Sunshine Kisses

‘I was going to.’ He sighed. ‘It was supposed to be this big romantic moment. I was going to kiss you—I only meant it to be a peck, really—then pull my mask off and ta-da,’ he said with a small flourish of his hands. ‘And then you let me kiss you—really kiss you—’

‘And then I ran away,’ she finished, cold quickly extinguishing the heat that had been consuming her.

‘And in my big mess of a brain I reasoned it was because you somehow knew it was me. And you didn’t want me.’

The blank despair on his face made her heart ache and she stretched a hand towards him before leaving it to drop onto the duvet between them.

‘Erik, I ran away because it felt too real. Kissing you was like…like coming home for a magical summer after a crappy school year. It felt warm and safe and perfect. I’d only been broken up with Sam for a few months. I was all messed up thinking about you. And then there was this amazing kiss, and I didn’t think I could handle feeling any more things at once. I planned never to mention it because it felt like I was betraying you somehow. But if I’d known it was you…’ She trailed off as she looked back into his eyes, which were unusually bright. ‘I wouldn’t have run away from you, Erik,’ she said earnestly, her lip quivering. ‘Not again.’

He pulled her closer, one hand cupping her check to tilt her face towards his.

‘What’s my dare?’

‘Kiss me,’ she said simply.

They were almost nose to nose when she breathed one last confession. ‘Even with everything that came after…our other kiss. Our first kiss. Still the best one I’ve ever had.’

His eyes widened in surprise, but she captured his lips before he could speak.

Erik Larsson tasted like whiskey and mint and memories, and Abby could have become drunk off that alone.

It was New Year’s, but with twenty-five years of intimacy behind it. New Year’s with the knowledge that the man now pulling her onto his lap knew every detail of her.

It was the magic of summer days on the beach, and watching the leaves change, and seeing tiny buds push their way through thawing ground. It was everything.

Erik’s hands ghosted over the straps of her vest before he slid his fingers under the tiny bows keeping her pyjamas on her shoulders. One pull of his thumbs and her chest would be bare to him. She moaned into his mouth at the thought, and he nipped playfully at her bottom lip.

‘This the set you were wearing on Wednesday?’ he asked, lowering his head to lick her collarbone. ‘I’ve been dreaming about these fucking bows for three nights.’

Abby whimpered as he sucked gently on her shoulder. ‘Why— Fuck, Erik.’ She gasped at his teeth scraping over the sensitive skin. ‘Why were you so eager to get away from me on Thursday morning? When we woke up together.’

He laughed into her throat and goosebumps followed in the wake of his breath. ‘Why do you think, Abby?’ Erik asked, hands sliding over her body to hold her hips flush against his.

Oh.

He felt like heaven through the thin cotton of her shorts.

‘I woke up in a panic just about every hour, terrified that I’d be hard. I managed to make it through the whole night without incident.’ He dropped his head back against the headboard with a soft thud. ‘And then you pressed right against me and burrowed, and my brain was barely awake, but my body sure as hell was.’

Abby pressed her hand to his throat, and Erik’s eyes closed with a blissful smile as she stroked his jaw. ‘I thought maybe you regretted it. Letting me sleep with you.’

His eyes snapped back open, head jerking forward to look at her straight-on. ‘Sunshine, you weigh nothing. It would have taken me thirty seconds and zero effort to carry you to your bed or sleep there myself. But I can’t stress enough how much I. Didn’t. Want. To.’ Each of his last four words was punctuated by a kiss, and he kept his mouth on hers when he finished speaking, tongue tracing her bottom lip softly until she let him in. Coherent thoughts were struggling to stay afloat in the pool of golden syrup that had replaced her brain, but one drifted lazily to the surface: she’d be happy to do this forever.

Erik had different ideas. After a few minutes, his hands stilled on her waist as he slowed their frantic exchange and gently pulled away from her.

‘We have to stop.’ His voice was shaky. ‘I’m trying really hard to keep using the last tiny bit of my brain capable of rational thought, and if I kiss you for one second longer, that’s going to die too.’

Abby rolled her hips, mumbling against his lips that she had no desire to stop. Now that she’d opened up to more with Erik, it was consuming her. Her brain was too full of wanting to consider all the discomfort that usually came with the possibility of sex. It was freeing.

Pleading eyes met hers. ‘I don’t want to. I need to. This is the moment I’ve waited most of my adult life for. I’m not ruining it by moving too fast and letting you have regrets.’

Oh, he had no idea about her regrets when it came to the two of them. But she wasn’t planning on sex being added to that list.

Abby pouted and tried to pull him in for another kiss. He huffed out a laugh and lifted her effortlessly off his lap, hopping off the bed before she could grab him again. His joggers had slid down his hips and the inch of skin showing was tantalising. He tilted her chin up before her eyes could dip any lower.

‘I’d like to take you on a single date first. Maybe a dinner that doesn’t include our parents?’ Erik bent to drop a kiss on her forehead, pinning her arms to her sides as he did, so she wouldn’t have any chance of pulling him back into the bed for more. ‘I’ll see you in the morning, Sunshine.’

The smile he left her with could have ended international conflicts.