Page 90 of Last Night Was Fun

She leaned in to kiss him. Slowly and softly at first, but then with more hunger. He rolled her onto her back and pinned her wrists up by her head while he deepened the kiss, possessively dipping his tongue into her mouth. She’d learned over the past twentysome odd hours that Gabe Olson was a little bossy in bed, and it thrilled her. She playfully bit his lip, and he smiled down at her.

Soon they were moving together in a slow rhythm so tender, his hips between hers, his hands in her hair, it made Emmy secretly hope it wasn’t the last time, despite their agreement to leave things in Mexico.

They hardly made it to the farewell breakfast with everyone the next morning. Their time together slipped away too quickly, and Emmy found herself dreading having to return to real life. She didn’t know how she could possibly go back to the way things were, because there would now forever be a before and an after Gabe Olson. The weekend had sharply divided her life in two.

After a round of hugs and goodbyes with her family at the hotel and then another one at the airport because most of them were on the same flights, Emmy found herself standing at the gate with Gabe and wishing she could stop time.

He stood beside her with his suitcase and wearing a backpack. He’d hooked his thumbs into the straps and looked as if he’d done it to better keep his hands to himself. They’d been in bed together just three hours before—Emmy could still see the kink in his hair from where she’d tugged on it one last time—but she could already feel the memory fading into a shimmering mirage as they moved closer and closer to leaving. Their flight had already started boarding; they were down to minutes.

“What seat are you?” Gabe asked.

“14A. You?”

“28D.”

“Another aisle seat.”

“I’ve heard they’re good for the legs.”

Emmy weakly smiled at his callback to the night he’d arrived. She couldn’t summon the strength to laugh. They were one group away from calling her boarding group. The seconds before they took off back to reality slipped through her fingers like the stray sand still crunching in her shoes.

As the final moments dwindled, an enormous elephant stood between them. Emmy got the sense neither of them wanted to acknowledge it for fear of labeling what the weekend had meant to them, which would make it all the harder to put it behind them.

But Gabe did it anyway.

He let out a tense breath and lightly laughed. “So, this was the best weekend of my life.”

“Gabe—”

“—and I know we had a deal: What happens here, stays here. But I’m wondering if maybe that doesn’t have to be the case.”

Emmy looked up at him with a surprising rush of hope—surprising he was suggesting it, and surprising in how sharply the idea hooked itself into her heart. “What do you mean?”

He unhooked his hand from his backpack strap and gently reached for hers. His grip was warm and strong, and Emmy knew she was already addicted to his touch. He brushed his thumb over her wristbone and gave her a soft, devastating smile. “I mean, there’s no way I will be able to sit next to you every day and keep my hands to myself now that I know what you taste like.”

A stuttered breath rushed out of Emmy. Her whole body quivered. Gabe felt it, and the grin on his lips grew wider.

“Do not torture me here in public,” she warned.

“Even if I’m enjoying it?”

“Especially if you’re enjoying it.”

His face cracked into a full grin, and he laughed. He tugged her closer by the hand. She stumbled into him, awkwardly weighed down by her tote and halfway tripping over her carry-on. But none of that mattered when she felt the warmth of him and smelled the fresh, clean coconutty scent of the hotel still lingering on his skin. “What do you say? Want to give it a shot when we get home?”

She was lost in his gaze, the feel of his hand that had moved to her lower back. Reality was hard to grasp through the sensory haze, but she managed to grab hold. They worked together—not to mention, were up for the same promotion. “Gabe, how would that work? It would be too complicated.”

“It doesn’t have to be complicated.”

Staring at the hope on his face, the memories from the weekend doing backflips in his eyes, Emmy wondered if he was right. Could they make it work? Could they officially cross a boundary back home where it mattered and not have it blow up in their faces? She knew he was right on another front—she’d never be able to share an office with him, either, now that she knew what he tasted like, the sounds he made when he came undone, if it was all behind them.

They called her boarding group, and she jerked at the harsh bite of reality.

Gabe glanced at the jetway and then cupped her cheek with his other hand. His eyes earnestly searched hers as he held her close. “Just promise me you’ll think about it.” He pulled her into one of his full-body kisses that left her blushing and spinning and nearly unable to walk straight as she made her way to the jetway.

She looked back at him while they scanned her ticket. He’d hooked his hands back into his backpack straps, and she knew she’d be thinking about the little grin on his swollen lips and his suggestion they give it a shot the whole way home.

Chapter17