Page 74 of The Executioners Three
But Freddie didn’t know what reaction to give. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. Everything had gone so blurry around the edges, and all she seemed capable of doing was standing there while her chest wound tighter and tighter.
Until at last, her ribs were so tight that her lungs snapped in two. A soft sigh rustled from her throat.
Andthatseemed to be what Theo had been waiting for. In a fluid, hungry movement, he pulled Freddie to him, knocked off her baseball cap, and kissed her.
But where she’d expected ferocity, she found only gentleness.
It was the softest kiss Freddie had ever received. Softer than she’d even known was possible. Just a slight brushing of Theo’s lips, while his eyes—still open—held hers.
Haunting, those eyes were.
For several frozen heartbeats, she held his gaze. It felt so intimate, lip to broken lip and eye to swollen eye. More intimate than their kissing or their touching or their flirting had ever been.
Then it was just too much. The wanting that swelled inside Freddie. The need she felt around Theo—it was just too much, and she couldn’t hold back any longer. Her eyes closed and she pressed into him, deepening the kiss. Her tongue flicked out, ever so slightly, and oh, there was that softsound in his throat, the one she remembered from the old mill. The one he’d made in her dream.
She couldn’t help but match it, and without realizing what she did, her fingers curled into his blazer, and she tugged him closer. Closer. Not close enough.
Today, he tasted like spearmint. Like toothpaste and mouthwash and clean, clean boy.
Theo’s hands moved to Freddie’s hips. To her back. And suddenly they were on her butt…belowher butt and lifting her.
She had never straddled a boy before, and she’d certainly never been lifted by one. But the next thing she knew, Theo was carrying her across the cellar. It was easily the hottest thing she had ever experienced—and also mildly terrifying. She was not a particularly small girl, but suddenly she felt Very Small Indeed.
Then her butt landed on the desk, and Theo was kissing her with all the ferocity of the mill.
Her fingers wove into his hair. She cupped his face. Dug into his back. She couldn’t seem to keep her hands in one place, and she couldn’t seem to grab enough of him. Especially when he moaned—like he was doing now—and pushed his whole perfect body against hers.
Then Theo was kissing Freddie’s neck, and she thought she might actually pass out from all the wanting.
Before she could tell him that, though—before she could tell Theo that he made everything inside her spin out of control—someone cleared their throat.
Someone whowasn’tFreddie or Theo.
“Alright,” the voice said. Decidedly male, decidedly older. “That is quite enough, you two.”
Freddie and Theo lurched apart.
It was like they’d suddenly caught fire. They heard that voice; they sprang apart two feet.Stop, drop, and roll.Except this fire wasn’t going out. Freddie was dizzy like she’d inhaled too much smoke, and it took a solid two seconds for her brain to finally,finallyprocess who was standing before her.
It was like being doused in flames all over again—but the bad kind. Themortifiedkind. Her jaw fell open. “Dr. Born?”
“Freddie?” He sounded even more shocked than she was. He also looked mildly appalled.
More heat charged over Freddie’s body. She smoothed at her shirt. Glanced at Theo—who was clearly as thrown off course as she was. He also lookedexcruciatinglyhandsome, with his ruffled hair, busted face, and bright pink lips and cheeks.
Do not look at him, Gellar.Theo was dangerous, dangerous, dangerous. Freddie forced her gaze back to the Unwelcome Counselor. “Why are you here, Dr. Born?”
“Theo was supposed to meet me thirty minutes ago.” He shot a stern frown at Theo. “And I was told he had come down here. But what areyoudoing here, Freddie?”
“Um… making out?”
Theo choked. Then covered his mouth with his hands, stifling a laugh.
“Yes, I can see that.” Dr. Born rubbed his temples. “And honestly, I don’t care what the two of you do—exceptwhen you do it during school hours. Freddie, this isn’t even your school. Are you skipping right now?”
“Define ‘skipping.’”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Dr. Born rubbed his temples twice as hard. Then he glared in the direction of another aisle. “By god, what is that sound?”
