His lips find mine slowly, reverently, like he’s memorizing the moment. The kiss starts soft, questioning, his mouth warm against mine despite the cold water around us. When I begin tokiss him back, threading my fingers through his wet hair, he deepens it slightly, his other arm tightening around my waist.
It’s nothing like the desperate, demanding kisses I’ve known before. This is patient, thorough, like he has all the time in the world to learn exactly how I like to be kissed. His lips move against mine with a tenderness that makes me ache inside, and when he pulls back just far enough to look at me, his eyes are soft.
“You taste like cupcakes,” he whispers against my lips, and I can’t help the smile that spreads across my face.
I laugh softly. “I hope that’s a good thing.”
“Oh, it’s the best thing. Cupcakes are my favorite,” he says, pulling me back toward him. This time when he kisses me, I feel it everywhere—warmth spreading through my body, making me forget about the cold water, the uncertain future, everything except the way he holds me like I’m something worth choosing.
When I slip a little in his arms, his hands tighten around my back. “I’ve got you,” he whispers. “As long as you want me.”
I’vealwayswanted this man.
I shiver a little and he notices the goose bumps on my arms. “You’re cold. I need to get you dried off.”
When we finally swim back to the dock, both of us shaking from the cold and breathless with laughter, Lucian wraps the thick blanket around me, cocooning us as we make our way back to the truck. My wet clothes cling uncomfortably to my skin, but I’ve never felt more alive—or more certain about what I want.
He stops at the passenger door, his hands still holding the blanket closed around us, like I’m wrapped up against him. “I had more planned for tonight,” he says, tucking a wet strand of hair behind my ear with gentle fingers. “But I think we’ve had enough adventure for one evening.”
I look up at him, this man who brought me to my most sacred place and somehow made it ours.
“Lucian,” I say softly, “what I said earlier—about pretendingwe have all the time in the world? I don’t want it to be pretend anymore.”
His eyes search mine. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I don’t want to practice anymore. Any of this.” I look at the lake behind him, the memories I’ve built here. “I want the real thing. With you.”
For a moment, he goes perfectly still, like he’s afraid to breathe and break whatever spell is between us. Then he lowers his forehead to rest against mine, his eyes closing briefly. “I’ve been hoping you’d say that,” he murmurs, his breath warm against my lips. “Because pretending to fall for you was never the hard part, Neesha. The hard part was pretending I wasn’t already yours.”
Standing there, with the maple trees rustling above us, Lucian kisses me again like he’s been waiting his whole life to do this. Because this was never about practice—this was about falling completely.
CHAPTER 19
LUCIAN
Idrive us back toward Neesha’s apartment, stealing glances at her still-damp hair catching the glow of the moon through the window. She’s leaning against me, bundled in my dry jacket with the blanket from the truck wrapped around her legs, but it’s the shy smile on her lips that makes me feel like I’ve won the lottery tonight.
“What?” she asks, her face tilting to look at mine.
“Nothing,” I murmur, focusing back on the road. But it’s not nothing. It’severything—the way she laughs when she drops her guard, how she fits perfectly against my side, the fact that she just chose me over playing things safe. She’s so beautiful, I can hardly focus on driving.
Even now, I can still feel the way her body melted against me in the lake.Okay, so maybe she was cold.But she also didn’t shy away from me—this girl who swore she’d never date a hockey player, who built her defenses so high I wondered if I’d ever break them down. She just dove into freezing water with me and told me she wanted something real. Not practice.Real.
Part of me keeps waiting for reality to crash back in, for her to remember all the reasons this is complicated. But Grandpa’svoice cuts through the worry in my head. He used to remind me,Some things you just know, son.
I know I want Neesha in my life. More than that, I want her tobemy life.
I don’t know if she feels the same, but I’m going to make sure she knows that for me, there’s no one else. There never will be.
When I pull up to her apartment, she’s half-asleep against my shoulder in the car, and I don’t want to wake her because she feels good against me, the perfect fit in my arms.
“We’re home, Neesha.” I brush a strand of hair from her face.
She stirs, rubbing her eyes. “Tonight felt like a dream.”
“If it was, we had the same dream,” I tell her, leaning over to press a kiss to her head.
We walk to her apartment, her hand warm in mine, and all I want to do is watch her fall asleep on my shoulder again. But Henry’s barking from inside reminds me that the real world is waiting.
