Page 113 of Forever After All

“Me either. I was hoping we could figure it out together.”

He lifted a hand and grasped one of hers that rested on his chest. He straightened his fingers, opening his palm flush against her hand. His fingers fell into the spaces between hers and rested perfectly together–intertwined and stronger together.

“I want that. I want you,” she said.

He dipped his head to hers and smirked. “Say it again.”

“I want us.”

Thunder boomed loud enough to shake the floor, and the horses cried outside.

Linc focused his attention back on her. “I need to get dry.” He looked down to where the rain had seeped into her shirt. “You do too.”

She tilted her chin up to him with a silent plea for another kiss–another awakening that could trap her in an addiction she didn’t want to give up.

Linc lowered his mouth to hers. He moved slowly at first, but their movements quickly grew as his lips danced across hers. She clung to him, breathless and wild, as he guided her through every move.

When he pulled away, she gasped as if she’d been underwater the entire time.

Linc took two steps backward, locking her with a hunter’s stare. “We can’t do that all night.”

She knew what he meant. It would be easy to want more, but that wasn’t what she wanted. Kissing was new and safe. Anything else was off-limits.

“You’re right.”

He pointed toward the door. “I’m going to check on the horses again. And…probably sleep outside.”

With that, he pushed his feet into his boots and ran back out into the storm.

Jess stood in the kitchen, soaking and freezing, with a shaking hand over her mouth. She’d just kissed Linc, and everything between them was about to change.

Chapter35

Linc

Linc lay on the hard wooden floor of the cabin and stared up at the sheet suspended above them. “I can’t believe you built a blanket fort.”

Jess slapped his chest. “It’s cold in here, and we need to harness the heat.” She pointed to the wood burning stove. “And you said we couldn’t cuddle.”

Linc scoffed. “I didn’t say we couldn’t. I said we shouldn’t. There’s a difference.”

“Whatever. You sound like we need a chaperone.”

She could joke, but that was too close to the truth. Having Jess laughing and happy beside him was the basis of all his dreams, and it was hard not to keep kissing her like he’d done earlier.

He hadn’t attempted to kiss her again. The first two had nearly lit him on fire.

“Okay, I need another story,” Linc said, hoping to distract his thoughts from kissing.

Jess hummed as she thought. “You want to hear about the time I broke my collarbone?”

“No. Not that one. I don’t like it when you’re hurt.” It turned his stomach in funny ways to think about Jess in pain. Funny how things changed since he used to go looking for a fight on the streets almost every day.

“It’s a funny story,” she promised.

“I somehow doubt that, but tell me if you want to.”

She wiggled closer to him. She’d been doing it for the last half hour, thinking he didn’t notice that her little shimmies weren’t covert moves to get closer to him.

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