Page 44 of Shut Up and Jingle Me
“Movie’s overrated,” he mutters.
I huff a laugh, even though my chest feels too tight. “Blasphemy.Elfis a masterpiece.”
“Mm,” he grunts, like he’s disagreeing but not enough to fight me on it. His eyes still don’t leave mine.
The movie plays on, bright and ridiculous, but I can barely focus on it now. Not when he’s just made staring at me feel more intense than any scene on the screen.
My laugh dies in my throat, and suddenly I can’t think of a single clever thing to say.
Heat creeps up my neck, flooding my cheeks, and I duck my head as if that might hide it. It doesn’t. His gaze follows, steady and unyielding.
For once, I’m speechless. The silence stretches, heavy and electric, and all I can do is clutch the blanket tighter and let myself blush even harder under the weight of Max looking at me likethat.
I might combust from the heat in my face. I open my mouth, no clue what I’m even planning to say, when he shifts beside me.
His hand comes up, rough fingers brushing along my jaw, and then he tilts my chin up and back towards him. My breath hitches. And then he kisses me. Soft and slow.
When he pulls back, just far enough that his words ghost against my lips, his voice is low and gruff but unmistakably sincere.
“You’re beautiful, Eli. The way you shine so damn bright…”
My heart stumbles hard in my chest because I don’t think he’s talking about looks. He meansme, the me inside. Max really sees me.
And for a second, I can’t breathe.
The words sink straight into me.Beautiful.
God. I know I shouldn’t, but it feels as though my ribcage can’t hold the way my heart swells. If he keeps looking at me in that way, if he keeps saying things like that, I’m going to fall so hard it’ll shatter when this whole thing ends.
And heisleaving. This is temporary. I told myself I was fine with that. Iamfine with that. I’ll take every scrap of him I can get while I can. But right now, with his lips brushing mine and his blue eyes steady on me, I already know, walking away from Max Calder is going to hurt like hell.
So I do what I always do. I tuck the ache behind a grin, tilt my head to tease him, and let my voice come out light.
“Careful, Calder. Say stuff like that and people might start thinking you’re a romantic under all that scowl. And by people, I mean me.”
I tap his chest with two fingers, aiming for playful. He huffs out something between a sigh and a laugh, and I cling to it like armor, even as my heart keeps tumbling further into love with him. Shit. I did not just think that. I am not falling in love with him.
Except, I might be able to fool him, and lie to everyone else, but I know what this feeling is inside my chest. I know it, and it terrifies me.
Before the ache can swell too big, I kiss him. Quick at first, just pressing my mouth to his as if it’s the most natural escape route. Then slower, deeper, until I’m half-clinging to him and twisted in his arms to face him, trying to make the pounding in my ribs quiet down, trying to drown out the truth blooming sharp and bright inside me.
His hand slides up my back, steady and warm, and instead of easing the ache, it only makes it worse—in the best, most dangerous way.
The kiss softens without either of us meaning it to. My lips move lazily against his, unhurried, as if we’ve got forever insteadof just right now. He hums into me, low and rough, and the sound vibrates through my chest, making me melt deeper into his side.
I pull back just enough to breathe him in, our foreheads touching. His eyes are darker than I’ve ever seen them, but there’s a softness there too, one he doesn’t let anyone else see. I swallow against the lump in my throat, forcing a grin I don’t really feel.
“Careful,” I murmur, brushing my thumb over his jaw. “Keep kissing me like that and I might get the wrong idea.”
But even as I joke, I know the truth.
I already have.
SIXTEEN
MAX
The credits roll,cheerful music spilling out of the laptop speakers, but I barely hear it. I didn’t watch a single damn second of the movie. Not really.
