Page 49 of Your Last First Kiss

I forget to breathe when he turns to me with them raised in the air. He should not look so right in my kitchen. He shouldn’t feel so right in my space.

He can’t feel so right in my space.

But he does. And it’s becoming harder and harder to ignore.

“Okay to cook these?” he asks with a hypnotic rumble in his voice.

I purse my lips and nod. Afraid of what I’ll say if I open my mouth, I keep nodding. He tilts his head, watching me, and the outside corners of his eyes crinkle when he smiles.

So, I smile back.

We just keep smiling at each other like a couple of fools.

“Work, Penny,” he finally says. His voice is full of teasing that skates across my body like a feather and jolts me into action.

“Work. Right. Over here. Okay then. Let me know if you need anything. I’ll be here. Working.”

Turning my back on him, I mentally slap myself. I’m not someone who babbles like that. Not anymore, anyway.

Dillon Henry is dangerous to my entire being. He can squeeze my heart with a kind word. He can muddle my brain with a single smile. He can break me if I’m not careful.

I sit at my tiny table in the corner, and the sounds of a busy house engulf me. The girls babble. The boys laugh. Miller thumps around the house with heavy feet. But Dillon and Kai work in silence. They move around each other with ease in the tight space, and I can’t take my eyes off them.

They look like a family, and it breaks my heart.

CHAPTER15

DILLON

Swiping at the back of my neck for the twentieth time, I finally rest my forehead against the cool glass of the window.

Miller drives slowly with his plow lowered, though I still can’t figure out how he knows what the hell he’s plowing. There’s nothing to mark the streets. He just inches forward like he has every bend and turn memorized.

Kai sits between us with his hands in his lap, and even though Miller sings whatever country song is on the radio at the top of his lungs, I have a feeling Kai doesn’t hear a single beat. His eyes are glassy and focused straight ahead. The kid barely even blinks.

It’s been a weird morning. Moving through Penny’s home with him at my side unlocked something in my chest I haven’t been able to get rid of. It’s a constant buzzing that sends shocks of heat through every vein.

We pull into the TAC garage, where my Tesla sits untouched, and for the first time since I bought it, I’m overcome with a sense of guilt about the price tag it came with.

How many homes could that car heat this winter?

Guilt over things I’ve worked hard for has never been an issue for me. But today? Today, it hits differently.

“Why are we here?” I ask as we exit his truck.

“Remy doesn’t do anything the easy way. His house is out back by the lake, but he refuses to put in a driveway, so to get through the woods, you have to take a four-wheeler or a snow machine,” Miller says with a grin. “Have you ever ridden a sled?”

The buzzing in my chest gets stronger. “No,” I say, grinding my teeth to keep from saying anything else.

“No worries.” His eyes hold a challenge as he stands with his hands on his hips. “You can ride with Kai or me. Your choice.”

He leads us to a bay in the garage with a handful of snow machines. I’ve never seen one in person, but the seat reminds me of a very wide motorcycle. Now I understand his smirk. I’ll be on the back, holding onto whomever I ride with.

Awesome. Even my inner voice is full of snark today.

Even Kai is trying to suppress a smile.

“Can you drive this thing?” I ask him.