Page 45 of Our Darkest Summer

I tilted his head back by his hair, and a devilish grin curled over his lips. Maybe I did understand what he meant by maddening.

Chapter Twenty

Thomas

Kinsley’s headfell backward and my mouth watered. God, she was beautiful. Every inhale, every press of her body against mine, every breathless sound that slipped from her lips—it was too much. I had spent months keeping my distance, months pretending she wasn’t under my skin, and now?

Now, she was wrapped around me, heat in her touch, fire in her eyes. God, I missed the scent of her. My grip on her waist tightened, and my lips trailed down the damp skin of her neck, tasting the salt from the lake and the sweetness that was just her. She was killing me.

Her legs squeezed around me, drawing me closer. I wanted more. Needed more.

“Kinsley? Thomas?”

A voice cut through the silence, and Kinsley’s body tensed in my arms. I saw it. The flicker of reality sinking in, her swollen lips parting.

I did that.

The thought sent a fresh wave of something dark and desperate through my veins.

“The round is over.” It was my brother’s voice this time.

I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against hers. My pulse was still pounding. If we walked out of here now, if we surfaced from this moment, it would be gone. We would be gone. And I wasn’t sure I could handle that just yet.

“We give up, you won!” Kevin shouted.

Kinsley let out a breath, something close to a sigh, but there was a tiny flicker of amusement in her expression. I felt her lips twitch against mine before she turned her face away, biting it back.

I chuckled, my voice still rough. “You like that word, don’t you?”

She lifted her chin, defiant. “Maybe.”

My grip on her waist tightened before I forced myself to take a step back, putting space between us that I didn’t want.

“I told you we would win,” I rasped, letting the cold water calm me.

Kinsley let out a small, breathy laugh, rolling her eyes, before she moved. “You actually didn’t.”

Don’t go. But I didn’t say that, instead my brows lifted.

“I did.”

But she was already swimming toward the shore, her body barely breaking the silver surface of the water.

“I found this place first,” she said, looking at me over her shoulder.

I opened my mouth to respond, to push back like I always did, but the sound of approaching footsteps made us both turn toward the house’s direction.

“There they are!” Braxton’s voice, loud and unbothered, broke through the haze in my head.

Kinsley climbed out of the water first, wrapping her arms around herself as the night air hit her wet skin. My gaze trailed over the way the water streamed down her body, the moonlightcatching in the droplets that rolled over her collarbone, her shoulders?—

Fuck.

I followed, dragging myself out of the lake, my soaked shirt clinging to my skin. I tried to steady my pulse.

“Why the fuck are you guys soaking wet?” Kevin stopped a few feet away, glancing between us. “Don’t tell me you hid in the water.” His eyes narrowed.

Kinsley shivered beside me, and I pulled her against me without thinking. She stiffened, but stayed still.