Page 30 of After the Snap

The kiss is soft, almost tentative at first before he lets out a low, deep sound that vibrates through his lips into the kiss and then he surges forward. One hand wraps around the back of my neck, holding me to him, while the other wraps around my waist, securing me against him as he devours my mouth like no man ever has. My pulse races, and my body thrums with a need so intense my whole body feels like it’s on the edge of a steep cliff, teetering into the abyss.

His tongue slides against my lips and I part them instantly. Our tongues glide against each other like we’ve kissed a million times instead of only once.

This.

This was how I always imagined it. Just the two of us sitting in front of an endless ocean getting lost in each other.

And I hate that it’s as perfect as anything I ever imagined.

Eighteen

Fuck.

I stare at the latest article link Shawna just sent over, and my stomach tightens into a knot. I didn’t think we’d been followed after we left the restaurant, but there’s a picture of us taken at the beach. They had to be far away, but with a long enough lens to get the perfect close-up of our kiss.

The best fucking kiss of my damn life. The kiss that’s had my head in a spiral ever since we stopped. Why did I wait so long to kiss her? Why haven’t we been kissing this whole time? Why have I been wasting my time with other women when the perfect one was right in front of me all along?

The only answer I’ve managed to come up with is that I’m a total and complete idiot, which is news to no one at this point, but shit. I can’t believe I’ve wasted so much time.

But then again, everything that happened with my dad and his affair fucked with my head, and I doubt I would’ve been a good boyfriend to her if this had happened sooner. We might not even be friends now if it had.

That knot in my stomach tightens.

I look back down at my phone and rub my hand over the back of my neck. I know I need to call Laney and tell her, but she’ll think it was all set up. Most of all, I’m worried she’ll think I was in on it, and I don’t want her to regret any part of that kiss.

I sure as hell don’t.

If anything, I’m now counting down the seconds until I can kiss her again.

My phone dings with another text from Shawna. Another media outlet got a copy of the photo, and I know it’s only a matter of time before Alayna finds out about it on her own. I need her to hear it from me, so I call her, even if everything in me is screaming to drive over to her place so I can see her face.

She answers after the third ring. “Hello?” Her voice is groggy like she just woke up, and I’d give just about anything to be next to her right now.

“Hey. Sorry, did I wake you?”

“Yeah, but it’s okay. I need to get up anyway. What’s up?”

I push through the growing dread in my gut. “I wanted you to hear it from me before you saw it for yourself, but we made headlines from our date yesterday.”

“Okayyy. Wasn’t that the point of that overpriced restaurant?”

I close my eyes. “The picture wasn’t from the restaurant. It was from the beach.”

There’s a beat of weighted silence before she says, “Oh.”

I can’t pick up on her tone with only one word, so I fill the continuing silence. “I had no idea. I thought we lost them before we even got to the taco truck. I didn’t realize they followed us to the beach.” She doesn’t say anything. “Laney? You know I didn’t plan this, right?”

“Yeah,” she says, but her voice lacks conviction.

“Laney, that kiss—”

“We don’t have to talk about it, Dom. I appreciate you trying to make it happen when the press weren’t around so I would be comfortable. Honestly, this probably sells our story better, don’t you think? People are more likely to believe it’s real now.”

Whatever words I was ready to speak die a quick death on my tongue. That dread that was building in my gut turns sour, and there’s a sharp ache in my chest at how nonchalant she suddenly sounds.

“Listen, thanks for telling me so I wasn’t blindsided, but I need to get going. I’ll see you at your game tomorrow. I’m flying out this afternoon.”

She’s flying to Philadelphia where they’re holding the Super Bowl this year. Shawna suggested it, but Laney had already planned to attend. She’d never miss it, but now I wish she wasn’t just coming as my friend.

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