She went inside. The warm air surrounded her, heating the chill on her cheeks. She stopped not far from the back door and gave Lucas’s suit coat back to him. Even when he put it back on, she didn’t move. She wasn’t ready to end their discussion yet.
“What was the third thing on your list?” she asked.
He patted his pocket and smirked. “In order to find that out, you have to fall for me.”
“Fine. We can do the last trust fall here in the kitchen.” She faced away from him and crossed her arms. “Let me know when you’re ready to catch me.”
Instead of saying he was ready, Lucas stepped behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. He leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Not that kind of fall. I want you to fall for me.”
She gulped. Her breaths were coming quicker and more deeply. “What do you mean?”
His voice was soft and low spoken against her ear, his breath tickling her skin. “You know exactly what I mean, Riley Barlow. You’ve always been able to read me like a book.”
She wished that were true. “I prefer a book with a happy ending instead of a tragedy.”
“Good. No tragedies. Turn around and kiss me.”
She wanted to turn around, a part of her mind was already doing it—wrapping her arms around Lucas, melting into himand forgetting about everything. It would be so easy to surrender her lips to him.
But then what would happen? Hadn’t her parents’ story shown her that when a man was a cheater, he was always a cheater?
Another deep breath shuddered through her.
How could she not kiss Lucas? Every nerve in her body ached to feel his lips on hers.
A compromise was in order.
“I’ll kiss you once,” she said, “then you have to read the list that I wrote.” His list wasn’t as important as that one. He’d understand her reasoning when he read it.
“Okay,” he said. “I agree to your terms.”
This would be her last kiss with Lucas. She would allow herself that much, and she was going to make this memorable.
She turned, standing near enough to see the pale flecks in his blue eyes. He smelled good. He smelled like all the happy days of her past. He slipped one hand around her waist and held her close. She ran her hands slowly up his chest, enjoying the feel of his muscles beneath his dress shirt.
He cupped her chin and lifted it, tilting her face to meet his lips. His mouth came down on hers. First gently, layering light kisses over her lips. Then all at once, gentleness evaporated, and his kiss became intense, urgent.
His hand tangled into her hair. She may have moaned. It was hard to say. She felt intoxicated again, intoxicated by every touch of his skin, every place where their bodies connected.
How had she ever kissed him when they were dating and taken all of this for granted? His warmth and closeness made her want to cry because she missed him so badly. She wanted to stay in this kitchen forever, enjoying the feel of his lips against hers.
It was a long time before either of them moved. He finally lifted his head with a smile. “I’ve missed you,” he breathed out. “Don’t tell me you haven’t missed this.”
“I’ve missed this,” she agreed. But then, she also missed Nutella on a daily basis. It didn’t mean it was good for her. That’s what this kiss had been. A splurge of Nutella.
She pulled the folded list from her pocket and handed it to him.
He read it out loud. “Number one, my father cheated on my mother multiple times before he left her. Number two, he was the reason she drank so much. Number three, I refuse to live my mother’s life.”
A flash of pain went across his expression. She wasn’t sure whether it was pain for her or for himself because she wasn’t going to return to their relationship for round two of Crush-Riley’s-Soul.
“I’m sorry, Riley.”
“So am I.” She took the list from him, refolded it, and put it back in her pocket.
“Which is the lie?” he asked.
“You know me, I’m too brutally honest and not good with lies. They’re all the truth, although the second is almost a lie. My mother drank for a lot of reasons. My father abandoning us was just one of them, but it was her go-to excuse.”