Page 26 of They Are Mine

It’s confident. Natural. Like he already knows me. Like I already belong to him.

Oh. Oh, I could die from this.

His hands frame my face, his touch soft but firm. He’s gentle, but not like he’s scared, like he wants to savor me.

I sink into him, my hands grasping his sweater, pulling him closer. I want more. I want to pull him inside. I want to feel him against me. I want him to want me the way I want him.

But not yet.

So I just kiss him back, deep and slow, until I feel his fingers tremble slightly against my skin.

When he pulls away, he exhales like he’s lightheaded.

His forehead rests against mine. He smiles. “Damn.”

I laugh breathlessly. “Yeah.”

He steps back, still smiling. “We should do this again,” he says.

Not if.

We should.

I glow.

He hesitates, rubbing the back of his neck. “Maybe dinner?”

I tilt my head, so soft, so eager. “Tell me what you like,” I say, voice low, teasing. I step toward him, running my fingers lightly over his forearm. “I’ll cook.”

He looks at me like he wasn’t expecting that. Like I’ve just offered him the world.

“You don’t have to do that,” he says, but he doesn’t mean it.

I smile. “I want to.”

Because every woman knows that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.

Or his bed.

And I plan to have both.

Chapter Five

Juliet

I’m still glowing from last night.

Noah’s kiss is seared into me. His hands. His warmth. The way he looked at me afterward, so soft, so sure, so mine.

Tonight, I’ll cook for him. We’ll have dinner. I’ll make it perfect.

Everything is going exactly the way it should.

So, I should be focused on that.

But then I see him.

And suddenly, everything shifts.

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