Page 80 of Ripped & Shipped
“Enough looking in one another’s eyes!” she announces. “Though, I could look in your eyes all day. That green around the blue is something else. It’s just an extra dash of color that’s so unexpected.”
She just says things like that so easily. There’s no hidden motive. She’s obviously unaware of how intimate her words are, or the impact they are having on me.
Ella Mae turns her head toward the camera.
“Kiss my cheek, Soldier.”
“What?”
“Kiss my cheek.”
“Kiss you?”
“My cheek. Pretend I’m your grandma and kiss my cheek.”
She’s not my grandma.
Not even close.
I clear my throat.
Ella Mae looks over at me like I’m ridiculous. “I’m not asking you to actually kiss me, Chris. If this is so distasteful, we can skip it.”
“No. It’s not that. I just had to … I wasn’t … Yeah. Let’s do it.”
She shakes her head lightly, and looks directly at the camera.
I take my hand and gently brush her hair over her shoulder, so her face is completely exposed to me.
Click. I hear her remote capture that shot.
Then I bend in. Click. And I feel my breath as it fans across her cheek. Click. And then I brush a featherlight kiss on her cheek. Click. My lips hum, and my head feels light. Maybe it’s the yoga. Maybe it’s just Ella Mae. I suddenly feel heady and overwhelmed—from barely kissing her cheek.
CHAPTER27
Ella Mae
Danger,danger, forest ranger!
I pull back from Chris. Who knew he was capable of this kind of tenderness? Oh.my.lanta. Is this what they mean by swooning? His touch. And the way he looked at me. I need a minute here to regroup.
I’m passing things off between us like they’re fun and we’re easy breezy here.
And we are.
I feel so relaxed with Chris, like I can be myself in ways I never am. Sure, I let my guard down with Meg, but we don’t usually laugh like this, and she doesn’t send chills up my spine by cupping my cheek and caressing it with the pad of her thumb like we’re the two main characters in some romance novel. Thank goodness, she doesn’t. That would just be beyond awkward.
I can’t even look at Chris right now.
I have to keep this light—for both our sakes.
Chris is doing me a favor, and he’s obviously uncomfortable showing this much affection. That kiss to my cheek. Whew. His newly-grown beard had just the right amount of bristle to tickle my face and leave my skin buzzing when he pulled away.
Speaking of buzzing, my phone vibrates with a message notification.
I look over at Chris. He’s sitting back on the loveseat next to me, chugging from his water bottle.
I open my messages. It’s from Drake.
