Page 39 of Crocodile Tears
I spun toward her. “What?”
“I havea lotof work to do today,” she said. “And while I appreciate you trying to defend my honor or whatever it is this puffed up gorilla pose is”—she waved at me and I quickly shifted my posture—“I want to spend time with my new nephew. I might implode if we have to do ten more takes, so just kiss me and then it'll be over faster."
“There's my girl,” the director cheered as if he knew anything about it. I didnotlike the way he called her “my girl.” It made something dark and ugly rise in me as he winked at her and said, “Way to be a team player, Duck.”
“Dove,” I corrected.
“Whatever,” he replied. “Let's reset.”
I turned back to my mark and looked down at Dove. “Are you sure about this?”
She looked up at me with those big brown eyes, ones I could easily get lost in.Pull it together, Deacon.
“It's just acting, right?” Dove assured me.
Nerves started swirling in my gut. “Right.”
“I’ll pretend you’re Rook Valestrider and you pretend I’m Rogue Hellfire.”
“Hellfire for a pyromancer seemed like a very creative name when we were twelve,” I joked.
“Hey, you had a sword called Doomfang, so . . .”
“Doomfang is a really cool name?—”
“Quiet on the set!” Gavin shouted, and I knew he was pretending to scold some poor crew member when he was in fact yelling at us.
I held my hand lightly on Dove’s hip as we waited for him to call action, regretting all of my life choices that had led me up to this point.
I should've just kissed her that night in the prep kitchens. I’d felt something in the air between the two of us and I should've just acted on it. I didn't want our first kiss in fifteen years to happen in front of a bunch of people. I didn't want to pretend she was Rogue Hellfire or Ivy Blanc or anyone else other than Dove Lachlan. And the way she seemed so unbothered by it made it a million times worse. Clearly Dove didn't care about me enough to even mind that I was about to kiss her.
“Nervous?” Dove whispered tauntingly.
I narrowed my eyes, accepting her challenge. “I was going to ask you the same thing.”
“So long as you don't knock your teeth into mine this time.”
“It wasyouwho knocked your teeth intome.”
“Yeah right, Casanova.” She chortled. “You came at me teeth first like you were a horse and I was a carrot.”
Before I could protest again, Gavin called, “Action!” and I grabbed Dove with all of that pent-up frustration and even more fervency, determined to prove to her that I'd learned plenty since our first kiss.
I dipped her, my lips crashing into hers with a lust-laced swiftness, but thankfully no teeth. I kissed her deeply, not holding anything back as my hand slid into her hair and held herface to mine. She matched my frenzy with her own as her palms pressed tighter, pulling me closer.
My tongue skimmed the seam of her lips and she opened for me, our kiss deepening until we were truly devouring each other. A rumble caught in the back of my throat as she clung to me, kissing me like it was her own personal vendetta. A decade and a half of unspoken angst unleashed into that one kiss. She tasted like Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and smelled like bird seed and none of that should’ve been hot, but when she let out a little moan against my lips, I groaned back.
My cock throbbed, a deep, aching lust rising in me and stomping out all other thoughts.Fuck could she kiss.Real and raw and passionate and so unlike all of the people I'd been linked up with who kissed as if someone were always watching. Not Dove. She was so attuned to me and I to her that we moved like we’d been doing this for years. Not performing, just melting into each other.
She wasn’t the one that got away—she was the one who could’ve been but never was. With a little more time and age and maturity, what we could’ve been . . . I let my lips tell her all the things I couldn’t say, kissing her like I knew I’d never get another chance. Why couldn’t she feel that way about me? Why didn’t she also wonder about what could’ve been?
Gavin called “Cut!" three times before I pulled Dove back to a stand. My head spun as I took in Dove’s swollen lips, mussed hair, and glasses askew.
But the spell was quickly broken by Gavin calling, “That's a wrap on Duck.”
“Dove,” I barked out, my eyes never leaving hers.
“Good job,” Dove said, lifting her hand for an awkward high five, and I guffawed as I slapped it.
