Nate felt Madison’s penetrating gaze burrow deep inside him. She said nothing for a few moments, as if weighing the sincerity of his words.
“You would, wouldn’t you.” She didn’t even phrase it as a question.
He didn’t know why it always felt like they both existed in the pause between one breath and the next when they were together.
Suspended.
Always on the cusp of something. Like at that moment for example. Nate felt powerless not to let himself really look at her, indulge in this girl in front of him. Her deep, soulful eyes. Her soft, curly hair that was just as unruly as she was. Her smart mouth that always surprised him and made him smile.
A mouth that he’d probably spent a few seconds too many staring at, judging from the hitch in Madison’s breath.
Nate wanted to bask in that hitch. He wanted to be the cause of many more.
He lifted his hand and reached up to gently run the back of his fingers over her heated cheek. His eyes followed the movements of his hand as if he couldn’t believe what he was actually doing.
Everything seemed to sharpen into focus when Madison leaned imperceptibly into his touch, which made Nate step closer to her, the tips of his shoes almost bumping hers. His hand slid down her neck to his favorite place, the small curve where her neck and nape met her shoulder, lightly tilting her head towards him.
The pull was impossible to resist as they both leaned in and met halfway in a barely there whisper of lips that electrified him to his very core. Her sweet, floral scent enveloped him, drowning his senses.
Nate couldn’t remember the last time his heart had beat so hard from something like this.
From just a kiss.
Perhaps never. Maybe he’d never had something like this.
Their lips moved against each other’s for a few precious seconds and it was like hello, and nice to meet you, and there you are. There you are.
A sigh escaped Madison’s lips as they parted and Nate wanted to swallow that sigh, take it inside him and possess it forever. He wanted to sink into this feeling and never resurface.
The smile that brightened her face when she opened her eyes and looked at him would have been enough to brighten even his darkest memories.
He wanted to do this right.
Hewoulddo this right.
twenty-one
Maddy had no idea how her legs were still holding her up.
A feat of physics, of biology, or of whatever the hell something.
She really didn’t care.
She would keep her jelly legs as long as she could also keep the butterflies in her stomach that had suddenly turned into fucking pterodactyls.
As long as she could keep the warmth that had pooled in her belly like thick honey, making her both sluggish and hyper-aware.
She could feel everything. Nate’s puff of breath on her wet lips. His thumb making soothing circles where he was holding her. His clean, woodsy smell making her dizzier than she already was. Her pulse beating in her throat slightly maniacally.
They breathed the same air for a few moments after they parted, in no hurry to separate fully.
It was cliché, but everything felt slowed down around them.
As if time held little meaning.
But again, with them, time had always held little meaning.
Maddy felt her cheeks stretch painfully in a smile she was sure did nothing to downplay what she was feeling. She’d always had trouble playing it cool.
