses. “You’re Jasper’s sister. And I’m older. And this isn’t how it should happen for you.”
“We’re six years apart, not sixty,” I snap, trying to salvage my pride, even as my face burns. “You kissed me back,” I whisper, clinging to the memory of Liam’s lips pressing hard into mine.
He looks tortured. “Yeah. And that was my mistake.”
His words hit like a slap.
