Page 148 of The Lies We Play

She makes a small sound against my mouth.

I have never heard that sound from her before.

I know, immediately, that I am going to listen for it in every room we ever share.

Fuck.

I lift her.

She is small enough that it takes nothing. Her legs go around my waist, her arms around my neck, and for a second she breaks the kiss just to look at me. Her mouth is open. Her eyes are dark. Her face has lost every clever defense she usually keeps within reach.

That nearly ruins me.

“You okay?” I ask.

Her breath catches. “Yes.”

“Tell me if that changes.”

“It won’t.”

“Liv.”

Her fingers tighten in my hair. “I’ll tell you.”

Good.

That has to be enough.

I walk her three steps to the bed and lay her down on the side I haven’t put my own duffel on. The mattress dips beneath her. My black socks sit abandoned near her hip, ridiculous and domestic and not nearly enough to cool anything in me down.

She looks at them, then at me.

“Very seductive packing system.”

“Don’t mock the system.”

“You were losing to socks.”

“I was distracted.”

“You were alone.”

“I was anticipating distraction.”

That gets me a breath of laughter, and I kiss her again before the laugh can become a joke she hides behind. I kiss her until the laughter disappears. I kiss her until that small sound comes back and another sound joins it, softer, lower, a little startled by itself.

Her hands pull at the hem of my shirt.

Mine goes to the navy crewneck.

My sweater.

On her body.

That should not hit me this hard. But seeing her under me in it makes something inside me go quiet and absolute.

“Can I?” I ask, fingers at the hem.