Page 19 of The Christmas List
His arm slips around my waist, holding me steady, his massive body hardly jostled from our unexpected collision.
“Shit, are you okay?”
I nod, breathing heavily. “Yeah. God, that scared the crap out of me.”
My heart is still racing in my chest as I lift my gaze to his. I’m pressed tightly against his body, my fingers tangled into the front of his shirt so tightly that I can feel the hard, sculpted muscles of his abdomen beneath the flannel. And now my heart is racing for an entirelydifferentreason.
He’s staring down at me, an unmistakable flicker of heat flaring in his warm brown eyes.
I allow myself for the briefest moment to imagine what it would be like having this version of Wyatt fitted between my thighs, his hard body moving over me, making my back arch in pleasure as his lips drag along my heated skin.
It’s the last thing I should be thinking of, but the proximity and the scent of him surrounding me has my head swimming and my legs feeling wobbly. Like fresh citrus and cinnamon with a delicious hint of leather.
It’s intoxicating.
His arm tightens around my waist, somehow pressing me harder against him, and my pulse thrashes wildly as his gaze drops to my mouth, lingering there for a moment.
And then he’s leaning closer, so close that I can feel his breath fanning along my lips, centimeters away from me, and I’m pretty sure I’ve never wanted anything so badly as I want him.
My eyes flutter shut, and then his lips are on mine. His kiss is slow and unhurried, tentative almost, as he captures my lips, drinking down the small whimper that falls free.
That sound seems to push him over whatever edge he was teetering on because he lifts his palms to my jaw, cradling my face tenderly in his hands, and kisses me deeper, like he can’t get enough, like it would never be enough.
My fingers tighten in his shirt, and when my tongue sweeps along the seam of his lips, he makes a deep, growly noise at the back of his throat, one that makes me tremble against him.
His tongue slides between my lips and tangles with mine, without hesitation.
God, he tastes exactly the way I remember, but the way that he kisses me now is different. It’s raw and hungry. Young Wyatt’s kisses made my heart flutter. Butthisman’s kisses consume me wholly.
He tears his lips from mine, his chest heaving as he peers down at me through heavy, molten eyes.
Only then am I able to think slightly more clearly, my head having been dizzy with my want for him. It’s then I realize we’re surrounded by people, and the entire town probably knows that we just kissed like teenagers on the ice rink.
God, what am I doing? This is not a good idea.
I know that, and yet every time I’m around him, I just keep letting myself fall into everything that’s Wyatt.
We’re playing with fire, a dangerous game for my heart that’s already been broken by this man once before.
And I know that if I’m not careful,I’mthe one who’s going to be burned.
Again.
7
wyatt
There aren’t many reasons I’ll strip down and willingly jump into the frigid waters of Strawberry Falls in the dead of winter, but apparently, this damn competition is one of them.
And that I’m going to get to see Josie in a bathing suit when I’ve imagined her wearing less far too many times in the last three days since our kiss.
That damn kiss.
It’s fucked with my head, and even when I’ve tried to stop thinking about it, about Josie, I couldn’t.
She’s invaded my every thought since that night, and hell, even invaded my dreams.
That kiss was… incredible. It was like cominghome. So much more than I dreamed it would be, and I’m desperate for another one.
