But then Lachlan pulled back, a slight lean of retreat. “I’m not kissing you as your fake husband.” His eyes held not one trace of humor. “It’s just you and me, Olivia. No pretense.” Taking my hand, he placed it on his bare chest, right over his heart. “I’m going to ask you one more time. Yes…or no?”
Laughter peeled from inside the store. A cash register printed and spit out a ticket. Conversations blurred and blended outside our door.
But everything I wanted was right there in my arms.
My hand itched to move over his skin. I would worry about my life plan tomorrow. “Lachlan, if you don’t kiss me, we’re buying this shirt for your premiere.”
The taut clench of his jaw lessened, and his gaze went tender. “Then we better get to it. Because this thing is an abomination.”
I rather thought the garment had served a purpose.
Lachlan took the hand over his heart, turned it over, and placed a kiss in the center of my palm, lingering there for a moment.
I couldn’t take any more. Make fun of me and my schedules all day long, but time was meant to be used and the day meant to be captured.
And time for talking was over.
I threaded my hands through hair I had itched to touch again and pulled Lachlan’s face to mine. Before I could take lead, Lachlan’s mouth closed over mine, a laugh vibrating in his throat.
Holy day planners.This was perfection.
Angels could keep their pearly gates and their harp-threaded songs. Lachlan’s emotion-fueled kiss was all the heaven I’d need. It was danger and safety, exhilaration and calm.
I sank into that kiss and let it pull me under. The world disappeared, leaving only two people on the planet. We were an island, and Lachlan was a marooned man in need of saving.
A nip here, a slow drag of lips there. Everything in me was on fire, and I couldn’t get enough of this unexpected husband of mine. His mouth trailed a path from my cheek, then along the line of my jaw. That sensitive spot beneath my ear called Lachlan’s name, and as if reading my mind, he obediently answered. Did he taste the salt of my skin or feel the beat of my pulse against his mouth?
Lachlan returned his attention to my lips as I finally gave into the temptation to skim my hands beneath the shirt he detested. Warm, soft skin was my reward, and I let my fingers learn the terrain.
Yes, we’d kissed before, but not like this. It had never felt like this.
This was surrender and solace, with zero artifice, and I couldn’t get enough.
“Everything going okay in there?” Paolo called.
My heart pounding, I somehow found the will to break the kiss.
Lachlan ran his knuckles down my flushed cheek. “Better than expected.”
“Let me know if you need anything!” Paolo walked away, leaving Lachlan and me entwined like a mall pretzel.
“You and I need to talk,” Lachlan said. “Things have changed.”
Feeling too much at once, I could only nod.
His hand still planted over my head, he dipped his head and kissed me again.
Things had changed.
Like my odds of another heartbreak, my complications in moving to New York, and the expectation that I hold up all my carefully crafted plans and light them on fire.
I’d lost myself in a relationship before and vowed to never do that again.
Could I risk it all once more—for Lachlan?
ChapterForty-Four
LACHLAN
