Page 47 of Light Up The Night
"No," I admit. "But Iwasthinkin' it."
"Tell me the rest please." She gazes up at me, her expression pleading. "I must know."
I skim my hands through the wild strawberry mass of her curls, dip at the knees, and kiss the side of her throat.
She giggles, writhing away. "That tickles!"
I kiss her throat, her cheekbones, her eyes, the corner of her jaw, and she giggles, but the giggles turn breathy and aroused, and she tilts her face away, literally physically melting into me as I kiss her.
Finally, she pushes me away only to grab my shirtfront in her fists. "Riley, you cannot distract me with kisses."
I laugh and kiss her mouth until she gives me that whimper again. "Beg to differ, gorgeous."
"Diabolical, I tell you," she grumbles. "Riley. Please tell me what you were going to say. It will drive me mad if you do not."
I sigh. "Fine, fine. Don't say I didn't warn you." I tip her chin up so she has to look at me. "I was thinking that your ass is…" I trail off with a growl, shaking my head. "Goddamned epic."
She lets out a shrill whimper of dismay, clinging to my shoulders and slumping against me, burying her face in my chest. "Oh." Her voice is tiny. "Epic?"
"Epic."
"That is…good? Right?"
I burst out laughing. "Yes, Cadence. It means you have an absolutely magnificent ass, and I was thinking that I…gah." I tip my head back and groan. "I'm gonna corrupt you, sweet girl."
"Riley."
"No."
"Riley." More insistent, now. “Youwhat?"
"I'm just very, very attracted to you, that's all."
She swallows hard, looking at me as if summoning courage. "The feeling is mutual." Her eyes skim my face and catch atmy mouth, and her hands grip my shoulders with surprising strength. "Thank you, Riley."
I let out a huff of shocked, confused laughter. "For what? Complimenting your ass?"
Her cheeks go so red it's a miracle they don't burst into flames. "I have never received a compliment on that portion of my anatomy before, so yes." She frowns. "I have never received a compliment onanyportion of my anatomy, come to think of it."
"Well, that's a goddamn national tragedy," I quip.
She rolls her eyes at me. "That is a rather extreme exaggeration." Serious, once more. "That is not what I was thanking you for, however."
"Can't think of any reason foryouto be thankingme,” I say.
"My first kiss, Riley," she whispers. "I know I am not like other girls, but I…I have dreamed of my first kiss my whole life. I have waited and waited for the right person to come along. The right situation. I have…" she looks down, voice dropping. "I have been bitterly disappointed, more than once. Someone I thought…well, that does not bear repeating at this time. The point is that I have built up my first kiss in my mind until it became this mythical, fairytale thing. I was so certain that when…if…I ever did receive a kiss, it would not match my absurdist fantasy."
My heart pounds. My palms sweat. "Cadence, I…"
Her fingers, warm and dry and small and clever, touch my lips, silencing me. "Please. I…" she looks into my eyes for a moment. "Nothing could have prepared me for how it felt to be kissed by you, Riley Crowe. You surpassed anything I could have imagined. So…thank you. You have made this lonely, neurodivergent girl's heart very, very glad indeed."
My eyes burn—what the fuck? I clear my throat, mindfucked by her words. "Cade—" My voice cracks and breaks. “Cadence, good lord. I dunno what to say. It was just—"
That hand again, clapping over my mouth. "If you say it was just a kiss, I will be eviscerated. Truly. It wasnotjust a kiss. Not for me. It meant something to me." She drops her gaze and removes her hand. "I know it cannot have meant as much to you as it did—"
I silence her with a kiss, lips only, no tongue, and I kiss her until she starts to melt, and then I pull away, destroyed all over again by the stunned, awed look on her face, the wonder in her eyes. "It meant something to me, too, Cadence."
Silence, then, in which Cadence rests her forehead on my chest and just breathes, and I desperately resist the all-consuming temptation to fill my hands with her utterly magnificent ass.
