Chapter 214
TESSA
His mouth is on mine. Not careful. Not gentle. Just hungry.
I gasp, and he takes advantage, deepening it, tasting me like he’s been starving. The plate slips from my lap to the coffee table with a clatter, and suddenly we’re kissing like we might actually die if we stop. His hands are everywhere – firm at my waist, sliding up my spine, anchoring me.
I clutch his shirt, dragging him closer, and he makes this low sound in his throat that just about undoes me.
“You taste” he breaks off, lips brushing mine as he catches his breath, “-better than the food.”
I laugh against his mouth, breathless, before he swallows it with another kiss, deeper this time, his tongue sliding against mine, slow and devastating. It’s dizzying, like being caught in a storm we both secretly wanted.
“I thought you liked the food,” I murmur when I finally tear back half an inch, lips tingling, swollen.
“I did,” he counters, kissing me again, the word ruined by how desperate he sounds.
We’re smiling into it now, half laughing, half devouring, like neither of us knows if we’re joking anymore or if we’ve crossed a line we can never uncross. And God help me, I don’t care.
His lips crash back onto mine, urgent, like he’s been holding himself
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back for years and finally gave up pretending. I melt into it, kissing him back with the same kind of reckless hunger. His hand slides into my hair, tugging just enough to make me gasp, and he seizes the moment to deepen it again, his tongue coaxing mine, hot and dizzying.
—
–
I whimper against him actually whimper — and his answering groan vibrates through me. “Tess…” he says it rough, like it tears out of him without permission.
I grip his shirt harder, pulling him flush against me, because there’s no way this is close enough. “You’re… you’re supposed to be the quiet one,” I manage to tease against his mouth, but it comes out breathless, broken up by the way he’s kissing me.
His laugh is short and shaky, more exhale than sound. “Shut up,” he mutters, then kisses me again, harder, like he means to erase the words from my lips.
I can’t help smiling against him. “Bossy.”
“Not bossy,” he murmurs, his lips brushing over mine as if he can’t bear to part with them for even a second. “Desperate.”
God. That one word almost knocks the air out of me.
We kiss again, slower this time, languid and deliberate, like he wants to taste every corner of me. His thumb brushes over my cheekbone, tender in a way that makes my chest ache even while my whole body is thrumming with heat.
I nip at his lower lip and he lets out this low sound, almost a growl, before capturing my mouth again. He kisses like he doesn’t know the difference between wanting and needing.
Between kisses, I whisper, “You … like the food?”
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His forehead drops against mine, his breath ragged, lips still grazing mine as he answers, “I like anything you make.” Then he drags me back into another searing kiss, like even talking costs too much time away from my mouth.
I laugh, breathless, tangled up in him, tasting him, touching him, kissing him until the room blurs and the only thing that feels real is
this.
EMILIA
“Well, that was fun.” I lean back, grinning at Liam, who looks like he’s reevaluating every decision that led him behind the wheel tonight.
“Give me a minute,” he mutters, one hand over his eyes.
“Need to throw up?” I cup my hands under his chin, dead serious. “I can help.”
The look he cuts me could curdle milk. I burst out laughing. “Relax, I‘ m kidding. God, you’re dramatic. Why’d you drink so much of that sludge anyway? I told you it wasn’t a good idea.”
“It’s disgusting,” he admits, grimacing. “But Cam’s right – it’s… healthy.”
I snort. “You sound like you’re trying to convince yourself.” I glance down at my phone again, rereading Tessa’s text for the fifth time, and scoff. “I still can’t believe she basically kicked me out.”
“And I,” he says, voice heavy with mock tragedy, “get an entire day alone with my girlfriend. Thank God for small mercies.”
That earns him a smile. A real one. “You’re ridiculous.”
“Mm. You love it.”
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I nudge his arm. “Wanna get ice cream? Might cure whatever’s currently dying in your stomach.”
He narrows his eyes. “You only want ice cream.”
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“Kinda.” I grin. “But you’re the one who’s suffering – don’t you want me to feel better about it?”
By the time Liam pulls into the little strip mall, he looks like a man who’s survived a war. He kills the engine and slumps against the headrest.
“You good?” I ask, unbuckling.
“No.” He reaches across the console, tugging at my sleeve like a sulky kid. “Don’t leave me.”
I laugh, peeling his hand off. “I’m not abandoning you in a parking lot. Come on.”
He groans but follows, one arm slung heavily over my shoulders as if walking requires assistance. “I think my organs are rebelling.”
“You did this to yourself,” I remind him sweetly, guiding him toward the shop. He walks with all the dignity of a man three seconds from throwing up, but still somehow manages to lace his fingers through mine as we head inside. “Nobody made you chug kale juice like it was holy water.”
“Cam made me.”
“Cam suggested. You’re a grown man. Allegedly.”
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Chapter 715
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