“Itdoesn’t, Prue. Honestly. The only opinions that matter are yours, Jack’s, Evie’s, and Ikram’s, and maybe Nuri. Sometimes.”
She gasps and leans forward to pinch my arm, laughing. I snap a picture before I grab her hand, pulling her so she falls on top of me. I’m not sure she’s still visible with the angle of the camera, but her open laugh pushes me to press the button again with my free hand anyway.
I fall backward, pulling her with me and she catches herself with her arm, planting it on the duvet next to my head.
Time stops.
She’s lying on top of me, straddling one of my legs, her hair falling around both of our heads, making the flower fall next to my ear. Her breath is short and warming my parted lips. It takes me a tremendous amount of control not to drop my gaze towards her cleavage, which I’m sure, shows what’s hiding under the playsuit. But her gaze is too intense to look away, anyway.
“Why haven’t you kissed me yet?” She asks, surprising me.
“Well, itisour first date…”
“But it’s not our first moment,” she retorts, as my hands find their way to her hips, her waist.
“What do you mean?” I tease, becauseof courseI know what moments she’s referring to.Of courseI was dying to kiss her then, but I didn’t.
“I—” she starts, but stops herself, hesitating. I give her waist a little encouraging squeeze, searching her eyes. “I thought you were going to kiss me a few times. I hoped you would.”
“When?” I ask, sliding my hands down, following the curve of her hips down her thighs.
Her breath hitches when my palms leave the fabric of the playsuit to meet her soft skin. Blood rushes to her cheeks, but she doesn’t look away.
“At your house,” she murmurs.
“You were drunk. I didn’t want you to regret it.”
“At the beach.”
“Jack was not far.”
“It didn’t stop you from getting a feel of my ass,” she scoffs.
I laugh. “Yeah. That could be easily hidden as me applying sunscreen to your back or your thighs. I did enjoy it, though…”
I laugh, when she tries to push herself up with a frustrated groan, unable to as I lift my hands back up to her waist to keep her steady.
“Come on,” I urge her. “There were other times.”
She finally stops fighting my hold and releases an annoyed sigh. “At the precinct, earlier.”
“I didn’t want you to think I was kissing you for show.” Her eyes soften, and my gaze drops to her lips. “Ask about the other times I wanted to kiss you but didn’t.” I murmur.
“I—There were others?”
“So many.” She’s so close I could kiss her right now. Fuck, I want to. “That time in college, when you tripped while sliding down the stool at the coffee place while Jack was waiting for our order and getting hit on by the barista. But we’d met barely one hour before and it would have been weird. Plus, Jack would have killed me.”
“Definitely.” She giggles in a breath.
“When I wiped the graphite from your nose. That time, I was just a coward.” I close my eyes when I feel her forehead connecting with mine, the tip of her nose rubbing soft circles against my own. “At the bar, after I somehow convinced you it was a good idea to pretend we were together. Every time you and I were alone in my car. Basically, every time you’re standing less than seven feet away from me.”
She shudders under my touch, my thumbs brushing from her stomach to her sides repetitively.
“And why are you still not kissing me now?”
Yes, Nate? Why?
“I don’t want you to think that this is an elaborate plan to film porn,” I breathe out against her lips.
