Page 34 of Better Day

The burn of her eyes that ignites inside me, it can’t be so wrong!

I just know it can’t.

CASSIE

All day I have been trying to think of the perfect plan to get Ghost to talk to me. Not just polite dinner conversation but really talk to me. Open up and let me discover the real him.

He confuses me and intrigues me at the same time, but one thing never wavers. The intense sexual chemistry he exudes. He can try to hide it all he likes, but I see it in his face, the pain of pushing it aside every time I get that little bit closer to him.

My world has been turned upside down, and I don’t know who I am or where I might be tomorrow. But the one thing I know for certain is that if I don’t do something about the intense feelings that have building inside me, then I may regret it for the rest of my life, however long that may be.

“Smells good out here, as usual.” His voice echoes in the quiet of the room as he walks up behind me in the kitchen where I am about to pick up our plates to carry them to the table. “Can I help carry those?” I feel him entering my personal space, my body vibrating uncontrollably as I spin around to face him.

Our bodies are mere inches apart, and I know it’s now or never. I press up onto my toes so my face is almost level with his.

His lips are so close I can almost taste them, my eyes fluttering as I lean into him, but all of a sudden, he’s pulling back. Stepping a few feet away, his face looks tortured as his fists are clenched by his sides.

His movement shocks me and my words just slip out. “Why won’t you kiss me?” I feel like every bit of air is being sucked out of the room from the tension between us.

He groans and grabs the back of his neck, and I can see that he's on the edge of his restraint.

“Cassie.” The roughness of his voice tells me he needs me to stop, but I’m done stopping. I know what I want and so does he. But the man standing in front of me is wrestling with himself. The agent in him is trying to do the right thing and not get involved with me in a way that goes against everything he originally took an oath for. I can see the man that I’m falling for clawing at the edge of the cliff, trying not to let go and take that jump.

“Why do you call me that… Cassie?” I whisper.

“Because that’s who you are to me!” His growl comes out like he has no control in replying.

“Tell me who you are to me,” I ask, pleading that he knows what I mean.

“Noah, my name is Noah.” I can see the emotion behind his answer.

“Then tell me why you won’t kiss me.” I need him to say it.

“Cassie!” The frustration he feels at me pushing him is in every letter of my name.

It's time to push him over the neat line he’s trying to keep his feet firmly planted on the safe side of.

“That’s not an answer. Noah…” Tentatively stepping the last few feet to him, his real name slipping off my tongue, I see the moment the restraint cracks.

“Because once I do… I know I’ll never be able to stop!” The creases on his forehead deepen, straining with control as he tries to stop from snapping.

His words are music to my ears. Because I know, once he touches me, I’ll be lost in him, and I'm not sure I will ever want to find my way out.

“Noah, please…” I'm almost begging him.

“Fuck it. You’re mine!” he grits out, finally cracking, losing all his restraint.

The hand that was gripping his neck so tightly reaches out now and takes me by the back of my neck. No tenderness, there is too much heat between us for that.

His lips crash into mine with a force that I feel like I’m being claimed in the only way he knows how, with every single emotion that has been swimming around us for days.

It’s exactly like I’ve been dreaming, his lips rough and smooth at the same time, his tongue looking for more from me. His fingers slide up into my hair, and I can’t help the whimper that has my mouth opening just like he wants. It’s like he is playing my body to dance to his tune, and I’m happily following every note.

Our tongues are tangling, and it’s like the electricity that we have been trying to turn off is now running directly between us. I wrap my arms around his bare back, and it finally feels like my hands are touching the forbidden land, running up and over the mountains and valleys of his muscles.

The harder he kisses me, the tighter I grip his body. My nails are now digging into his skin. I feel my back hit the wall behind me.

His lips breaking from mine, I gasp for that first breath of fresh air.

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