After a quick sweepof her house, making sure I have everything in my bag, I meet Willa in the kitchen to say goodbye for the week. “Okay, I’ll meet you at the terminal on Wednesday. Do you need anything before I go?”
“Nope, I think I’m good.”
“Okay. Oh…uh, I forgot about this.” Sliding my hand in my pocket, I pull out the small velvet bag from Zim’s Jewelry and curl my fingers around it, second-guessing this move. “This probably isn’t the best timing, seeing as you just told me about your controlling ex.” When we passed the jewelry store window, I felt confident about giving this to her, imagining a shy smile spreading across her face. The one that happens whenever I do something that surprises her. But after our drive back to her house, I’m not so sure.
A furrow creases her forehead as she glances at the bag. “What is it?”
“If you hate it, or you don’t want to wear it, I understand. I can take it back or?—”
“Just show me.”
“Uh…” I slip the golden necklace from the bag and place the dainty camera charm in my upturned palm. “I just, um…I saw it and thought of you. But don’t feel like you have to?—”
Willa’s lips silence my fumbling words. The soft pressure is both timid and brazen, uncertain and sure, intoxicating and centering. Her hand cradles my face, the gentle graze of her fingers down my cheek scorching every rational thought I have. Clutching the necklace, I pull her in tightly, grasping her hip as the need to feel her closer floods over me. Her kiss could occupy every second of my day, and I’d still beg her for more. I sweep my tongue across the seam of her lips, pleading for even the smallest taste. When she greets me with hers, the strike of a thousand matches ignites a path straight to my sanity. She backs me up against the counter just as the alert for my flight chirps on my phone, causing her to scramble backward with a gasp.
“Oh.My.God.” She slaps a hand over her mouth, shaking her head quickly while she retreats.
“Willa.” I drop the necklace on the counter and take a step forward.
“No!” she yells, wide-eyed, her palms bracing the air in front of her. It stops me in my tracks. “Stay right there. I—I don’t… Oh my God. It was the hormones…”
“It’s okay, Gem.”
“No, it’snot. I just kissed you!” Her back hits the fridge with a thud. “I’m not supposed tolikeyou…” she whines through her grimace, bouncing on her feet in a mini tantrum. Watching this realization spread through her is the cutest damn thing I’ve ever seen.She likes me. Her hand scrubs across her forehead, as if trying to wipe away the very moment I’ll never forget. “It’s been a long day and I’m…hungry? Yeah. I’m hungry and need to eat.”
“Okay, so let me get you something to eat.”
“No!” She gasps, her eyes roving the floor frantically. “No. I’ll get it after you’re gone. You go. Catch your flight. I’m fine… Maybe I’m tired?” It sounds like she’s trying to convince herself at this point. “Yeah. I’m tired, and I just need a nap. Alongnap.” She sidesteps out of the kitchen and backs down the hallway. “So I’ll go take a nap and you g-go to the airport and…and get on the plane.” The words stutter out of her as she turns on her heel and scurries to her room.
The door clicks shut, and I scratch my prickling scalp, frozen to my spot in the kitchen. I’m stuck on how adorable she is when she gets flustered, how she bit her lip as she battled her logic with her undeniable desire…the way her voice went up an octave while she stumbled on her words. My mind reels at the kiss we just shared and what it means. Not our first kiss, but possibly just as memorable. One I’m aching to repeat. She’s in her room freaking out about kissing me, while I’m out here trying to figure out how to get her to do it again. The reminder on my phone rings out, signaling five minutes before I absolutely have to get in my car. That gives me enough time to fix her a snack. I grab the mini cooler, load it up with some of her favorites, refill her water tumbler, and head down the hallway.
I knock, and when she doesn’t answer, I slip into the room quietly in case she really did fall asleep that fast. Willa’s sitting in the middle of the mattress, hugging her knees with a wide-eyed stare. Giving her a smile, I step slowly, as if we’re in a nature documentary and she’s about to flee from the watering hole. I set thecooler on the floor next to her bed and slide the tumbler on her nightstand. She watches me, tucking her chin between her knees, saying nothing. “I packed you some snacks in case you get hungry after your nap, and slipped in some of those cookies you like, just because. Your water’s fresh with lots of ice. And here’s your phone.”
“I need you to stop being nice to me,” she whispers.
I smile. “No.”
“Please?” Her voice cracks with her pleading.
The edge of the mattress sinks as I take a seat. As much as she looks like she wants to run away right now, she stays put. “Why?” I ask.
“Because when you’re nice to me, it blurs all the boundary lines in my head. And I do unhinged things like kiss you.”
I bite my cheek to stifle the smile threatening to break free at her confession. Everything within me is screaming to pull her closer. “I wouldn’t call you kissing me ‘unhinged.’”
“Yeah,okay,” she scoffs, glancing down at her lap. “What would you call it, then?”
“Inevitable,” I whisper, leaning in. Peering into her brown eyes, clocking her avoidance for what it is, I can’t resist any longer. I grab the back of her neck and pull her to me, meeting her quivering lips with a kiss full of all the pent-up desire coursing through me. She moans, and I urge her closer, tangling lips and tongues with a shared fervor I’d love to get used to. Willa is everything I want. She’s starting to feel like an outright need the more time we spend together. I’m drifting deeper into her orbit, and I hope gravity never finds me.
My damn phone goes off yet again. Pulling back, I look into her eyes, hoping to convey every ounce of what I feel for her right now. “And another thing…” I place a lighter, lingering kiss on her lips as a response, then leave another on her forehead, and when I stand, I drop a third on the top of her head. “I have to catch my flight, but I’ll check on you when I land, yeah?”
Her eyes flutter closed as she nods, and I contemplatecanceling everything. Calling in sick for the next two days just to stay here and take my fill of Willa’s lips would be more than worth it. I quickly weigh it all out in my head but ultimately decide letting this simmer for a few days is probably for the best. I know how I feel about her, know what I want. Now I need to give her the space to make up her mind about me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
WILLA
The escalator crests the second floor of the flight terminal while I nervously slide the small gold camera charm back and forth on the chain around my neck. I hook my other thumb under the strap of my camera backpack, ready to start the trek through the crowd. You wouldn’t think Wednesday would be a busy day at the airport, but with Christmas this week, I guess it makes sense. Trevor flew in from San Francisco, so he’s meeting me at the gate. I don’t know what to expect when I see him. It’s been a couple of days since I kissed him—since he kissed me back—but neither of us has brought it up over text. I’m not sure where this leaves us. I know I haven’t been able to get him off my mind, but he might instantly regret everything the moment he lays his eyes on me. There’s no telling how this will go.
