Chapter 4
Fuck.
I tugged the silk robe open. Skin hot under my palms. I slid my hands up her sides, thumbs brushing the undersides of her breasts through the thin pajama top.
She arched into me.
Every nerve ending fired at once. Years of wanting her, missing her, poured out in that kiss. In the way I gripped her hips like I could fuse us together.
I pulled back just enough to look at her. Lips swollen. Eyes dark. Hair wild.
“Everything in me wants to throw you over my shoulder and take you upstairs right now,” I said against her mouth. “But I need to hear it. Tell me this is what you want.”
She smiled—small, shaky, real.
“I still want you too, Garner. I was waiting. Hoping you’d come back for me.”
I rested my forehead against hers. Breathed her in.
“You’re it for me,” I told her. “Always have been.”
“You’re it for me too.”
She kissed me softer this time. Sweet. Then pulled back, eyes sparkling.
“You remember senior year?” she asked. “Our favorite Christmas?”
How could I forget? Driving around in my old truck, heat barely working, looking at lights. Hot cocoa in thermoses. Parking somewhere dark. Fogging up the windows.
I grinned. “Yeah.”
“Let’s do it again.” She brushed her thumb over my lip. “Recreate it. Exactly like before.”
My blood ran hotter.
“And then?” I asked.
She leaned in, lips brushing my ear. “Then we come back here. And finish.”
I growled low. Squeezed her hip. Nipped her earlobe.
“Deal.”
She laughed—light, happy, the sound I’d missed every damn day.
I stood up with her still wrapped around me. She squeaked, arms tight around my neck.
“Coats,” I said. “Truck keys. Let’s go make a new memory before we make the old one again.”
She kissed me once more—quick, promising—then slid down my body slow enough to torture me.
Christmas lights blinked behind her. Snow falling outside the window.
Everything felt right again.
Finally.