I thread my fingers through his hair. He nuzzles my neck, sending zings of pleasure through me. “I’m having a really difficult time not kissing you right now,” he whispers.
“Then kiss me.” The words are out too fast to take back.
Tobias pulls back and raises one eyebrow in a silent question, as if he knows I’m caught up in the moment and might not be making the best decision.
I close my eyes and sigh. “Please?”
He slowly moves closer to me until his lips are just a whisper from mine. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He presses his lips to mine. His kiss is slow and thorough, and I get lightheaded. I push away any thoughts about how wrong this is. How unworthy I am. This feels too good for me to stop.
I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me. I feel like I’m flying above the clouds, soaring so high my stomach buzzes. His lips are warm and soft, and he holds me to him like he’s afraid I’ll vanish into thin air.
Tobias deepens the kiss and heat warms my insides. I don’t want to do anything else but kiss this man. Forget Christmas morning. This feels like the Fourth of July. Hot and explosive.
Footsteps sound behind Tobias and he jerks away from me. Micah stands in the doorway, grinning. “Don’t stop on my account. I’m just getting a snack.”
He walks to the fridge, opens the door, and grabs a yogurt. As he exits the room he turns back. “You might want to close the oven door, though. It will cook better that way.” He chuckles as he leaves.
My face heats, and I’m sure it’s twelve shades of red. Tobias rushes over to the oven and closes the door. “How long does it bake?”
I walk over to my phone, sitting on the counter and check it. “Fifty-five minutes.” My fingers tremble too much, so I set the phone down and press my lower back up against the counter.
Tobias tells his smart watch to set a timer, then he walks over to me. He swallows and scrubs his hand down his face. “Are we pretending that didn’t happen, too?”
I glance over at the doorway to make sure Micah’s gone. I feel bad for what I said to Tobias after our last kiss. I don’t want to hide my feelings any longer. I want to have this, even if it’s just for a little while. I shake my head and bite my lip. “No.”
CHAPTER 28
TOBIAS BARRETT
“No?” I ask, my heart pounding.
Kiki shakes her head. Her face is flushed, and she’s having trouble meeting my gaze, but she’s not running away from me anymore. At least, not right now. I want to ask her questions, but I don’t want to push her away from me. I want more of the closeness we’ve had today.
“Do you really want to watch some old family videos?”
She smiles up at me. “Yeah. I’d like that.”
We go into the family room, and I dig around in the bottom of the console. I find the box with the old DVDs in it, and I flip through them until I find one from the year I was thirteen. It’s the one most likely to have the footage from the graveyard. I stick it in the DVD player and grab the remote.
I sit next to Kiki on the couch and turn on the TV. Our backyard shows on the screen, and my brothers and I appear running around with a football.
Kiki elbows me. “Is that you? Oh, my goodness, look at you! You’re so cute.”
She’s lying. No one is cute at thirteen. I’m gangly and awkward, but I grin and put my arm on the back of the couch. “You think so?”
She snuggles into my side. “Of course. But be quiet. I want to hear this. Your voice is changing and it’s so funny.”
I chuckle and slip my arm around her. We watch the old videos as my family has a barbeque, as we play on the beach, and as we set off fireworks. The video of me and Levi at the cemetery comes on and we laugh so hard I have trouble breathing.
My watch alarm sounds, and I go into the kitchen to take out the coffee cake, setting it on a trivet to cool. I head back into the family room and sit next to Kiki. My brothers and I are in our Halloween outfits on the TV. “You guys are so adorable,” Kiki says, snuggling back into my side.
I get emotional when I see my mother come on the screen. She’s hanging decorations on a Christmas tree, and she turns toward the camera.
“Are you ready for Christmas?” my father asks behind the camera.
