Page 70 of A Guy Walks Into My Bar
His words are fire, and they ignite me. They’re the last straw between my actions this morning and what I hope my actions will be for the next twenty-four hours.
My jaw is tight; my chest is heavy.
I hold my hands out wide and rip off the remaining layers of truth. “You want to know what I came here to say?”
“Yes,” he bites out.
I shake my head, pissed and sad and frustrated all at once. “I’m crazy about you, Dean Collins. Just completely crazy about you. I didn’t plan this. I didn’t expect it. But it happened. We happened,” I tell him, and it’s both easier and harder now that I’ve said that. Easier because I feel like I can breathe again. I feel like I can fit inside my body without trying to crawl out of my skin.
Harder because he’s expressionless. I grab at my shirt, my chest, to make my point. “I feel so much for you that it scares me. I don’t know what to do about it, and I wish this thing between us could last well beyond tomorrow. I wish I didn’t have to leave. Because I just want to see you and kiss you and touch you and be with you, and it’s driving me crazy. Because you’re not a fling at all—not one bit. You’re the opposite, and I don’t know what to do about it.”
For several anguished seconds, he’s impervious.
His lips barely twitch.
His face remains impassive.
Then he breathes out hard, sets down the box and his keys, pushes me to the other side of the doorway, and kisses me.
My God, does he ever kiss me.
He kisses me like he feels the exact same way.
His hands clasp my face, and his body slams against mine, and he crushes my lips in a searing, bone-melting kiss that knocks all my senses out of whack.
His lips devour mine—rough and demanding, like he’s telling me all the same things with the fiercest, most passionate kiss ever recorded in history. One hand slides down my body, along my waist, traveling to my hip. The other ropes through my hair. And he’s yanking me closer, even closer, and holy hell, I guess I haven’t fucked up too badly.
If I get to have him for even one more day, I will be the happiest man alive.
Because Dean is kissing me like he’s crazy for me too, and I can breathe, and I am lit up, electric and alive again.
When he breaks the kiss, he still has me caged in. His hand clasps my face; his lips are a ruler. “Don’t do that again, James.”
“I won’t,” I say, shaking my head, relief flowing through me.
“I mean it. Don’t do that. I don’t like being ghosted. I don’t like you taking off without telling me. We both know what happens tomorrow. We’ve both known from the start. I know what I signed up for, and I can handle it. But if you want to be with me until then, you’ve got to be all in. No running.”
I swallow roughly. “I’m all in. I’m so all in with you.”
A sliver of a smile tugs at his lips, and he tips his forehead to the door. “Good. Get inside.”
“And can I show you how I intend to make it up to you?”
That earns me a devilish smile. “You damn well better.” He bends, picks up the box, then finds his keys and unlocks the door.
He opens it, and I follow him in, relieved in a whole new way. Thrilled that I didn’t fuck up the best thing to ever happen to me.
I trail him up the stairs, happiness washing over me because I have this time with him. A little more than twenty-four hours, and I plan to make the best of them.
As soon as we’re inside his flat, he lowers the box, pulls at the hem of my shirt, and jerks me against him. “Now listen, Fitz,” he says, and I can’t stop grinning because I’m Fitz again. I’m out of the penalty box.
“I’m listening,” I say.
His eyes blaze, and he’s dirty, bossy Dean once more. “We’ve got a day. I would rather fuck and have fun. And right now, here’s what that means.” He licks his lips while he slides his hand under my T-shirt, up my abs, making me shiver.
“Tell me what it means,” I rasp.
His hand spreads over my pecs. “It means I want you to show me what it’s like when the man I’m crazy for makes up to me properly.”
Oh. My. Fucking. God.
Forget all in.
I am so in love with him, it’s insane. It’s going to eat me alive. And I am going to let it. I am going to let this feeling take over my body and mind.
I grab his face. “I’m so damn happy you feel the same way.”
