The second kiss was mine. I knew that mattered. Declan had asked. I had answered.
Then I had grabbed his shirt and pulled him back before he could build another wall out of good intentions. His mouth met mine harder this time. Not careless. Not gentle either.
His hand returned to my waist and spread across my back, broad and warm through the thin cardigan. The other stayed at my jaw, thumb resting near my pulse as if he could feel exactly how badly he affected me.
I could feel what I did to him too. Not in any crude, anatomical way.
In the tension that moved through his entire body when I stepped closer. In the breath he took against my mouth.
In the way his fingers tightened and then deliberately loosened, control applied one decision at a time. That was hotter than losing it complet
