“You’re a good one. They’re lucky.” My voice went husky and I couldn’t seem to look away. Felix stepped closer, his touch gentling on my arm, other hand soft against my jaw.
“Thanks.” He stretched up, and time itself seemed to spread out, everything moving in slow motion, even my own heart rate. The first brush of his lips against the corner of my mouth was like silk slithering over my nerve endings, waking me up and soothing me in the same instant. This. This was what I’d been craving all afternoon.
Adjusting the angle of my head, I met him more than halfway, letting our lips meet in earnest.
Years. Forget all afternoon. I’d been waiting years for a kiss like this. I’d heard songs and movies joke about the earth moving, never quite getting what the big fuss was. Kissing was fine and fun but not...
This. This was all-consuming. Maybe some kisses were about on par with deciding to play another hand of cards, but kissing Felix was like a mission-critical task on the sub, deadly serious, and no real choice about it. Heat gathered low in my gut, spread out to my limbs, each pass of his lips a fresh log on the fire of my need for him.
Hell, the air itself seemed to sizzle, a hissing—
“The pot!” Panting, Felix pulled away from the kiss to point at the stove where the noodles were starting to boil over.
“Oops.” I laughed nervously as Felix grabbed a pair of potholders and rescued the pot. The hot water hitting the range was an easy explanation for the noise, but there was no such answer for why Felix affected me like a damn magician. It was only a kiss.
“We shouldn’t have done that.” He drained the noodles with curt movements, not looking at me.
“Noodles seem to have survived. Chicken too.” I stirred the pan before the chicken could go from brown to burnt. But I’d take charcoal briquettes if it meant getting another of those kisses.
Felix made a flustered noise. “That’s not what I meant.”
“You kissed me,” I pointed out. Even frustrated by his reaction, I still passed him the milk to add to the noodles and sauce packet.
“I know.” He stirred like he could erase the last five minutes with his movements. “I kissed you. But I shouldn’t have.”
“I didn’t ask for a pity kiss.” I’d seen the empathy in his eyes. I’d known it was something softer than lust driving him to touch me, and still I’d welcomed it. I really was a jackass.
“That wasn’t sympathy.” Stopping his mixing, Felix peered intently at me, forcing me to study him closer. His cheeks were pink. Eyes bright. Lips still damp. He sure as hell looked like he’d been into the kiss.
“Then why apologize?”
“Because it was a mistake—Whoa.” He abruptly shifted his tone as the girls came racing toward the kitchen. “No running in the cabin. And wash those hands!”
“You’re such a dad,” I teased, but my laughter died in my throat as the truth of my words pierced my thick skull. “Oh. Wait. That’s it, huh? You’ve got your priorities and kissing isn’t on the list. I get it.”
“I’m sorry.” His mouth was a tight line, so different from how soft and open he’d been a few moments earlier. Part of me wanted to slap the counter, but I couldn’t argue with his logic. He had to put the girls first, and casually kissing strangers wasn’t in his careful plans. Besides, it wasn’t like we could continue to make out in the kitchen with hungry kids racing around.
“Don’t be sorry.” I patted his shoulder before scooping up the plates and silverware. I meant it too. I didn’t want him regretting that kiss. It had been practically...magical, dopey as that sounded, and no one should regret something that good. If I was lucky, maybe we’d get another shot after the girls were asleep. And if I wasn’t? Well, now I knew what kissing could be, and that alone was a gift worth making the effort to be an adult and not pout.
I set the table and helped him plate the food and made small talk and tried desperately to not act like a lovesick puppy needing another belly rub. Mooning around wasn’t what Felix needed. He needed someone to joke with Madeline about the vegetables Felix had left raw for her and someone to ask Charlotte what skeletal remains she’d uncovered in the eaves of the upstairs. Someone to make dinner fun, and I could be that someone.
My friends always joked about my large social circle, which had an awful lot to do with not liking to be alone, but I genuinely enjoyed gatherings of all sizes, and I’d always managed to find a good time even in unlikely circumstances. Eating mac and cheese with Felix and his nieces undoubtedly counted as unlikely, but by the time dinner ended, I had a warm, cozy feeling, like I’d pulled on an extra sweatshirt.
“I want the spookiest story you know,” Charlotte demanded as we all helped Felix clean up.
“Maybe Uncle Felix will read to us again,” I said lightly as I dried the pasta pot. I’d already told him one of the scariest tales I had, and rather than scare Felix off, it had earned me that kiss. I scrubbed at a nonexistent spot rather than give in to the urge to sigh dreamily.
And hell if I didn’t want Felix to read the longest, most boring tale. Bedtime couldn’t come soon enough.
Chapter Ten
Felix
“And they all lived happily ever after.” I closed the book with a snap. As with the night before, I’d enjoyed reading aloud, maybe a little too much given the audience and the circumstances.
“That’s not how it really ended! I read that one earlier. And then the wolf ate them. The end.” Charlotte’s grin made it hard to discipline her, so I merely groaned.
“Well, at least the wolf lived happily.” Calder winked at her. He’d listened intently to both of the stories the girls had talked me into. If he had a better use for his Saturday night, he sure didn’t act like it, the easy way he lounged on the couch all relaxed smiles and jokes. Almost like he’d totally forgotten our kitchen kiss.
Oh, to be that lucky.
I’d replayed the moment our lips had met dozens of times already. I was excellent at multitasking. I could, for instance, pass the chicken at dinner while remembering his little startled gasp at the start of the kiss and the way it had given way to a low groan. And I could rinse plates while also recalling his bristly cheek against mine. I’d been distracted by reading the stories aloud, but not enough. Every time our glances met, that kiss was right there to make me lose my place. And my head. I absolutely could not risk another kiss.
I really wanted another kiss. Damn it.
“I’m sleepy.” Madeline yawned and some traitorous part of my soul hoped she fell asleep fast. And stayed that way. I should have been hoping for a dozen nighttime wakeups because what the heck was I supposed to do with all this temptation once Calder and I were alone?