Page 104 of Redemption
Her grin is wicked. Quicker than she can react, I unlace our fingers and grab her waist, dragging her to me.
“My attitude? Have you met you?”
She laughs, and it’s carefree and wild. My hand slips around to the small of her back, holding her to me. I watch her, a stupid smile on my face, and in the back of my mind, I’m aware of all the people mingling around us, but I can’t bring myself to care. Her cheeks are red, glowing with happiness, and there’s an ache in mine from smiling down at her.
Her laughter starts to subside, and the world around us goes quiet when she looks up at me. The happiness begins to fade, changing into something more—something we both fear.
Her tongue swipes across her bottom lip, and I watch, entranced.
“Hayes.” My name slips off her tongue like a secret I want to taste.
“Yes?” My voice comes out in a croak. I clear my throat, heat creeping up the back of my neck.
“Kiss me.”
It’s not a question but a command—one I’m happy to oblige.
My head falls to meet hers, but I pause right before our lips meet. “MJ, if I kiss you again, it changes things. You realize that, right?”
But I don’t think she hears me—or she pretends she doesn’t. Her hand slides up my chest to the back of my neck, and I try not to shiver under her touch. Fingers curl into my hair as she yanks my head forward, and then she kisses me.
Any thoughts I might have had fly out of my brain the moment her lips are on mine. I breathe her in. The kiss is just like her laugh, wild and beautiful.
It’s everything I’ve dreamed of with this girl, all summed up in one moment. I’d hand over the moon and stars if it meant I could keep having moments like this with her.
The kiss slows, and she peppers softer kisses along the corner of my mouth, up my cheek, and stopping at my ear.
Her voice is a whisper against my skin when she says, “You’re not the boss of me, Hayes Miller. This changes nothing.”
Then she’s running away, laughing as she goes, and I’m left staring after her with a love-struck grin.
The girl doesn’t know how wrong she is, but it’s okay. This changes the game. And if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s winning.
______________________
There’s a knock on my front door the next morning at seven a.m.
I groan, rolling over in bed and throwing the covers over my head, but when another knock follows the first, I know there’s no way I’m going back to sleep now.
Sleep evaded me all night. That kiss played on repeat in my head, but it gave me time to plan.
I’m no longer accepting being friends as an option when it comes to the girl of my dreams.
Grabbing a clean shirt from my drawer, I pull it over my head and walk to the front door, where the knocking has become more persistent. It’s not Campbell-level annoying so that only leaves one other person it could be.
Swinging the door open wide, I’m met with a wrinkly smile and a milkshake shoved toward my face.
“I heard the news,” Silas says, his face sober.
“What news?”
“About the kiss—what other news would I be here for?”
I sigh, taking a deep sip of the milkshake, then cringe as the sugar settles on my otherwise empty stomach. “Silas, that isn’t news. That’s gossip, and you should stop participating in it.”
“Then what fun would this town be?” he asks, shoving past me and walking inside, not waiting for me to invite him.
“A lot. It would be a lot of fun.”
