Page 70 of The Exception

“I thought you said you weren’t trying to be romantic.” She was trying to be a smart-ass but her voice was weak and it was doing things to him.

“Would it be horrible if I was?”

A parade of emotions crossed her expression before she finally took his hand and stood, her chest flush with his.

When she set her cheek on his shoulder, he dipped his head to whisper in her ear. “This is stupid.”

“What is?”

She knew exactly what he meant or she would have challenged him. It only pushed him to get this out in the open. He laced their fingers and set his other hand on her back, turning her slowly to the music. “Pretending I don’t want to take this further. You’re a good friend, Sonya, but I’d be lying if I said friendship was what I think about when I look at you. Staying on my side of this line we’ve drawn is torture.”

Her mouth hovered over his collarbone and he felt it when she spoke again. “We drew it for a reason.”

“I can’t for the life of me remember what that reason was.”

“Trav—”

“Can I kiss you again? Maybe the reason will come back to us.”

She tilted her chin, her eyes hooded. “I really, really doubt it will.”

He lowered his head as she pushed to her toes, parting those pretty lips, then before either of them could rethink it, he slanted his mouth over hers, sighing like a starving man at a buffet when he tasted her again.

He remembered everything now. Not why they shouldn’t, but all the reasons why denying this was a failed mission from the beginning. Her mouth on his felt like a paddle to the chest. That same adrenaline he’d admitted to chasing coursed through his body, but on the heels of the rush was a longing he couldn’t ever remember feeling for a woman. For anything, really.

Sonya parted her lips, and their tongues met immediately, but just like before, she let him take control. Even when she was kissing him, she was letting herself be kissed. He had an aching feeling that he was on a very small list of people who saw this side of her, this part of her that needed something and showed it. And because the thing he needed was to be needed, the connection burned so much brighter.

“I still can’t remember,” he said, smiling against her mouth.

She laughed, completely unrestrained, and his last shred of discipline fell away. They were absolutely doing this.

He banded an arm around her waist, hugging her to him while he dove back into that pretty mouth. He couldn’t get enough, and clearly she couldn’t either because her hands wrapped around the back of his head, holding him to her.

“You definitely still have that trouble switch, soldier,” she said, her words muffled against his mouth.

He slid his hands beneath her, lifting her into his arms. “That’s not my trouble switch,” he said, rolling his hips. “I’m just happy to see you.”

Sonya fell into a fit of giggles and he was torn between wanting to keep them coming and wanting to get his tongue back in her mouth. He took the opportunity to slide a hand beneath her shirt, stroking the warm skin of her back, and her laughter melted into a sigh of pleasure.

She wrapped her legs around his waist as he hoisted her up higher, groaning at the friction. Their kisses were getting sloppier, needier. Her hands were all over him, on his chest, in his hair. When she bit his bottom lip, he was done for. “We need to get horizontal.”

“Yes,” she said, kissing him again.

“Preferably not on this dock.”

Sonya pulled away, glancing over her shoulder at the baby monitor. “I wonder if she’s a sound sleeper.” She giggled again. “Oh my God. We’re such bad babysitters.”

“Nah, she’s good.” He nodded at the black and white image of a peacefully sleeping baby. “We’ll bring it. My room or yours?”

“Definitely mine. It’s farther away from—”

The sound of a car door made her jump in his arms, and he nearly tripped over the blanket. “Woah,” he said, his heart pounding. “We almost just took a swim.”

“Shhh.” She pressed her fingers to his lips. “Did you hear that?”

“Yeah, but it can’t be them. It’s only been…” He shifted her weight to look at his watch. “Oh, shit. It’s midnight.”

“Nooo,” she whined. “No, no, no.”

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