She swallowed and glanced from me to Walt and back again. “Maybe just a little longer,” she said softly.
I nodded.
Awareness stretched between us, just like it had in all of our interactions since she’d kissed me. There had been a subtle shift from that awkward, just friends convo in the kitchen after dinner with our moms, to…well, whatever the hell this was. Not that it was anything. She was fresh out of a long-term, shitty relationship, and I might have wanted her more than I wanted my next breath, but that didn’t mean I was going to act on it.
She tugged her bottom lip between her teeth and faced the television, fumbling quickly for the remote. “And on that note…” She pressed play, and the movie began.
It wasn’t half bad. Cheesy at points, sure, but I had to give the guy props—he’d dangled his ass off a Ferris wheel to get the girl, which was something I could respect.
Not that any of the girls who had texted me over the last few months were worth falling to my death over. None of them were Teagan. That was always the problem, wasn’t it?
“He’s going to get them electrocuted.” I leaned forward slightly, bracing my elbows on my knees as Ryan Gosling paddled the shit out of that little canoe.
“Just wait,” Teagan said breathlessly.
“Is this where he dies? Someone always dies in one of these.” It was why I made it a rule not to watch them. I had no problem with death in movies. I just preferred it more Die Hard, less Dying Young.
“Shhh!” her eyes were locked on the screen.
Ryan Gosling kissed Rachel McAdams like she was his last chance at life, then took it upstairs…literally. Had to admit, it was pretty damned hot.
Teagan shifted next to me, her cheeks pink, her breaths a little on the shallow side, and her lips parted. Guess she thought it was pretty damned hot, too.
We made it through the rest of the movie, and I even managed not to lose my shit that they died together.
“That’s the last time I let you pick the movie,” I told her as I cleaned up our snacks and headed for the kitchen.
“Tell me it wasn’t the most romantic thing you’ve ever seen!” She gushed, coming after me with our drinks. We’d fallen into such a domestic rhythm that we didn’t even get in each other’s way as we cleaned up. Everything with her was like that. Easy as breathing.
“That does it for you, huh?” I asked as Walt whined to be let out. The air was humid tonight, but at least it was cooling down.
“What, the fact that he bought the house just for her and renovated it exactly how she wanted, only to spend his life bringing her memories back through the haze of Alzheimers?” She followed me out into the back yard as the sun sank below the line of trees behind the pool.
Well, when she put it that way…
“Nah, none of that,” I teased. “That kiss is what does it for you.” I tossed her a wink as Walt sprinted into the grass, chasing after a bug I couldn’t see.
Teagan started to protest, then finally shrugged. “Maybe. Fine, yes.”
“Knew it.”
“Kisses like that don’t exist anyway,” she muttered. “Can’t blame a girl for wanting a little movie fix.” She leaned against the white stone of the house and watched Walt.
I tilted my head slightly and studied her. “What do you mean kisses like that don’t exist?”
She scoffed and waved me off. “Please.”
“I’m serious.” I folded my arms over my chest and leaned back against the porch railing.
Her gaze flickered toward mine. “So am I. Those movie kisses, that’s the material of romance novels and a-list acting, not real life. That kind of passion that consumes you without costing you something in return…we both know it’s not real.”
My eyes popped wide. “Not…real.” I shook my head slowly. I’d had my share of women—rookie year I’d had my entire fraternity’s share of women. Lust was something I was entirely familiar with…especially now that it had been over three months since I’d indulged.
“Duh. Look, sex is great. I like sex. I’m not a prude. But even if that kind of kiss exists, maybe I’m just not meant to have it.” She shrugged it off like she’d just given up brussels sprouts for the rest of her life. “So I’ll get my Notebook fix and live vicariously for a while.”
“It exists.” Just looking at her had me going. If I ever got my mouth on her—really had the chance to kiss her? She’d never doubt that kind of passion existed. Even if I wasn’t the one she wanted, she needed to know that there was better than Rick Baker out there for her.
“Right.” She mocked me with a thumbs-up.
My gaze narrowed. “Bet me.”
Her head whipped toward mine, and she straightened. “I’m sorry?”
I crossed the distance between us, my heart slamming with the knowledge that this could either go really well or really badly. “Bet me.”
She tilted her head to look up at me, nailing me with those blue eyes. “Bet you that a kiss like that exists outside a movie?”
“Yep. I’ll prove it to you.” My voice lowered as I braced my hand against the wall, caging her in on one side while giving her the freedom to run on the other.
She arched an eyebrow in challenge. “You think you can?”
“I win, and I pick the movie for the next month. You win, I’ll give you the same.”
She ran her tongue over her bottom lip, and I barely bit back a groan. Then her gaze lowered to my mouth, and I locked every muscle in my body to keep from reaching for her. I’d thrown the gauntlet. It was up to her if she was going to run with it.
“What if I want to watch every single adaptation of Jane Austen’s novels?” Her breath hitched.
“Fine. But we’ll be watching the entire Dark Knight trilogy because I’m going to win.” I’d never wanted to win a bet so badly in my entire fucking life.
“Then I guess we’ll just have to see,” she whispered.
“Is that a bet?” My voice came out like it had been scraped across the bottom of my cleats.
“It’s a bet.”
I didn’t pause, didn’t think, didn’t question. I simply pressed my lips to hers, and just like that…I was kissing Teagan. Holy fucking shit. Her lips were softer than I’d ever imagined and tasted like the strawberry Chapstick she liked. I slid my hand into the hair above the nape of her neck, cradling her head gently as I drew her lower lip between mine and ran my tongue across it.
Her breath caught.
One kiss. That’s all you’re going to get. With that thought, I tilted her head and parted her lips with my tongue. She sighed softly and opened for me.
I took complete possession of her mouth with a groan that I couldn’t hide. She tasted impossibly sweet—like the Skittles we’d shared. Her hands gripped my waist, tugging me closer, and I completely forgot why this had started, and lost myself in Teagan.
I pressed her against the wall and kissed her deeper, our tongues stroking and sliding as I learned every line of her mouth.
She whimpered.
My dick answered, hardening instantly. Fuck, I never wanted this to end. I was going to kiss her until we were both drunk with it and addicted to it. She was the strongest hit I’d ever taken, the only high I’d ever had, and even as I knew I’d never recover from this—never escape this kiss with my heart intact, I couldn’t help but give her everything I had. It was hers already, anyway.