Page 57 of Take My Heart
‘It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later.’
‘Is Sawyer older or younger than you?’
‘Older. Nick’s the oldest and then it’s Sawyer, Jason, and me.’
‘And you all get along?’
‘We get along great. I mean, we fight sometimes, but for the most part we get along.’
It’strue except for Jason and me. We used to be really close, but ever since he bought the house with me and loaned me money for the repairs, we’ve spent less time talking and hanging out and more time fighting. I want to just finish the damn house and sell it so Jason and I can go back to how we were.
‘My foot got stuck again,’ Kate says.
We’re at the end of the street and Kate walked through a snow drift when we were turning around.
‘Why didn’t you stay on the sidewalk?’ I ask, watching her struggle to get her leg free from the pile of wet, heavy snow.
‘This way was more fun. I never get to walk through snow this deep.’ She bites her lip and holds her arms out for balance as she struggles to free her boot.
‘Let me help.’ I reach for her just as she yanks her leg free. She loses her balance and slams into me. I fall backwards into a snow drift with Kate on top of me.
She’s laughing. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.’
‘You sure? Because you did the same thing last night. I think you like knocking me over.’
‘I swear, it wasn’t intentional. I was just trying to—’ She stops as our eyes meet. And there it is again. The attraction between us. The chemistry. It feels like a fire raging out of control. We both feel it, and yet we both keep trying to deny it.
I’ve never felt like this with a girl, not this intense. Is it because I know I can’t have her? Because I told myself to stay away? I’m not good at denying myself stuff. I tend to go after what I want. Nick says I’m too impulsive, that I need to think before doing stuff. He’s probably right, but that’s just not who I am.
‘Sorry,’ Kate whispers.
‘Forwhat?’ I ask, feeling her warm breath over mine. Her lips are so close. It’s so damn tempting.
‘Falling on you.’
‘Was I complaining?’
‘No.’ She blinks a few times as snowflakes fall on her eyes.
I yank my glove off and touch her face, wiping the wet snow from her cheeks.
‘I must look terrible,’ she says with a laugh as she looks away. ‘My face is all wet and I’m sure my nose is red.’
‘I think you look beautiful,’ I say, my hand pausing on her cheek.
‘You do?’ She looks back at me, her breaths speeding up.
Sliding my hand to the side of her face, I pull her closer. I pause, giving her a chance to pull away. When she doesn’t, I kiss her, and keep kissing her, because I like the way her lips feel, and because I’ve been wanting to do this since last night and this may be my only chance. She parts her lips and I take the kiss deeper.
I’m so damn turned on. I’m sure Kate can tell since her body is pressed against mine. But she shouldn’t be surprised. It’s just what happens when a guy kisses a hot girl, especially when the girl showed up in his dreams last night, an x-rated dream that was totally inappropriate to have about a roommate.
Kate’s going to be living with me. For three weeks. How is this going to work? How are we going to stay away from each other when we’re kissing after only a day?
‘Who’s out there?’ I hear a lady yell.
I pull away from Kate, my head dropping back in the snow. ‘It’s Mrs. Greenfield. She lives in the blue-and-white house. Is she coming over here?’
Kate looks back at the house. ‘I think so. She’s standing at her door, putting on her coat.’
