Page 56 of In Love and War
“Answer the question. What were you curious about?”
“Alright, fine,” I sighed. “I guess I was curious to see if… something would happen,” I finally admitted, to the both of us, “but I really wasn’t expecting it to. My surprise was genuine.”
“I knew it,” he said, seemingly happy with the response.
“Whatever. What’s your last question?”
Just one more.
“Tell me why you ran out yesterday,” he said after a pause, watching me way more intently now.
Fuck.
“It… it wasn’t because of anything you did. And you definitely didn’thurtme…” I said, looking away from him. The glass in my hand had suddenly become the most interesting thing in the room.
“Then what the hell was it?” he asked, leaning closer to me.
“It wasn’t personal, Zac. I think that’s all you need to know. Can you let it go? I’ll answer any other question,” I pleaded.
“Kind of hard not to take it personally when someone you just slept with runs out like the place is on fire, Amelia.”
“Well, it’s not like we were going tocuddleafterwards, is it? I probably saved us from a bunch of inevitable awkwardness that was about to follow,” I argued.
“Stop deflecting.”
“I’m not going to answer it,” I retorted immediately, putting down my empty wineglass on the table beside his and crossing my arms. “Ask something else.”
“That’s not how this works. You can glare at me all you want, I’m not changing my question. Tell me why you freaked out.” He moved closer to me, and his tone was more demanding this time.
“No.”
“Why?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“That’s for me to decide.” His face was twisting in visible agitation by my lack of cooperation, his brows creasing and his lips pinched at the corners, the strain making his dimple appear.
Don’t be madat me.
I stared at his face, fully aware now that the wine was hitting me, but I didn’t care. Before I really knew what I was doing, my arms uncrossed and my hand reached toward his cheek, grazing the spot where his dimple dipped.
He froze and I felt his breath hitch when I touched him, but then his mouth relaxed in surprise and the little indent on his cheek disappeared again.
I frowned and started to withdraw my hand, but he caught it and brought it back to his face, placing a gentle kiss on my palm.
A million butterflies sprouted inside of my stomach and spread out throughout my body at the gesture, but it only lasted for a second before he brought my hand back down and placed it on my lap.
“Amelia, I n—”
I leaned in and kissed him.
My lips moved gently at first, testing his response, but he reciprocated almost immediately and deepened the kiss.
My hands traveled up to the back of his head and pulled him in as our tongues reunited. Why the hell hadn’t we been doing this the whole time?
His hands were on my hips now, and he pulled me in, but he still wasn’t close enough. I needed more. I swung one leg over his lap so that I was on my knees, straddling him.
Eventually my mouth was on his jaw and neck, while my hands worked to pull up his T-shirt. I needed his clothes off.
