Chapter 16 - Dawson #3
Her thumb rested against the label on her bottle, absent, rhythmic. I watched it, then forced my gaze back up. The look I found there damn near sent my pulse into orbit.
Marlena returned with fries we hadn’t ordered, and set them down like a decree. “Eat.”
Carissa beamed at her, the spell broken. “You’re my favorite.”
“Get in line,” Marlena said, then shot me a look. “You behaving?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She laughed and left us to it.
We shared the fries, salt dusting our fingers. She stole the last one, fixing me with a devilish grin.
“Thief,” I said.
“Strategist,” she corrected.
Another round of beers appeared, and that’s when time started slipping without announcing itself. We danced again. This time closer. Close enough to make me aware of every decision I made. She followed my lead without ceding herself. It was intoxicating.
When we sat, her shoulder met my arm. Stayed. I didn’t move. The booth creaked as if approving.
“Thank you,” she said, out of nowhere.
“For?”
“For tonight.”
I met her gaze. “Anytime.”
Her smile lingered, and if ever there was a time in my life when I wanted to kiss the shit out of someone, this was it. With her gaze pouring into mine, her chin tilted just right, lips looking like a forbidden invitation I’d be crazy to turn down. All I had to do was lean in.
But I couldn’t. Like every moment just like this one, there were suddenly too many things bumping around in my mind. Too many reasons not to. Excuses that felt a lot like rational, logical thought. Besides, I didn’t want to be mistaken and ruin everything.
Outside, the night waited. Inside, the world felt right-sized. I stayed with her, letting the hours stitch us closer, one ordinary, extraordinary moment at a time.
Night pressed against us as we stepped out of the bar, the neon bleeding across cracked asphalt and faded striping in the lot.
The air had the sharpness of desert cool, and for a second it felt like the city had drained away, leaving just the two of us, the glow of streetlights cutting through darkness, the low pulse of Vegas somewhere behind the walls of the dive bar.
I opened the limo door for her, and she hesitated, eyes flicking to mine. Something in the quiet between us stretched longer than it had any right to. My fingers tightened on the edge of the door, and I felt my own restraint grow brittle.
“I’m glad we didn’t go to the party,” she said, voice carrying the kind of light teasing that made my chest thrum without permission. “They would’ve eaten me alive if we'd stayed.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. I’ve seen you perform under pressure, and it’s impressive.”
The shadows drew us together, the space narrowing until I could feel the warmth radiating off her.
Her gaze held mine, and something inside me gave a dangerous twitch.
Something I’d used to navigate moments just like this over the course of my whole life.
Where my brother was bold, I chose to stay careful. Guarded.
Tonight, though, the walls trembled.
Every rational thought clawed for dominance. Don’t. Not now. Not like this.
But I knew that if I were to allow her to get into this limo, the moment would slip away forever. And I’d wasted too many chances playing it safe. Watched too many moments fade to nothing. So, I stepped closer anyway.
Her breath hitched when I stopped an inch from her, and that sound shattered the last of my careful defenses. My hands found her shoulders, neither tentative nor cautious, and I drew her toward me just enough that I could feel the faint press of her thighs against mine.
“Carissa—” I started, but the rest of my sentence fell away. I didn’t even know what I’d been planning to say, exactly. I probably did it to give her the chance to stop me.
Her hands went to my chest, palms pressing flat, and the heat of her skin burned through my dress shirt.
“If you’re wondering whether you should kiss me, you should know it’s all I’ve been thinking about for most of the night.”
My heart lurched, betraying everything I’d kept buried, and I closed the gap.
Her lips met mine like gravity taking its course, our breathless moan of satisfaction mingling together in the cool night air.
The first contact was electric, almost violent in the way it claimed all my focus.
Her hands fisted in my shirt, and I pulled her closer, pressing a little harder, letting my restraint snap entirely.
The weight of half-glances, almost touches, and words left unsaid, poured into this one moment.
Her body curved into mine, matching every inch, every heartbeat, every deliberate surrender. My hands threaded into her hair, tilting her head just so, and she leaned into the motion, lips parting, tongue hot and urgent against my own.
I tasted her, felt her response like a runaway fire consuming all my senses.
She was here, willing, letting me take the lead, the friction of desire sparking against the hushed emptiness of the lot.
Streetlights flickered overhead, but all I could focus on was the feel of her against me, the softness, the hunger, the need I hadn’t allowed myself to chase until this exact second.
When we finally pulled back, just enough to breathe, our foreheads hovered close, breathing ragged, hearts hammering in perfect sync.
The Vegas night sprawled around us, a silent witness to the moment we’d both waited for. I pressed my lips to hers again, this time slower, deeper, letting every careful, guarded instinct fall away into the heat still simmering between us.
Nothing existed beyond her, beyond the warmth, beyond the claim of her mouth on mine.
I didn’t pull back again. Not yet. Not until I was certain, until I knew she wanted this as much as I did, and when she tilted her head, sliding closer, letting her arms wind around my neck, I let go entirely.