Page 21 of Defending A Promise
I push her hair behind one of her ears and I don’t miss how she leans into my touch. This could be very dangerous – welcomed – but dangerous. “Riley,” I whisper.
She takes a moment, but then looks up at me through her lashes and whispers back, “Declan.”
I can’t stop myself – and I don’t want to – as I lean in to kiss her lips. I’ve wanted to kiss Riley Ashford ever since our medieval days.
As our lips touch, I’m waiting for either a four-year-old or a Great Dane to interrupt us because that’s how my luck goes, but instead I can feel Riley’s hand snake around my wrist as I tangle my fingers in her hair. Her lips are so soft and just touching her makes my nerve endings explode in a chaotic firestorm.
Before I know it, our kiss ends, and I just rest my forehead against hers. “I’ve wanted to do that for the last twenty-five years.”
“Really?”
“Really and it was everything I had hoped for.” From this angle, I can see the blush across her cheeks and it’s the most endearing thing I’ve ever seen, but I have to sit back and put some distance between us before I throw her on her back on this couch and do unspeakable things to her.
“Wait. You’ve wanted to kiss me since we were five years old? Me?” She sounds flabbergasted.
I look at my bottle of water, untouched, on the coffee table. I need something stronger. “Want a beer? This isn’t going to cut it for me.” As I stand, I want to adjust myself, but I don’t want to make it obvious, so I don’t. Just being near her makes my head cloudy, but actually kissing her – I have no words.
“No. I’m fine with the water.” She follows me to the kitchen and I’m able to covertly adjust myself as I stand behind the kitchen island hidden from the waist down. “Answer the question, Declan.”
Opening the beer bottle, I take a long swig because I’m about to admit something that I’ve never told anyone – not even River, although I think he always suspected. Once I’ve downed half my beer, I quietly place it on the counter. Riley is standing across the island from me and I’m thankful for this small amount of protection between her and me because this could go really bad, really quick.
With both my arms holding me up on the counter, I look directly into her eyes – I don’t want to miss her reaction because it will tell me what she really thinks – what she really feels.
“Yes, my lady, I’ve wanted to kiss you since we were five and you had the cooties. Once I realized girls don’t have cooties, well, that just made me want to kiss you even more.” The look of disbelief on her face is evident and I don’t know what any of that means.
“Me? Riley Ashford. You’ve wanted to kiss me?”
“Yes.”
“But… but…” She paces around the other side of the island as if she’s lost. It’s amusing.
"But what, Riley?”
“But you were the jock. You had all the girls, including the cheerleaders. You ignored me.”
I storm around the island quickly and pull her into my arms. “I’veneverignored you, Riley.Never.”
“But I was a geek. You were the jock.”
“I thought your geekiness was cute. And what does playing football have to do with anything?”
She looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “How does it not? Geeks and jocks are like oil and water – they don’t mix.”
I kiss her forehead. “Riley, you need to know that I’ve never ignored you and I’ve never cared about your geekiness. You were my best friend’s twin sister – that’s the only reason I never did anything about it… until now.” I lean down and kiss her ear and feel her shiver. “God, you smell good. Like sunshine.”
I’m just about to kiss Riley on the lips again when a little voice calls from across the room. “Mommy?” Riley pulls out of my arms faster than any bullet I’ve shot from my gun.
“Yes, baby. Are you okay?” She runs over to Nicholas as he rubs his eyes.
“Bella farted and it stinks in my room now.” Both Riley and I burst out laughing as the guilty party strolls out into the living room without a care in the world.
“That probably means she has to go potty.” Riley tells him.
“Eww. She just farted again.” He holds his nose as Riley looks up at me and I can’t help but laugh at the look on her face. Bella’s farts are notoriously stinky.
“Let’s go outside, Bella.” Like the good girl she is, Bella trots to the door so I can let her out into the backyard to do her thing.
Eventually, I knew that a four-year-old would interrupt me, but at least I got to finally taste Riley’s lips. Now I have to figure out where we stand and where we go from here.
