Page 45 of Moody as a Minotaur

“Oh! Wait! Don’t kiss yet. I need to open my camera app,” Jasmine shouted from the other room. “I want to get it on video, right from the start.”

Fuck my life.

15

STORIES FOR THE GRANDKIDS

PARKER

We did not kiss.

“If only Jasmine had kept her big mouth shut,” I muttered as I stomped back to my café.

“What was that?” Levi asked as he trudged along beside me.

“Never mind,” I said. I sucked in a breath and blew it out to calm myself. It didn’t work, but whatever. We had other things to concentrate on, like getting our stories straight. “So, what do we say?”

“About what?”

“About us dating.”

Levi’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “What is there to say?”

“Well, why now? What changed? Did we have a big moment that pulled us together? You know, what will we tell our grandkids about how we first got together?”

“Grandkids?” Levi whisper-shouted. “I thought you said we were only pretending to date.”

I bit my bottom lip. Yeah. I had said that. If I’d thought he would have said yes to dating for real, I wouldn’t have included that wholelet’s pretendbit. But a guy could still hope that the fake dating thing could morph into something more, couldn’t he? That’s what happened in the rom coms I watched with Sushi and the Fishy Gang.

“Nana is observant. We need to be convincing.” I tugged my jacket tighter. The wind was wickedly cold. I hadn’t seen the forecast yet, but there must be snow coming our way. We always had snow before the end of October. I shivered again. I didn’t hate winter as a season. It was a great time for stews and soups and warm, gooey desserts. But each year, the first couple of snowfalls always shocked my system. I tucked my head down and walked faster.

We were in front of the café when Levi murmured, “If they think we’re lying, that might endanger you. That can’t happen. It can’t…”

“I don’t know how we’ll convince them. I mean, you don’t want to kiss me, so we’ll need to?—”

My words were cut off when Levi hooked his hand around my elbow and swung me around. “I never said I didn’t want to kiss you.”

“Yes, you?—”

“No, I didn’t.” His nostrils flared.

Before I knew what was happening, he yanked me into his arms and slammed his mouth to mine.

Oh fuck. Levi was kissing me.Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck…

His lips were surprisingly active as they moved acrossmine, like he was tasting me. His tongue brushed my lips, and I opened my mouth to him. He tasted like the coffee and pastry I’d brought him. He smelled earthy and a bit floral, like a field on a hot summer’s day, which I wasn’t expecting. His mouth was warm and wet, and I wanted more.

I threw my arms around his neck and clung to him. He grunted but didn’t pull away. If I didn’t think we’d topple over, I’d have crawled up and wrapped my legs around him too, just to get that much closer. This was everything I’d ever imagined and more. I lost myself in the heat of his body and the thunder of my heart. His big hands splayed across my back, tugging me closer, eliminating the space between us. Every part of my body felt alive. The places where we touched zinged with joy and anticipation. I’d wanted this for so damn long.

Now that the moment was finally here, I wanted it all. I wanted to spin us around and press him against the nearest wall. I wanted to strip off his shirt so I could touch his skin. I wanted to…

Someone cleared their throat.

Levi whipped his head around and snarled at whoever dared interrupt us. I wanted to snarl right along with him.

“I see you’ve finally found your balls and sorted things out with my grandson,” Nana said.

I blinked, feeling a bit disoriented.