Page 6 of Only for Love

“You were going to.” Confident and handsome. The total package.

“Oh, my God.” I can’t breathe. What the hell’s going on between us?Downplay, downplay, downplay.I can’t handle him right now. Smiling like he’s dropping jokes, I nudge him back. “No way. You were bottom of my list, seriously, deep on the backup pile if I couldn’t nab a date.”

A brooding scowl darkens his face. “Like you couldn’t swing any date you wanted.”

“Not quite…”

He elbows me but lingers longer than he should. The heavy beat of my pulse thumps in my neck. I feel it in my wrists, and my mouth waters. What is it with us?

“Shit, Ems. I don’t know what to do here.”

I jerk back. Wait. What? My stomach’s in my throat, my skin has shiver bumps, I can’t inch away, and he’s not moving.

“Gray?” But I forget everything else I want to say because I want to hear him say those words again. Then I’ll believe that whatever this is I feel is not just in my head.

He pushes a few strands of hair off my cheek, and it’s surreal. My breaths are shallow. My mind races. Confliction and confusion battle for forefront in my mind. He’s the only boy I’ll ever trust enough to blush in front of, if that makes sense, which it doesn’t. I blame stupid love.

“Tell me a story, Emma.” He inches closer. “Tell me something that takes us far away from here.”

That’s his thing. He hateshere, which I don’t entirely get. But he loves that I’m a dreamer, that I can transport us far away when we close our eyes. It’s something we’ve done since we were kids, and even when I can’t breathe lying next to him, the familiarity is as intoxicating as it is soothing.

Okay. I can do this. “Eyes closed, Gray.”

“Closed.”

I breathe in deeply and think of something that moves us away from now. I can’t think of anything because I’ve never loved a moment as much as this one.

“Are your eyes still closed, Emma?”

They are. I nod. “Yup.”

There’s a shift of his weight as he moves on the bed, coming closer. “Keep them closed.”

My lungs ache. My heart’s exploding, and my senses are hyper-alive. My lips part, wanting to tell him a story, wanting to kiss him more than I want to breathe. My eyelashes flutter.

“Closed, Ems.” His low voice rakes over me.

I’m dying. In heaven. Right now.

His side touches my side. The heat from his body covers mine. His soft breaths torture my cheek… my chin… then hover over my lips.

Unable to control myself, I feel my hips shift. My chin tilts up. Anticipation squeezes deep into my soul. He’s watching me. My eyes are still shut, but I can feel his gaze as his finger touches my hair, sliding down the strands to the slope of my collarbone.

I’m ready—swooning, melting,panting—for a kiss.

“God, you are beautiful, Ems,” he whispers.

My eyes open, and my mind spins. The vibrant green of his are inches away.

“What are we doing?”

“I’m memorizing what takes me away. What saves me.”

“You’ve—” My whispering voice cracks, but I don’t care how I sound. I’m toeing the cusp of all I ever wanted.

“We’re done ignoring us.” His hand cups my face, fingers stroking my cheeks down to my chin. When my lips part, his eyes drop to my mouth, focusing on my lips.

I’ve been kissed. Dates. Dares. However they’ve happened, I’ve had a few solid moments of PG-rated hookups.NothingI haveeverexperienced hasanythingon this moment, and Gray’s lips haven’t even touched mine.

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