Page 83 of Snow

“Good.”

“Good?”

A slow smile spread across his face as he reached up and brushed a loose strand of hair away from her cheek. “Yeah, sweetheart. Good.”

Her breath caught when his hand settled against the side of her neck, and Snow felt the rapid flutter of her pulse beneath his thumb.

“Why is that good?” she asked softly.

His smile deepened. “Because then I can do this.”

He didn’t give himself another second to think about it. He slid his other arm around her waist and pulled her toward him, his hand tightening gently at the back of her neck as he lowered his head and captured her mouth with his.

The first touch of her lips nearly destroyed him. He had meant for the kiss to be gentle. Hell, after everything she had just told him, he had planned on nothing more than a soft brush of his mouth against hers, enough to finally answer the question that had been hanging between them since they had met.

Then Nova kissed him back. Her hand curled into the front of his shirt as her lips moved against his, and every carefully constructed ounce of restraint Snow had been clinging to went straight to hell.

He deepened the kiss, drawing her closer until her body pressed against his and there was no mistaking the hunger that had been simmering between them for far too long.

Fuck. So much for taking things slow.

◆◆◆

Nova forgot how to breathe. The moment Snow’s mouth settled over hers, everything that had consumed her over the last several days disappeared. There was only Snow, the warmth of his hand against her neck, the strength of the arm wrapped around her waist, and the incredible feel of his lips moving over hers.

She had wondered what kissing him would be like—more times than she cared to admit, actually.

There was something almost tender about the way he kissed her at first, as though he was giving her every opportunity to change her mind, but the instant she curled her fingers into his shirt and kissed him back, something shifted. The restraint she had come to recognize in him slipped, and the kiss deepened as he pulled her closer.

Maybe she should have been embarrassed by how quickly she melted into him, especially considering she had been sobbing into the man’s shirt only minutes earlier. Still, she couldn’t summon enough common sense to care.

When they finally pulled apart, Nova kept her hand against his chest as she tried to catch her breath. His forehead rested lightly against hers, and when she opened her eyes, the expression on his face made her stomach flutter all over again.

“Well,” she whispered.

Snow chuckled. “That’s all you’ve got?”

“My brain is currently rebooting. Give it a minute.”

His grin widened. “Take your time.”

She laughed softly, and for several seconds they sat there, neither apparently in any hurry to put space between them.

Eventually Snow’s expression grew more serious. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry Rick did that to you. Being betrayed by someone you trusted...” His jaw tightened slightly. “It fucks with your head in ways people don’t always understand.”

Nova studied him. There was something in the way he had said it.

“You sound like you’ve experienced it.”

His gaze held hers for a moment before he nodded. “I have. A long time ago.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Really?”

“College. Girl I thought I was going to marry cheated on me.” His mouth twisted into a humorless smile. “Pretty much blew up every plan I thought I had for my life. Joining the Navy wasn’t even on my radar before that.”

Nova’s heart squeezed. “She cheated on you, so you joined the Navy?”

“When you put it like that, it sounds slightly dramatic.”