Page 49

“Oh,Neil.Neil Summers. I’d recognize you anywhere; you still look exactly the same,” she said.
“Hi, ma’am,” he responded politely, and I snorted. I couldn’t help it.Ma’amandLindawere like two perfect antonyms—what the light was to the dark, what romance was to horror.
Sheshooshedme. “A man with manners. I like it. Teach this one your ways.” She nodded her head toward me.
I rolled my eyes and looked up at the now dark sky with a sigh.
“This is what I’m talking about,” she said. “Always with the rolling of her eyes.But…this is interesting.” she fingered the space between me and Neil, quickly switching the subject. “I’ve heard so much about you lately, and now here you are.”
Freaking Linda.I should’ve sent Neil on his way and waited for her myself, because who knew what was going to come out of her mouth next.
I was not going to look at Neil and see his reaction, and I was not going to blush. I wasnot.I shifted from my left foot to my right, folding my arms across my chest as I gave her a searing, intentional stare.
A glare. Whatever.
“Oh, okay. I’m going, I’m going,” she huffed.
“Let me help you with those first,” Neil offered. He stepped forward, and she slid an armful of bags into his hands, and then we followed her up the driveway and into the house, unloading all her crap in the foyer.
She thanked him, and he bid her goodnight, and I quickly pulled the door closed behind me.
Ugh.
Neil was smirking when I looked at him.Smirking.
It did things to me. Weird things. Things that were starting to feel all too normal in Neil’s presence.
“Careful,” I warned, but his smirk only stretched higher.
“Why?” he asked, stepping toward me.
“Because that smirk really wants to be kissed right now,” I told him. Straightforward. Dropping all pretenses. Because,screw it.I kind of missed Neil’s lips on mine. Or felt the absence of them like a tangible void, but who was keeping track?
He bit down on his mashed lips, and my heart pounded in perfect rhythm with the chanting in my head:
Kiss. Me. Kiss. Me. Kiss. Me.
He read the expression on my face clearly and released a breath. We waited a beat, and a beat more, just staring at each other.
What is he thinking, what is he going to do, does he want to kiss me too, is he as terrified of this thing between us as I am?shouted the mental traffic jam.
He licked his lips, and my eyes were drawn lower. To those full lips that had me biting down on mine. But I was still waiting on him to cave first.Hopinghe would cave first because I was about two seconds from losing it.
When he cleared his throat, my gaze swung back to his.
He definitely wanted to kiss me, too. I could see it written all over his face. In the almost unnoticeable tension between his brows, the heat in his eyes, and the way his Adam’s apple slowly slid up and down his throat.
My lips curled into a soft smirk.
And thenfinally,he broke. He shook his head, clearly losing some internal battle before closing the distance between us and lifting my chin in his fingers and lowering his mouth to mine.
It sure as hell didn’t get old—kissing Neil. And at this point, I felt pretty depraved of it, so I leaned into him with a less than quiet sigh as his mouth moved over mine.
His chest vibrated against mine with his chuckle.
I wasn’t embarrassed about it, though. Especially not when he pulled my bottom lip between his teeth and into his mouth and let it slowly slide out from between them, following the movement with his tongue.
I fisted his shirt and pulled him into me just as he was backing me into the door, his tongue slipping into my mouth and finding mine.