Page 174 of Never Not Friends

I stand there, helpless, hands hanging uselessly at my sides.

He steps even closer. There’s almost no space left between us now.

One of his hands lifts.

His fingertips touch the side of my face so lightly that every nerve ending in my body seems to rush toward that one spot. His thumb settles near my cheekbone as I stare back at him, waiting.

He doesn’t kiss me.

Not yet.

He just looks at me. At my eyes. My mouth. Back to my eyes. Slowly enough that I feel every second of it.

His other hand rests on my waist, drawing me a little closer.

“What if it’s not how you remember? What if you’re disappointed?” His words come out in warm breaths over my skin as the tip of his nose skims mine.

I peek up at him. “Try me.”

He tugs me a fraction closer. His thumb moves once against my cheek. And then Vinny leans in.

Slowly.

His eyes stay on me until the very last second.

And then his mouth touches mine.

Softly.

A careful, warm press of his lips.

Barely enough that my entire body aches for more.

He pulls back an inch, and my eyes open.

Neither of us says anything.

His thumb strokes my cheek once as his gaze drops to my mouth again.

And then he kisses me a second time.

This one longer.

His hand slides from my cheek into my hair, cradling the back of my head as his mouth moves slowly with mine.

Every fantasy I’ve ever had about the adult Vincent Brooks immediately becomes laughable. None of them got his kiss right. None of them knew how it would feel to have his fingers curled gently into my hair or the way he’d pause between kisses, like he has all the time in the world to get this one perfect moment right.

My arms slide around his neck. Vinny exhales against my mouth and pulls me closer, deepening the kiss. Never rushed. Never frantic. Like he’s relearning me all these years later as a man.

Like, after twelve years of almosts and not-nows and bad timing, neither of us has any interest in racing through this moment.

I don’t know how long we stand there.

Long enough that I no longer wonder if the kiss really happened.

I know it happened.

Vinny starts to pull away.