Page 24 of Back To You

The apartment is mostly dark, aside from the light in the kitchen. It’s quiet enough to make it feel like we’re the only two people in the world.

Nothing good happens at two in the morning.

Because it feels too much like a dream. Like whatever happens in the middle of the night won’t matter in the morning.

Luke takes a few steps toward me, and my feet are stuck to the ground. My words must have hit a nerve because there’s none of his usual demeanor—no flirty sarcasm, no bright grin, no playful wink. All I see is thatsame edge I saw before when he told me I was coming to stay with him. The one that shuts me up and makes my brain short-circuit.

“Obsessed doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel about you, Annie girl.” His words are a kick to the back of the knees, and I am being thrown back in time. Back when I never thought I’d have to learn what it felt like to live a life without loving Luke.

“You don’t mean that,” I whisper, and he takes another step closer to me. Close enough that if I unglued my feet to the floor, I could close the space between us with a step of my own. “It’s been seven years, Luke. It’s been over for just as long. This,” I say, gesturing between the two of us, “is nothing.”

The words feel like sand on my tongue.

They don’t feel like the truth.

“You’re it for me, Annie, whether you want to see it or not. It’s always been you. Always will be.”

I feel pressure behind my eyes, so many feelings plummeting into me hearing his words.

The words I wished for in secret over the years.

The words I know he thinks he means but doesn’t.

The words I wish meantsomething.

My feet move until I can feel his cool breath against my lips, until our chests are no more than an inch away from meeting, until I can make out every single drop in his ocean eyes.

I hate him for making me feel like this.

I hate him for what he did for me, almost as much as I hate myself for not being able to move on from it.

I hate him for never letting me go.

I hate him for being here, for following me when I tried to run away.

I hate him because I love him. I always have, and I always will.

I fucking hate him.

And I kiss him.

Chapter 11

Luke

Kissing Annie feels like coming home.

My arms find her hips, grabbing her hard enough to leave bruises, her arms looping around my neck and pulling me in closer.

As her lips move against mine, I swallow her soft moans, jasmine and rose overwhelming my senses. This moment makes all the waiting, all the loving her from afar, completely worth it.

Her kisses taste like pine with a hint of cherries, and her body fits so perfectly against mine. I haven’t kissed her since I was 18, yet my body reacts to her as if the past seven years were no more than just one night away from her.

My hands roam to her lower back, molding her body into mine as much as I can, so I never forget what it feels like.

Her fingers move up the back of my neck and into my hair, pulling tightly, the slight sting of my scalp like oxygen to the fire inside me.

My tongue slides against her bottom lip, asking politely for access.

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