“I—” She turned beet-red. “I don’t know.”
“Come on,” I urged gentler this time and got her to cross through to the hallway. “I promise it will be all right.”
Her nervous energy was enough to fill the elevator with static. I wanted to tell her I found it adorable—and a little amusing—how she seemed to not know what to do with the hand I wasn’t holding onto. Her eyes jumped around the metal box, and she swayed from her heels to her toes and back. She didn’t want to be called adorable, though, so I kept it to myself.
“You didn’t take the umbrella,” she blurted out of the blue and pulled us toward the dials to get the elevator to stop and go back up to fetch it.
“We’re not going to need the umbrella. Getting wet is part of the experience.”
“Luke—”
I pulled her against my side, rubbing a hand up and down her back, feeling knots forming in her shoulders as we rode down to the first floor. “I see now what you meant about not setting a date for our first kiss. You are tense. I might need to give you a massage.”
“I’m fine,” Haylee muttered.
I pressed my thumb on one of the knots between her shoulder blades, and she sagged against me, muffling a moan against my neck. “Are you declining the massage?”
“N-not exactly.”
I bit back my grin. “Are you declining my offer to kiss you in the rain?”
She wiggled in my arms, undoubtedly from the nerves she confessed having. “No,” she whispered.
I searched her eyes, but she stared intently at the collar of my shirt. I tipped her chin up with my finger to get her to look at me. “It is all right if you are.”
Haylee set her jaw. “But I’m not. I want to do this.”
I hummed happily. “Then we’ll do this.”
Once we were out of the elevator, it took a little encouragement to coax Haylee out into the downpour. She held her arms protectively across her chest, and I did my best not to assess the situation. My own shirt drenched and stuck to my skin in a heartbeat, cooling me down considerably until my limbs felt chilled. Haylee shivered across from me. Perhaps she was hugging herself to keep warm instead of modesty. We would both catch a cold if I didn’t get us back inside. This was a terrible idea, but we were outside now so better make the best of it.
It wasn’t just raining, it was pouring. My shoes splashed on the wet pavement of the parking lot as I closed the distance between me and Haylee, since she still stood much closer to the entrance. The whoosh and splatter of the droplets attacking the ground rumbled around us, and there was nothing gentle in the way they slammed on my bare forearms and the top of my head. Rivers ran down my face, dropping off my chin. Even more collected in Haylee’s hair before escaping down her back and between her breasts. Her shirt clung to her like a second skin just like mine, only I had nothing to hide, and her jewels were drawing my attention more and more. We were here to kiss, not grope. Kiss romantically. How the fuck was I to do that exactly?
I slid an arm around Haylee, drawing her against my chest. The wet squelch and her hardened nipples through our shirts were a turn on. Her half-lidded eyes and expectantly parted lips were a turn on. Fuck, the coconut scent of her wet hair was a turn on, too. I was such a goner for her.
I traced the outline of her rain-kissed lips with my thumb, and her breathing grew rapid. “Now, what would make this more romantic, Red Cheeks? Oh, I know.”
I made sure my arm around her was secure as could be and that my balance wasn’t any way compromised before I dipped her. She yelped at the unexpectedness of losing her gravity, but my hold around her was firm, and I trailed my other hand across her thigh, tugging her foot off the ground so I could lower her further. When her nails jabbed into my back I leaned over her and pressed my lips on hers. She tasted like raindrops, which wasn’t surprising seeing the amount of water that dropped off my hair down to her face and trailed down between our faces. I drank it off her lips as if I’d been parched for days, stuck in that desert she so willingly wished to be born in.
I wasn’t cold anymore, and Haylee was no longer nervous. I knew it because she kissed me back fervently as if she was as thirsty for my touch as I was for hers.
“Do you like the rain now?” I asked huskily after I’d pulled her up straight again and let her find her balance.
“No, not really.” Haylee laughed. “But I like you.”
That was even better.
