Page 33 of Better Not Pout
I can’t take my eyes off her, even though I probably should.
“I’m glad that I could be the one to take you tonight,” I say, watching her take in the town, until she flicks her gaze back to mine and I see her eyes dancing with happiness.
“Me too, Wells,” she whispers, holding my gaze, fingers now entwined with mine. “Thank you. Not just for this, butfor taking my mind off of everything and for making tonight unforgettable.”
I swallow roughly as my lip curls upward, my shoulder lifting in a shrug. “It was nothing. You deserve to have nights like these and so much more, Rosalie. You don’t have to thank me for doing what any man should.”
Lifting my hand to her face, I curve my palm around her jaw, sweeping my thumb against her cheek as I stare back into her warm chocolate eyes.
I don’t know what I’m doing. I know what Ishouldn’tbe doing, but I can’t seem to stop myself.
I can’t even find the will to try.
I’m so fucking attracted to this woman that I just want to kiss her again. I want to hold her. Do things that a fake boyfriend would, but with no audience.
It’s just the two of us now, but it doesn’t change a single damn thing. I still want to kiss her.
In the span of the last minute, we’ve leaned in even closer, our lips centimeters from each other, and I can already taste the sweetness of the hot chocolate.
I breathe her in as I brush my lips gently against hers in the briefest semblance of a kiss, barely there at all. But I want it to be her decision.
My breath is trapped in my lungs as I wait, and then I feel her sigh against me, pressing her lips against mine, once, then again at the corner of my lips.
It’s soft and hesitant.
It’s fucking perfect.
I slide my hand down her jaw to her neck and then to the nape, tugging her toward me and closing the distance.
I capture her lips in a kiss that makes up for the earlier interruption, that shows her exactly how desirable she is. Howmuch I’m done holding back. I don’t care who’s watching and who’s not.
Tilting her head, I deepen the kiss, stroking my thumb over her pulse until we’re both breathless. A mixture of pants that I don’t know where they begin or where they end from how close we are.
“Why are you kissing me when there’s no one around to see it, Wells?” she whispers softly against my lips before pulling back to look at me, her brown eyes hooded and slightly out of focus. “I’m just worried that we’re crossing a line that we can’t walk back from, and I don’t want to mess anything up. Mistletoe Falls is a small town, and you work next door…”
My throat works as I swallow. Hearing her voice the same questions I’ve been asking myself all night pushes me to want to answer them. For both of us.
“Do you like kissing me, Rosalie?”
She nods. “Yes.”
“And I like kissing you. Touching you.” I slide my hand along her thigh. “I know that us dating is fake and that we each have our own reasons for doing it, but obviously, we’re attracted to each other. Our chemistry clearly isn’t fake. So why don’t we just enjoy it while we’re doing the fake dates?” I trail off, leaning in and brushing my lips along hers again, swallowing the stutter of air that spills out of her. I kiss her until I feel her fingers twisting along my side, and I pull back, both of our chests heaving.
She breathes against my mouth as she nods. “Okay. Got it. Just… having fun.”
I shrug. “Yeah, why not? I like kissing you. Makes our jobs easier, I think.”
What I don’t say to her is that I know that this is supposed to be fake, that we’re performing just as we said we would, but that kissing her feelstoofucking good.
And I want more, as often as I can have it.
But I understand her hesitations, and I’m not jeopardizing what we’ve got going on right now. I’m not sure she’s even on the same page as I am yet.
Rosalie smiles cheekily at me, tangling her fingers in the front of my jacket. “Iguesskissing you isn’t so bad either.”
thirteen
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