Page 46 of Please Don't Leave Me

He leans forward and speaks into my ear. "Is this okay?"

I swallow because the sound of his soft voice in my ear makes me shiver, and not from the cold. To secure myself more, I wrap my hands around his thighs. "Yep. I'm ready if you are."

"Let's go."

I lift my heels out of the snow and tuck my legs as close to my chest as I can with his arms wrapped around me. He unwraps his arms for a brief moment to push us forward onto the downward slope of the hill. He wraps them tightly around me again. I can't tell if the rush in my head and butterflies in my stomach are from flying down the hill or from being so close to him.

The ride down flies by in a blur. My focus is on every point of contact I have with his body. Even though we're both wrapped in layers, I can feel his body heat.

We're getting toward the bottom when the sled starts to turn. We slide sideways for a bit before the edge of the sled catches on a lump of snow, and we flip. Both of us go flying sideways and roll on the ground. After a second of shock, I start laughing uncontrollably. I look around to see where he landed and find him laughing, too.

He makes eye contact with me and says, "That's going to hurt tomorrow."

"It's one and done for me. We're getting too old for this shit." I still can't control my laughter. It has to be partially due to adrenaline.

For the next hour, I walk around mingling with different groups of people. There are about 20 of us here in total, so there's plenty of catching up to do. I don't even get around to everyone before people start to leave. It's getting really cold, and everyone is ready to not be frozen anymore.

A lot of the group will be meeting at someone's house to continue hanging out. B and I promised our mom we would be back tonight to watch Elf with her, so we're going to head home.

I've only chatted with Bear in groups since our adventure down the hill. I see him making his way over to me now as I walk to our car. B notices him heading toward us and pretends to have forgotten something, turning around to run back to where we were standing earlier. I keep walking to my car but slow down so he can catch up to me.

When he reaches me, he walks beside me, close enough for our arms to occasionally graze.

He speaks first. "Are you going with everyone else to keep hanging out?"

"No, B and I are headed home. We promised our mom we would watch Christmas movies with her tonight."

"That's too bad. I was hoping to spend more time with you."

My stomach flutters at the compliment. We've reached my car, and I walk to the passenger side door and lean against it. Bear and I are wedged between my car and someone else's pickup, shielded from the main group.

He steps closer to me and leans in, placing his hands on either side of my head. I can feel my cheeks heating despite the cold. I lick my lips to wet them and look up at him through my frost-covered lashes. One of his hands leaves the car and grabs the back of my neck, pulling me closer to him. Our lips touch, and it's like I'm a teenager again. I open mylips for him and match his rhythm. He was always a really good kisser, and time has only made him better.

Eventually, our lips slow together, and he pulls away from me, lingering for a second before we completely part. As I look at him, I realize that even though this was thrilling, things between him and me couldn't work. He just got out of a marriage, and we live in different places. I would just play into my urges and go further with him, but since our hometown circle is so small, it would only complicate things.

He must read my face because his smile fades. "Something wrong?"

"This probably means nothing, and I'm perfectly fine with that, but I just need to make it perfectly clear that I don't think things would work between us. I want you to know that I don't expect anything from you."

His expression is hard to read. I didn't want him to think I was making assumptions just because he kissed me if this meant nothing to him. But I also don't want him to get the wrong idea. Now, I'm just holding my breath, waiting for him to respond.

"That's perfectly fine. I probably shouldn't be complicating my life more than it already is right now." He gives me a soft smile, and I release my breath. Thank god that didn't make things awkward.

He starts to pull away further, but I grab his arms and put them around my waist, pulling him in close again. "But that doesn't mean we have to stop."

His soft smile widens, and his hand finds the back of my neck again. Our lips lock, and I'm soaking in this feeling, knowing it won't return once I leave this parking lot. Who would have thought I'd be making out with a high school boyfriend in the parking lot at the ripe age of 24? Not me,and probably not him, either. The kiss starts to heat up, and I'm not even thinking about where B is right now and whether she'll return soon.

Turns out it isn’t B I should have been worrying about. It's the person who owns the truck behind Bear.

"Woah, what did I walk in on?"

We quickly pull away from each other. At first, my heart starts racing, and I immediately try to act innocent. Then I remember that we're all single adults here, and I can make out with whomever I want, wherever I want.

"Get out of here, Robby. Can’t you see I'm busy?" Bear's tone is light-hearted. Robby is a friend of his, so if anything, he's probably glad someone caught us so he can have a witness to what just happened. But luckily, not many people are going to believe Robby when he goes blabbing about this. He's always been a huge gossip with less-than-accurate sources.

"Can't, man; you're blocking my door."

Once Bear realizes that he really is blocking Robby's door, he apologizes. "Sorry, man. Can you just give us two minutes?"

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