Page 36 of Until We Burn
I scrape the sliced bell peppers into a bowl before I take the knife and cutting board towards the sink. Diana stubbornly stands in my way. One step forward only makes her take one step back. I shake my head, fighting to hold back a grin.
“My eyes are too busy worrying about dinner to care about you wearing my clothes.”
“Are you sure?” she presses, “Because I can?—”
“Hey.”I drop the cutting board into the sink behind her before my hands brace the counter, caging Diana between them. “I said it’s fine, princess.”
Her eyes widen. The playfulness drains out of her face.
My mind goes blank under the feeling of Diana standing so close. When I breathe in, all I can comprehend is her. Her floral, vanilla-scented perfume. Her soft voice skirting across my skin. Her eyes dropping to my lips.
I swore I wouldn’t give in to any distractions this year. But having Diana so close like this challenges my self-control that all I want to do is close my eyes and let her distract me for a while.
I just want to know how good it’d feel to have her lips on me.
The front door suddenly whips open.
“Somebody better call the firefighters because Daddy Luke is coming inhot!”
Rowan groans. “Why can’t you just walk through the door like a normal person?”
Diana and I break apart, cold air spearing in between us.
The boys grind to a halt outside the kitchen. Their brows pop up at the sight of Diana wearing my shirt. I rub my face, hoping they can’t see the heat burning beneath my skin.
“I-I offered up one of my old shirts,” I stammer. “To, you know, make sleeping more comfortable for her.”
“I couldn’t get an extra change of clothes,” Diana chimes in.
Luke arches his brow with a smile. “How chivalrous of you.”
“Verychivalrous,” Wallace muses.
Diana clears her throat. “Thank you again for letting me stay for the weekend. I’m sorry if I’m putting you out.”
“Don’t be,” Rowan assures. He shrugs off his jacket with a faint smirk. “We’ve been trying to find plenty of reasons to kick out Luke.”
“Please.” Luke scoffs. “We know you’d bawl your eyes out if I ever left.”
Wallace beams at Diana with a kind, dimpled smile. “Well, I hope you enjoy your stay! Feel free to have some of the snacks on the shelf.”
Diana eases up enough to smile back at him. “Thank you.”
When the boys head into their rooms, she keeps her distance. “Can I use the bathroom?”
I nod, wiping my hands with the towel. “Bathroom’s on the left.”
Diana avoids eye contact with me as she turns away. I go back to making dinner, but my body aches for her to come back and put her hands on me again.
I chop vegetables with more force than necessary, fighting with everything I have to keep it together for the rest of the night.
DIANA
I slam the door behind me, my fingers trembling against the wood.
Oh my god.I bury my face in my hands. Heat scorches my cheeks,warm as Kai’s skin when I had touched him. If I had drawn in any closer?—
My stomach flutters as hazy visions of Kai’s lips feverishly moving against mine rise like smoke in my mind. I can feel them press and imprint all over me, from my jaw down to my neck, from my neck down to my chest, fueling an impulse that’s becoming harder to tame every second.
