Chapter Thirty
Keeley
At first, Beckett’s kiss is feather-soft. The sweet yet torturous feeling of gentle hands with callused, rough fingertips cup my chin as warm lips skim almost experimentally over mine.
It’s a shocking sensation that steals my breath, and I let out a shaky gasp.
He responds by moving his hands to the nape of my neck and his fingers thread into my hair as he deepens the kiss. Water is coursing over both of us, streaming over our faces and plastering our clothes to our bodies, but I’m burning hot, almost feverish, as I melt into the kiss.
Beckett tastes cool and sweet, like the caramel swirl ice cream, and nothing has ever been more perfect. I twist my hands in his shirt, dragging him closer. I can’t get close enough. My legs are shaking, and my skin feels like it’s been sparked with a million volts of electricity, and I can feel his heart pounding against my fist as the kiss goes from soft and sweet to absolutely scorching in a matter of seconds.
He tilts my head and moves his mouth over mine, kissing me wildly, with total unbridled passion. Totally unrestrained emotion. Like he’s pouring everything he’s feeling into this earth-shattering, axis-tilting kiss.
I marvel at the exquisite feeling of his thumbs moving gently over the hypersensitive skin on my neck as his fingertips tighten in my hair. The way a delicious shiver coils around my spine as his teeth scrape over my bottom lip. The sensation of his breath coming in short gasps that match mine as we lose ourselves in each other.
“Keeley,” he groans, pulling back for a moment to look at me with heavy-lidded eyes. The sound of my name in his mouth makes me feel like I’m unraveling, coming undone.
Both of us are letting our guards down and exposing raw, vulnerable sides of ourselves in a way that would usually feel terrifying, but right now, it feels terrifyingly right . With every movement we make, every sound that spills from my mouth as he uses his lips, his tongue, his teeth on me, every reverent touch of my skin, Beckett is communicating a message to me…
We’re safe here, with each other, like this. To let ourselves feel and experience every last bit of this kiss.
“I didn’t think I’d get to do this tonight,” Beckett murmurs into my skin as he buries his head in my neck. His breathing is labored, his voice low. Achey. He trails his lips along the column of my neck. My pulse leaps. “After the rain came, I thought the moment was over, that I’d have to lie awake in bed tonight imagining this. Imagining you, in my arms.” He kisses away a raindrop on my collarbone. My head spins.
“I think the building had other ideas for how we should end our night,” I say shakily, my voice raw.
“I like the way the building thinks,” he says roughly, his eyes glittering, his beautiful mouth curling into a smile.
“Can’t believe I’m admitting this, but maybe there is some truth to this whole magical matchmaking building thing,” I say, and as soon as the words are out of my mouth, his lips find mine again. I can’t help but moan as his hands slide down the sides of my body and curl around my hips, holding me like I’m his in a way that makes me never want him to let go.
I don’t know how much time passes as we cling to each other in the pouring rain, him kissing me absolutely senseless. But by the time we break apart, no amount of freezing rain could be capable of cooling me off.
I’m on fire for this man in a way I’ve never felt before.
But he’s still so in tune with everything I might want or need to be comfortable, because the first thing he does is rest his forehead against mine, both of us trying—and failing—to catch our breath before he mumbles, “I really should get you inside before you catch your death out here.”
“Catch my death?” I ask, nuzzling my forehead against his. Not wanting to ever break apart.
“Just something my Gran used to say about catching colds from being out in the rain too long.”
“Colds are from germs, not weather,” I tell him.
“That’s what I always said.” He chuckles, and I feel his laugh vibrate through me. “Why do I feel like I’ve known you all my life, Keeley Roberts?”
His words make my heart swell.
Because right here, right now? This was clearly meant to be.
A moment destined to happen.
One that’s undeniably ours.
“Because we were meant to meet each other this summer,” I reply with confidence. “Be here together for this time.”
As if to compound my point, I glance at the front door of the building, where my key is still lodged in the lock.
I reach out, turn the key again, and right away the door springs open.
“Well, would you look at that,” Beckett says. He’s still holding me.
“Would you look at that,” I echo as I clutch him tighter.