Page 88 of Escape

Huck finished turning out the lights, double checked the doors were locked, and armed the house. The next thing I knew, we were climbing the stairs as my belly trembled with anticipation.

Since I didn’t want to appear presumptuous, I slowed my steps as we walked down the hallway until I came to a stop outside the guest bedroom. Huck stopped, too, turning to face me.

He had to be the one to do it. He had to ask me to spend the night in his bed with him. I couldn’t be the one to do it, no matter how badly I wanted it. And there was no question I desperately wanted it.

After all the times I’d had nightmares and he came in to spend the night with me in the guest room when I couldn’t properly curl into him, there was nothing I wanted more now than to climb into a bed with him, spend some time kissing, and fall asleep while he held me close all night. I wanted more than to only be able to hold his arm or hand for comfort.

Unfortunately, as we stood outside the room, neither one of us managed to say a single word. Both of us continued to stare at one another, and while I couldn’t be sure what Huck saw when he looked at me, it was clear to me that his mind was racing with thoughts as well. I wondered what he was thinking, why he wasn’t saying anything.

Recognizing someone needed to break the ice—and hoping that would be the one thing needed for Huck to make his move—I decided to speak.

“Thank you for giving me such a wonderful day today, Huck,” I said, realizing I was treating this moment like the end of a date. It could have gone either way at this point. “It was the best day I’ve ever had.”

His lips twitched as he stepped forward and closed the distance between us. When he brought both hands to my hips and tugged me toward him, he replied, “That makes two of us.”

I lifted my arms over Huck’s shoulders and pressed my body close to his. For some reason, it seemed that the moment he got his hands on me, I lost all sense of myself. The only thing I could think about now was kissing him again. That and the way he smelled and how much I liked the way it felt to have his arms around me with our bodies pressed tight together.

My eyes dropped to his lips and remained focused on them as I inched my head forward. The next thing I knew, my movements were halted because Huck moved the remaining distance and captured my mouth with his.

Huck’s first kiss in the arcade had been something straight out of a movie. He kissed me in a way I didn’t even know was possible. I didn’t know I could feel all that I felt for him at the same time I was lost in the flawlessness of his kiss. Everything from the softness of his lips and the velvety feel of his tongue to the way he explored my mouth and communicated things without needing to speak was perfect.

Ever since that first kiss in the arcade, I had anticipated the feeling I experienced would change.

It didn’t.

Or, at least, it didn’t change in the way that I had expected.

I had assumed that the second, third, and fourth kisses I shared with Huck wouldn’t be as consuming. I didn’t think I’d experience the same flutters in my belly that I did with the first.

I was wrong.

Because those feelings intensified.

And right now, despite having spent substantial time on the couch kissing him, I was doing my best to hold on to him for fear my legs would buckle with the weakness his kiss made me feel.

As his tongue drove into my mouth, Huck let out a groan. That sound was another thing I hadn’t expected. The first time I heard it, a wave of desire rolled over me. Maybe that was the result of it being Huck who was groaning while kissing me, but it could have also been the fact I hadn’t ever imagined this man would ever be so lost in kissing me that he would groan. I found it impossible to believe I could have the same effect on him that he had on me, and yet, here I was, kissing the man of my dreams while he groaned his satisfaction.

Eventually, always far too soon, we separated our mouths from each other, and there was a moment of labored breathing.

“That gets better every time,” he said.

“Mmmm.”

That was the only response I could muster up. It wasn’t as though Huck had said anything that wasn’t true.

He laughed, gave my hips a squeeze, and took half a step back. “Goodnight, Josie.”

The wind was out of my sails. He wasn’t inviting me to spend the night in his bed with him. It was all I could do not to allow the disappointment to show. “Goodnight, Huck.”

After Huck gave me a peck on the lips, I turned and moved into the guest room. Once I made it to the bed and looked back at him, I felt so much longing and desire move through me. He was wearing the sweetest expression as he stared at me, like he thought I was some treasured, rare jewel.

Following a beat of intense scrutiny, Huck turned and walked away toward his bedroom. I was left wanting to chase after him.

Maybe I should have done just that. But if I knew anything about Huck, it was that he was intentional about everything he did, and there was a reason he didn’t ask me to spend the night in his room. Unwilling to humiliate myself, I had no choice but to accept that this was where we were right now.

Admittedly, it wasn’t exactly a bad place to be.

So, I climbed into bed, replayed my day in my head, and found a way to be grateful for what Huck had given me.