Page 72 of Ignition

“Breathe,” I murmured, though my own chest heaved.

Her fingers loosened in my hair, until she was unwittingly mimicking my movements, and I withdrew a sliver to scan her face.

Part of me was terrified she’d snap out of it and shove me back, the other part held its breath, aching for more.

“Mia? You ever gonna speak again?” I teased lightly, fingertips drawing slow patterns along her side.

Her pulse fluttered wildly under the pale skin at the hollow of her throat, and I fought the urge to lean in and feel it jump under my lips once more.

“P-prick,” she rasped out.

An honest to god chuckle burst out of me, raw and unfiltered, dispelling some of the tension in my nape.

“There she is,” I purred, grinning wolfishly down at her.

“I need to, um—that is…” She gestured vaguely to the main building, and I fought another chuckle and lost.

“Sounds like an important plan.”

My fingers eased out of her hair, sliding down to brush her cheek, lingering a second too long.

“Don’t be a stranger, yeah?” My eyelids fluttered closed and my mouth dipped to graze hers again, before I forced myself to retreat and not smother her with another kiss, like I wanted to.

She shot me a weak, mock-pissed glare that pulled the corner of my lips up into a smirk. After a small wave, she turned on her heel, and I trailed her silhouette until she disappeared through the main door, then ducked inside the café to collect my coat, drunk on her and so dizzy I might pass out.

And though I’d started something twelve shades of stupid, I couldn’t for the life of me reprimand myself, not with the way my lips still tingled with the ghost of hers.

Chapter twenty-one

Mia

The specials—Christmas pudding, fruitcake, and shortbread—were still chalked in elegant cursive on the blackboard pinned behind the counter.

Warm lights hung over wood-panelled walls, and the fireplace roaring in the café had me smiling to myself as I settled into my favourite armchair with a mug of tea, a few biscuits, and the novel I hadn’t been able to read yesterday.

For some reason or another.

Campus still slumbered under a thin blanket of snow. Barely any tracks, barely any people. I sighed in contentment, tucked a leg under me, and flicked the book open, but my eyes were doing that thing again, where they didn’t take in any words. All I could see behind my eyelids was Josh’s face, pink from the cold, pupils blown wide, mouth swollen from mine.

And I would’ve thought I’d gone crazy and imagined it all, if his gaze hadn’t tracked me as I crossed the café, almost a physical caress that turned my skin all tingly.

A few faint clinks of spoons against ceramic tinkled in my ears as I brought my mug to my lips, cheeks a little warm, and glanced his way.

That goddamn smirk.

My lips split into a beam as I spied a head of blond hair and a familiar dimple in the doorway, their owner bounding towards me.

“Oh my god, I was going to send a search party!” I shot to my feet just in time to be swept up into a big hug and to absorb his theatrical sigh against my hair.

“Ugh, don’t even. We were in the middle of nowhere—which nobody told me, by the way,” Liam huffed, dropping heavily into the armchair across from me and pinching the bridge of his nose. “Mm, thanks,” he hummed, stealing a piece of my biscuit with zero shame.

He was wearing a ribbed beige henley and dark slacks, when I would’ve expected him to sport a silly Christmas sweater.

“In the middle of nowhere?” I repeated, yanking the plate away. “Get your own,” I huffed, though the corner of my mouth twitched.

Snow danced outside the window, illuminated by the string lights.

“Yep. Cabin in the woods. Proper horror movie setting,” he said as if he’d barely escaped with his life. Which wasn’t off the table if he kept stealing—