Page 127 of The Friends and Rivals Collection

DEREK

Not gonna lie.

I’m a kid at Christmas, riding home. I park my bike, ready to run inside and see what’s under the tree.

I open the back door, flick on the lights, and listen for her. I don’t expect to see her, based on her call, but you never know.

The house is still, so I vault into the kitchen, hunting for whatever she’s left.

My heart sings when I spy the blackboard.

My smile is out of control. It somersaults and backflips, and I don’t ever want to forget this moment. I snap a photo of what she wrote, and then I get ready, dressed in jeans, a Henley, and my boots. I hop on my bike and ride to the Windermere Inn.

The whole time I replay her note in my head.

What would you think if we revised those ground rules? We could throw them out the window entirely and start over from where we left off the other night. If you like this idea, meet me at seven at the Windermere Inn.

I review my plan to tell her how I feel during the most passionate kiss category. When I reach the inn, I park and head inside, ten minutes before seven.

The sign for the fundraiser hangs from the ceiling of one of the hallways.

Kisses for dollars!

I walk to the check-in table, peering past it into the ballroom.

A man and a woman on the dance floor are locked in a kiss, and I suspect they’re in the marathon category.

Other categories are listed on a sign on the wall—the movie kiss reenactment, the sweet kiss, the air kiss, and more.

At the top of the sign, the name of the hotel is written in calligraphy.

That’s when it hits me.

That’s when I find a better plan. How to go all in. How to let Perri know in the fashion she deserves that my heart belongs to her.

I hoof it to the front desk, asking for Claire, the head of events and the mother of one marble-loving kid.

The skinny man at the counter tells me he’ll find her, and a minute later, the brunette appears in slacks and a crisp blouse.

“Hey there, nose saver!”

“Good to see you, Claire.”

“What can I do for you?”

“Well, the other day, you did say I could perhaps call on you for a favor, and I was hoping I could cash in on that.”

“Hit me up.”

“It’s about the kissing contest.” I gesture toward the ballroom, then I tell her my idea.

She furrows her brow, taking her time before she answers. “And it wouldn’t really be an official category for raising money or anything?”

“No. I would just like it to be announced because I think she’d like it.”

Claire smiles. “I bet she’ll love it. Let me go talk to the event organizer and ask them to do it. Give me five.”

I wait, checking the time until she returns a few minutes later, giving me a thumbs-up. “You’re on in three minutes.”

“And I can’t thank you enough.”

“Go get your girl,” she says with a wink.

When I walk into the ballroom, I spot Perri in the far corner, chatting with Vanessa and Arden. It’s one minute till seven. My lovely redhead fiddles with her shirtsleeves and flicks her hair off her shoulders. I want to tell her she’s perfect in anything and everything and nothing.

And I will.

I stride across the room, passing the lip-locked couples and weaving past a pair of women who’ve entered in the reenactment category, doing Scarlett and Rhett as two ladies. More power to them.

As I pass Scarlett, Perri’s eyes land on me. A hint of nerves seems to flicker across those green irises. But when I smile at her, locking eyes, the nerves disappear.

I reach her, wanting to yank her into my arms and kiss her senseless. But first, words. “I found your note.”

“Seems you did.” Her voice is nervous, but hopeful.

“It was perfect and beautiful, and my answer is?—”

A voice cuts across the ballroom. It’s the master of ceremonies, a Sandra Bullock look-alike holding a mic. “And now, we have a new category recently added to the lineup.”

Perri stares curiously at the actress’s doppelg?nger. “I thought passionate kiss was next?”

I simply shrug, keeping my secret for another second or two.

The dark-haired woman speaks again. “And this category is the kind of kiss you give someone when you’ve fallen in love with them.”

Perri snaps her gaze to me. The expression in her eyes is everything I never knew I wanted, and everything I have to have.

Wrapping a hand around her waist, I pull her close. “Want to enter?”

She whispers a shuddery yes , and that’s all I need.

Taking her hand, I lead her to the middle of the room.

In front of everyone—her boss, our fellow Lucky Falls residents, her best friends, her parents, and so many people I’m getting to know—I kiss her like I’ve fallen in love with her.

Because I have, and I want to keep falling in love with her every single day.

She kisses me back with a little bit of passion, a whole lot of tenderness, and all the love I could ever want.

When we break the kiss, I go first. “Just so you know, I’m in love with you.”

Her smile can’t be contained. “Funny thing. I’m in love with you too.”

And when you’ve fallen in love, one kiss is never enough. I kiss her again, and as I do, the clapping begins, followed by hooting and hollering. Everyone cheers us on.

Briefly, I break the kiss, whispering to her, “Kitten, we’re going to win the most passionate one too.”

“We better.” She grabs the back of my head and smacks a hot, wet kiss on my mouth, like we did in the waffle truck.

She kisses me passionately, deeply, and with a consuming kind of fire.

I kiss her like I’m going to be taking her home and fucking her and making love to her, because that’s what I intend to do.

After that epic kissing fest, we grab a drink, holding hands and talking. There’s so much to say, and words and truth spill out.

“I was so worried you didn’t feel the same way, and that I was going to ruin everything,” she confesses.

“I felt the same way.”

“I was worried, too, I’d lose my edge at work.”

I bring her closer. “I know you were concerned. What changed for you?”

She loops a hand around my back. “I didn’t want to miss the chance at this kind of love.”

My God, am I ever glad I decided to go for it with her tonight.

“I’m not going to let you get away. Also, I’m here for you.

I want to be the one you lean on. I want to be your support and your shoulder to cry on if you need one.

I want to be the man you come home to, the one you know always has your back even if work is tough. ”

She sighs deeply, almost dreamily. “I’m taking you up on that. And I want to be that for you too.”

“You will. You are. We can be that for each other.” I kiss her forehead, savoring the sweet smell of her skin, the feel of her melting in my arms.

She hums against me. “What do we do next? Also, when can we get out of here and get naked?”

I laugh, loving her dirty desires. “How about as soon as winners are announced? And how’s this?

After we go home, after I get inside you, after I make you come five or six times and you’re all nice and warm and snuggly in my arms, then we can talk about what’s next.

But I promise what’s next will be even better. ”

She smiles up at me, splaying her fingers across my shirt. “You’re such a snuggler.”

I nuzzle her neck. “And you love it.”

“I love it a lot. Kind of like how I love you.”

We win two prizes, nabbing most passionate and the newly added one, since the event organizer said we nailed it so perfectly it simply had to be a real category. With my arm wrapped around my woman, we make our way toward the exit.

But the chief stops us before we reach the door.

“Keating, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”