“It’s so easy to forget the world when you’re out here,” I opened my eyes. “It feels like I’m in another world when I’m here at night, kind of like being free . . . you know?”
When I looked up at Risk, his body was turned so his hip and arm rested against the railing but instead of gazing out at the blanket of black water, he was watching me. There was something in his eyes that made my heart skip a beat and caused my throat to run dry.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because I wanna kiss you.”
I jolted as if I was electrocuted by the force of his words.
“What?”
My voice was a hair above a whisper and even to my own ears it was filled with disbelief. Risk didn’t reply to me, he just continued to gaze at me as if he wanted to take me in his arms and kiss me until my knees threatened to buckle.
“Risk.”
“Don’t you wanna kiss me?” he asked. Christ, he looked and sounded so vulnerable when he asked me that question. “Because I really wanna kiss you, Cherry. So fucking much. I can’t stop thinking about it.”
I heard his words as if he screamed each one.
“Don’t do this to me,” I trembled. “Don’t tease me like this.”
“Tease you?” he repeated. “I’m a second away from begging you to let me taste you again.”
He stepped closer to me, so close that I had to reach out and grab his forearms just so I would have something to hold on to.
“Risk,” I swallowed. “I don’t think this is a good idea. We’re supposed to be friends—”
“Yes or no,” he interrupted, his eyes searching mine. “Just say one of those words. That’s all you have to do, Frankie.”
My mind was screaming to tell him no. To holler that no good would come from us kissing, but my heart and body were demanding I say yes. For years I had dreamed of what it would be like to kiss him again, to taste his lips, to feel them against mine. To be wrapped in his strong embrace and have his touch and smell invade my senses once more. My heart beating against my chest was the only sound I could hear for a moment, until I replied to his question and surprised both of us with my answer.
“Yes.”
Risk didn’t need another word, he dipped his head and covered his mouth with mine the second I gave him the green light to do so. His arms went around my body as quick as a flash and suddenly I was hoisted up into the air then my behind rested against the railing around the pier. I didn’t have time to gasp with surprise. My hands instinctively went to his hair and the second his tongue pushed inside of my mouth, I moaned so loudly that he squeezed my hips painfully in response. He was between my parted thighs and through his jeans I could feel his hardened length snugly pressed against my heat.
I was so overwhelmed with his touch, his very presence, that I felt tears slip from my eyes and slide down my cheeks. Risk moved his mouth from my lips and he kissed away my tears without a word spoken. He was frantic with his movements, but gentle at the same time. It was like he felt what I felt, disbelief that we were together in this capacity again, but overjoyed at the same time. It was a bundle of emotions to sort through, but I didn’t want to focus on how I was feeling. I just wanted to kiss Risk, and focus on his touch, so that was what I did.
Time was lost.
I could have been kissing Risk for ten minutes or ten hours. It didn’t matter. All I knew was by the time our kiss came to a gradual halt, I wanted it to start all over again and never end. My hands had dropped to Risk’s shoulders, where I gripped his coat tightly in my clenched fists. I was breathing heavily, so heavily, my chest was tight too. When I opened my eyes and found Risk holding a blue inhaler close to my mouth I parted my swollen, tingling lips and breathed in the medicine he puffed. If I was thinking rationally, I would have been mortified that kissing Risk had me on the verge of an asthma attack. After a few minutes, and a couple more puffs of the inhaler, the tightness in my chest faded and my breathing evened out.
“Look at me, gorgeous.”
When I lifted my lids and stared into Risk’s icy-blue eyes, I swallowed.
“Kissing you almost gave me an attack.”
He moved his face back to mine and slid his tongue over my lower lip.
“Yeah?” he rumbled. “Imagine what having sex with me will do to you.”