Page 215 of Let Me In

I don’t mean to kiss him.

I just… look up.

His face is tilted toward the trees, eyes half-lidded against the sun. He looks so still, so sure. Like the world could turn itself inside out and he’d just pull me closer.

His arm is still wrapped around my shoulders.

I trace the curve of his jaw with my gaze. The scruff there. The shape of his mouth. The small line between his brows that never seems to fully go away.

And without thinking, without even deciding—

I lean in.

One hand lifts, rests lightly against his chest.

He looks down the second I move, his eyes locking with mine.

“Emmy…”

It’s not a warning.

It’s a breath.

And I kiss him.

Slow. Barely there at first. Just a brush of lips.

But he’s already responding.

His hand moves to my cheek. His thumb slides along my jaw. And when I press in again—more sure this time—his mouth opens to meet mine with a kind of reverence that breaks something wide open in my chest.

He kisses like he holds. With intention. With care.

With everything.

When we part, I feel it everywhere.

In my bones. My belly. The places inside me I thought would stay quiet forever.

I keep my eyes closed for a moment longer, just to hold it.

“You’re really here,” I whisper.

Cal doesn’t answer right away. His breath catches, and he wraps his arms tighter around me. One hand shifts to cradle theback of my head, and his mouth brushes my temple in the softest kiss. No rush. Just presence.

He tilts his forehead to mine.

And then, quiet and wrecked and full of everything I never thought someone would say to me:

“I’ll always be here.”

We stay quiet for a while after the kiss.

Leaning into each other. Breathing like that’s enough.

And maybe it is.

But something in me stirs.

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