Page 123 of Next to Everything We Wanted

With his lips inches away from mine, I pressed my mouth to his. I traced my finger through the lines of his neck tattoo, remembering how smooth and warm his skin felt.

He rested his hand on my back, the other on my waist. My body felt exposed, but it only took a few moments for me to melt into the kiss, the entire café disappearing like a magic trick. Maybe his kisses were that magical, waving a spell over my mind.

We broke apart after what felt like seconds. Gavin faced the crowd and said into the microphone, “I’m sorry for everyone who has just lost their appetite, but like I said, I’m addicted.”

The audience laughed and applauded for us. Gavin told his bandmates to perform a few songs before he took me backstage.

“I hope that wasn’t too bad,” he said as we sat down on the couch. “I know it’s not like Christopher to Jessica inStarstruck, or Patrick to Kat in10 Things About You, but I meant everything I said.”

“Your song was even better than theirs.” I traced my hand along his knuckles. “I don’t want you to regret anything.”

“The only thing I regret is not being honest. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want it to change your opinion of me. I was inmy worst state when I was famous, always pushed around and not having a say in what I wanted, and I lost people I cared about because of it.” Pain grew in his eyes as they locked with mine. “And the thought of losing you destroyed me.”

“You don’t have to explain,” I whispered. “I shouldn’t have made it about me, even if it did hurt. I won’t tell anyone, though. I won’t even look up things about you or listen to your old music—not that I did before—or even read articles about your bandmates.”

He chuckled. “I don’t know, the articles they write about Justin and Emberlynn are pretty entertaining. They’re pretty accurate compared to the other articles they wrote about us.”

“Seeing your face every day is way more interesting than their shenanigans.”

“I don’t know, Justin is a crafty character. I need to catch up with him.” He closed the space between us and pressed a soft kiss to my lips, one that instantly made me forget what we’d been talking about. “But right now, the only thing that matters to me is you.”

CHAPTER 29

Gavin

Man, I never wanted to go eight days without kissing Sienna ever again.

Our lips moved in harmony as her body covered mine on the couch. My bandmates were only playing a few songs without me, so I had to make this quick. As I melted into her, though, all I wanted was to do this forever.

It felt like light years since we’d been together, since her mouth had been on mine, but our bodies knew just what to do. She threaded a hand through my hair while the other one steadied itself on the cushion to keep her from falling on top of me. The vanilla taste of her lipstick reminded me of all the kisses we had before, except this one was so different.

The girl kissed me like tomorrow was an ancient myth.

Lying down, I stroked my hand through her hair. It was just as soft as the last time. Her apple-scented perfume washed over my senses, and tingles spread from my head to my toes. Every cell in my body buzzed like I’d drunk too much coffee.

When my hand traveled down Sienna’s back, she let out a soft moan. My eyes nearly rolled back from the sound. I pressedmy mouth harder to hers, our soft kiss turning into something hungrier.

My hand kept gliding down her back until it touched the band of her shorts. She gasped against my mouth. Not wanting to take things to the next level, I slid my hand back into her hair, tangling my fingers into the long dark strands.

Sienna’s lips broke apart from mine, leaving my mouth tingling. “Don’t you need to go back to your band?”

I groaned. “I don’t want to.”

She traced her kisses to my neck, where my tattoo rested. “You need to before someone walks in on us.”

“Doing this to me won’t help,” I murmured.

“Sorry.” She gave me one more deep kiss before breaking apart and getting off me. “Okay,nowyou can leave.”

I laughed before getting up from the couch, my skin buzzing from where her lips had been. My gaze went to her outfit, which I hadn’t taken in until now. Her black tank top hugged her in all the right places while her shorts highlighted her tan skin in a way that made me want to kiss her again. “You look stunning as always.”

“Thank you.” Her cheeks turned pink. “Emma wanted me to dress up. She tried to get me in that bralette again.”

I snorted. “At least you can breathe in this outfit.”

“Not really. I can hardly breathe when I’m with you.”

“Staying stuff like that is going to make me kiss you again,” I teased as I got up from the couch. “And as much as I want to do that, I have to show some self-restraint. At least until the gig is over.”