Page 84 of Escape

Now, I was here in an arcade with the front of her body pressed against mine, and I’d finally gotten the opportunity to kiss her. No matter how many times I’d imagined it, no matter how many nights I’d fallen asleep fantasizing about it, none of it compared.

And all I could do now was feel regret.

Regret that I hadn’t done it sooner, that I hadn’t stuck around all those years ago and given into the feelings I had for her. Being so inexperienced, knowing I was leaving, I didn’t think I had the right to ask her to wait around for me.

But I should have.

Kissing her now, realizing I’d denied us both from having this for all these years, there was no question I felt regret.

No sooner had I honored her request to kiss her and captured her mouth with mine, Josie’s legs buckled. The hand I’d had resting at her hip slid around the back of her waist and held her tight to me.

One of Josie’s hands had drifted up my neck to the back of my skull to angle my head down to her. Her other hand was resting on my chest, her fingertips pressing firmly into the muscle there.

Simply having her in my arms like this, feeling her lips pressed against mine, had exceeded all my expectations. But when my tongue ran along the seam of her lips and she parted them, granting me access to her mouth, it elevated our kiss to another level.

Her mouth was wet and hot, and she tasted incredible.

Then Josie rewarded me with a soft moan, something I only knew had happened because I could feel the vibration of it against my tongue. The sounds of the arcade were all around us, but I wasn’t paying attention to any of them.

It was just us.

Huck and Josie, kissing in the middle of an arcade on a random Wednesday afternoon.

And it was everything I never knew I needed.

Unable to stop myself, I took the kiss deeper, my tongue driving in to explore the warmth of her mouth.

Josie’s fingernails dug in firmly against my chest as I took what I’d been craving for weeks.

I took and took, feeling like I’d never get enough. And then I gave. I gave her a mere fraction of what I thought she deserved to have.

Josie.

Fuck, Josie.

All these years, all this time.

My heart had been pounding in my chest from the second she brushed her lips against mine and ordered me to kiss her. Now, it was hammering wildly, feeling like it was in the middle of running a marathon.

And my oxygen supply seemed to be decreasing. My chest was constricting, the tightness an unfamiliar sensation. I’d never experienced it before, especially not when I kissed someone.

It was her.

Without having to give it a second thought, I knew it was her.

It always had been.

Completely consumed but worried I might pass out if I didn’t stop, I begrudgingly tore my mouth from hers.

There was so much to say, but I couldn’t seem to find any words. Maybe part of the reason for that was because I needed to find a way to catch my breath before attempting to speak. Josie’s breathing was just as labored as mine, her chest rising and falling rapidly.

With my forehead resting against hers and one hand curled around the side of her neck, I stroked my thumb around the front of her throat.

“Pac-Man is my new favorite game,” Josie declared.

“Yeah. Mine, too.”

“One day, when I have a house of my own and can afford it, I’m going to buy a Pac-Man arcade game,” she added.