Lianna’s POV

The kiss lingered, it was slow like neither of us wanted to break whatever fragile spell had just wrapped itself around us. His hand slid to the side of my neck, warm and steady, the rough pad of his thumb brushing the edge of my jaw. My breath caught. I hadn’t realized how much I’d been holding myself back until that moment…. how much I’d been pretending not to want this.

When he pulled back just enough to look at me, his gaze searched mine, like he was giving me a ...