“About the other night…” My voice was raw. “I shouldn’t have kissed you if I wasn’t?—”
“You should have,” Cameron interjected. I blinked, and he squeezed my arm. “That kiss…” He swallowed. “I’ve replayed it a thousand times in my head.”
My pulse pounded. “I stopped it. I… I hurt you.”
“You stopped because you were scared,” Cameron corrected. “And you didn’t hurt me. You scared me a little, sure, but only because I didn’t understand.”
I dropped my gaze. “And now?”
Cameron placed his hands on my knees and spread them, moving between them, so close I could feel the heat of him. “Now I know you want me.” I froze, and he tilted his head. “You don’t get like that over someone you don’t want.”
My chest tightened, hot and painful. “I shouldn’t want you.”
Cameron’s breath caught. “Why not?”
Because you’re only twenty-two.
You’re my friend’s brother.
You trust me.
Because Luka?—
All the wrong reasons crowded my tongue, but the truth pushed through them.
“Because wanting you feels… dangerous.”
Cameron’s pupils grew larger.
“Then want me anyway.”
My breathing stuttered, and Cameron shifted close enough that I could smell the faint sweetness of my shampoo on Cameron’s hair, citrus on his skin, warmth radiating off him like a slow-burning fire.
“You’ve been fighting this for days,” Cameron murmured. “You don’t have to.”
“I do,” I said, but the protest had no weight. “I can’t lose control with you.”
Cameron’s voice lowered. “Then don’t lose control. Just let go.” He reached up, and stroked his fingers through my hair, the touch featherlight.
I shuddered.
“Let me in,” Cameron whispered.
Something inside me cracked open, the way the sky had cracked earlier, sudden and unstoppable. I cupped Cameron’s jaw, my thumb brushing his cheekbone, and uttered out loud the words that had terrified me all day.
“I haven’t stopped thinking about kissing you.”
Cameron’s exhale was a tremor. “Then do it.”
I didn’t know who moved first. Maybe the gravity between us finally pulled tight enough to close the gap. Our lips met, soft at first, hesitant, testing, then Cameron sighed into me, a low, helpless sound, and I broke.
I kissed Cameron harder, deeper, my hands sliding into Cameron’s hair, Cameron’s fingers gripping my shirt as though he was anchoring himself to the earth. We kissed as if the world outside didn’t exist.
Cameron pulled back enough to whisper against my lips, “Don’t stop this time.”
I opened my eyes. Cameron’s were dark, shining, unwavering.
“I won’t,” I breathed.