Page 36 of P.S. I'm Still Yours
His touch is gone the next second, and I’m left with nothing but this insatiable need to feel it again. We stare at each other for a moment, and I can no longer deny the tension pervading the air.
“Thank you for everything you’ve done for me, Hadley. I’ll never forget it.” There’s a hint of sadness in his voice, maybe even a drop of remorse, but I don’t know how to translate the true meaning of his words.
I flush. “You don’t need to thank me. It was just an old guitar.”
His jaw muscles flex. “Trust me, it was more than that.”
I open my mouth to ask him to elaborate, but an alarm goes off on his phone the next second.
Kane flashes a gorgeous smile, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
Then he flips it over to show me the screen.
It’s midnight.
I’m officially fourteen.
What he says next makes my heart swell with joy.
“Happy birthday, Hads.”
I gesture to the projector and the sheet he anchored to the wall. “All this… getting to hear your song…” I get choked up midsentence. “This is the best birthday present anyone’s ever given me.”
“That wasn’t your birthday present.”
I blink at him. “It wasn’t?”
“No.”
He pauses.
“This is.”
Then he does the one thing that ensures I’ll never be able to look at another guy.
He cups my face, tips my chin forward, and crashes his mouth against mine so hard my knees nearly give out. It takes me a solid second to realize what’s happening.
Kane is kissing me.
Not some girl from New York who smells like fish.
Me.
I’ve imagined this moment before. Obsessed over it. But I never thought it would actually happen.
His mouth is soft.
Soft and warm and addictive. It’s moving against mine with the perfect amount of pressure and urgency. You’d think we’re on the clock and he’s trying to make the most of the little time we have.
My focus shifts to his hands clutching my face until one of them abandons my cheek and cups the back of my neck to jerk me closer.
His grip on me is so firm it’s as though he’s afraid I’m going to slip through his fingers. As though he thinks I’m going to put an end to our kiss.
I startle myself by gripping the fabric of his shirt and pushing to the tip of my toes. I have no idea what I’m doing, but I try not to overthink it. I return his kiss with twice as much ardor and then move away from him just long enough to inhale a shaky breath.
And it’s not just my breathing that’s shaky. My entire body is trembling—at least that’s what it feels like on the inside. I don’t think he can tell because his mouth is back on mine before I know it.
A noise I’ve never heard before rips from his throat, and it ignites something in me. Something unfamiliar. It starts in my chest before skittering down to my lower stomach.