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I brushed my hand along her stomach as I walked to the freezer to get the ice cream and was satisfied when she inhaled sharply.

Being able to touch her like this was intoxicating.

I started to open the door, but a hand darted out to push it closed as Cadence pressed up against me.

This time it was my breath that caught.

“For someone who’s never done this kind of thing, you’re very good at it,” she said against the back of my neck as goosebumps broke out on my skin. Warm lips brushed the top of my spine as I let out an involuntary noise and she laughed against me.

Before I could say a thing, she had wrenched me around and pressed my back against the fridge.

“What if I told you I was less interested in dessert and more interested in you?” she asked.

Why was it so hard to breathe? I couldn’t seem to pull enough oxygen into my lungs. I had never felt like this.

Wrapping my fingers in her shirt, I dragged her even closer.

“I’d say that I agree with you. They were out of my favorite ice cream at the store so I had to get my second choice anyway.”

“Oh, so you like me more than second-choice ice cream?” she said, brushing my hair back.

“I like you more than first-choice ice cream,” I said, and it was the truth. I liked her, maybe more than I’d liked anyone before. I sifted through my romantic past trying to remember if any connection before had been this electric. No. Not even close.

Was it because she was a woman, or was it because of who she was? Did it matter?

“Such flattery,” Cadence said, and I reached back to pull the elastic out of her ponytail. I’d been desperate to get my hands in her hair since the day we’d met.

“I’m obsessed with your hair,” I blurted out. I seemed to lose all of my composure when I was with her. Wrapping my fingers around a few strands, I watched how they shone in the light.

“What other parts of me are you obsessed with?” she asked.

“Your freckles, definitely. Completely.”

She grinned. “Which ones? Do you have any favorites?”

I tilted my head to the side, looking her over. “Well, I haven’t seen all of them yet, so I can’t truly make a decision.”

She blushed. Cadence was so cute when her emotions showed all over her face and chest and ears. There was something glorious about a person who couldn’t possibly hide what she was thinking.

“That’s a very forward thing to say for someone you just admitted liking this morning.” Her fingers stroked the sides of my waist, messing with the fabric of my shirt.

“Well, I do have some practice writing romantic lines, you know,” I said, and she burst out laughing.

“Yeah, you’re right. I forgot who I was dealing with. You’re actually a pro.”

I shook my head. “Not really.” The heat of her body was seeping through my clothes and making me feel like I was sinking into a warm bath.

“Cade?” I said and I wasn’t even sure why I said her name or what I was asking.

“Yes, Eloise,” she said, a smirk in her voice. She was good at this. She’d done this before. It made me feel a shiver of uncertainty.

“I’d really like to kiss you,” I said.

Her smile was slow and sweet. “Go ahead, El.”

Taking her chin, I tilted her head up and captured her mouth. It was even better than earlier. Her lips were hot and insistent as she plastered me to the fridge and devoured me. I kept making sounds that I’d never heard myself make and reaching and demanding and needing more of her.

I was out of my mind from a kiss. From her kiss.