Page 77 of Promise Me

She gasps, her bottom lip dropping open as she sucks in her next breath.

I reach up, my thumb brushing her plump pink lips.

“These lips have been torturing me,” I whisper.

Her eyes close, and her chest rises and lowers in quick pulses.

There is a list of reasons why I shouldn't kiss Sadie, and although they have been playing on repeat in my mind all morning long, right now, I don’t give a damn about a single one of them.

Instead, I dip my head and press my lips to hers.

It’s soft at first. As if this kiss is a question. Do we do this? Does this feel right?

She kisses me back, once, twice, and then she groans her answer.

I reach low, my palms gripping her butt as I lift her onto the counter and spread her legs to settle between them. On her next moan, I slide my tongue into her mouth and steal every ounce of air she might have.

The hands that lifted her up now thread through her hair, holding her in place as if she’ll disappear if I let go.

Kissing Sadie is hypnotic. It’s wild, it’s passionate, it’s as if I’ve finally figured out how to breathe life back into myself.

To be honest, I’ve felt myself living again the moment she showed up on my doorstep asking for a place to sleep, but this, this is on a whole new level.

Sadie Collins has changed my life in just a matter of weeks, and this kiss, this one kiss, is proof that life without her will never be the same.

And that thought terrifies me.

I break the kiss and take a step back, my hand covering my mouth as I control my breathing.

“I’m … I’m sorry,” spills from my lips.

Whatever this is, it won’t last once her memory comes back.

It’s better that we just ... not.

“You’re sorry?” she asks, and just when I think she’s about to lay into me and give me a good tongue lashing like the old days, she smiles. “Fine. Be sorry. Just know that I’m not.”

She jumps off the counter and readjusts her dress, now wrinkled at the sides. I must have bunched it up and not noticed because she had me so spellbound.

“Sadie, we both know that whatever that was isn’t a good idea.”

She finishes smoothing out her dress and lifts her head.

“Says who?”

“Me.”

“Why?”

“Because.”

She crosses her arms and cocks a hip, waiting for me to elaborate.

“Your brother would kill me,” I tell her.

She nods slowly. “And your next excuse?”

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out.

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