Page 52 of Finding Gideon

“You keep doing that,” I said quietly.

“What?”

“Making me want to kiss you again.”

He lifted his head, and I saw it—those flickers of fear and want and wonder all colliding behind his eyes. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

I didn’t rush. I let the moment stretch until the tension curled deliciously around us like the moment before a match flares to life.

Then I leaned in and kissed him.

The third kiss wasn’t like the first—desperate and tangled. And it wasn’t like the second—soft and cautious.

This one hadintent.

I slid my hand up his neck, into the thick hair at the back of his head. He grunted softly into my mouth, one hand bracing at my waist, the other cupping my jaw.

He deepened the kiss, and I followed, breath stuttering as his tongue brushed mine—tentative at first, then bolder.

Heat flared low in my belly.

And God, I felt it. Him.

We shifted closer, hips aligning like they were built to. The thick, hard press of him against my thigh. The unmistakable throb of arousal.

I gasped and drew back a fraction, my breath catching as I took him in.

His pupils were wide, his lips kiss-swollen, his gaze holding mine like he didn’t trust himself to look away.

“Okay,” I said, breathless, “so that’s… unexpected.”

His voice was rough. “For me too.”

I glanced down, then back up. “Is that your?—?”

“It is,” he said quickly, a wry edge to the words. “Very much is.”

A startled laugh escaped me, half-disbelieving. “Guess we’re both… feeling it.”

For a beat, we just stared at each other. Then Malcolm gave this slow, helpless smile that wrecked me.

“This is the strangest, hottest, most terrifying moment of my adult life,” he murmured.

“Yeah,” I said, my grin matching his. “And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

His head dropped forward, and his forehead thunked gently against mine. “God, you’re going to be the death of me.”

“I’m not even doing anything.”

“You’re existing. That’s enough.”

And just like that, a laugh bubbled out of me. It wasn’t loud or wild, just this quiet, joyful thing that caught me off guard.

He laughed too. Then looked down between us and let out a breathless chuckle. “So… we’re just going to stand here. With our dicks saying hi. Like it’s totally normal.”

“Mine’s polite,” I said. “Yours is… aggressively enthusiastic.”