We stare at each other for a moment, the tension crackling between us. Then, as if it’s nothing, as if it’s something we do all the time, Gabe reaches out and puts his hand on my elbow. It’s enough to make me unfurl, his arms coming up around my back, holding me against his body, my chest pressed to his.

Then he leans his head down and kisses me.

It’s soft, soft the way a first kiss is soft. New. Tender.

It isn’t our first kiss, but maybe there’s some rule about fresh starts and clean slates that applies to people you haven’t kissed in a decade.

My head goes back because he’s just that tall. His palm is firm on my back, holding me there, and I think of how he dipped me in the club, how I trusted him then and how I have to trust him now.

Trust that he won’t drop me.

One hand unwinds itself from behind me, his palm tracing up my arm, curving over my shoulder before it displaces my hair to get at my jaw. And wow. Nothing has ever felt as good as the brush of his fingers against that sensitive skin along the side of my neck.

His lips are still on mine, resting there, not kissing but not not-kissing. Like a placeholder. A promise.

He draws his thumb against the curve beneath my chin and I sigh.

It changes everything.

We collide into each other, as if we were at opposite ends of the room, racing into each other’s arms, instead of already wrapped up like a pair of horny octopuses. Octopi?

That hand on my cheek moves my head into position, tilting it into Gabe’s palm so our lips can meet like puzzle pieces. My tongue is in his mouth as my hands reach under his shirt, and none of it is enough.

This isn’t what happened ten years ago. There’s no fumbling now. No hesitation. We’re not going to stop. We’re going to go all the way.

Still cupping my head, Gabe’s other hand careens down my back, right into my jeans, bypassing everything underneath and gripping my ass with a possessiveness that’s unbearably sexy. He tugs upward and I climb him, wrapping my legs around his waist.

We’re older now, and it’s clear that both of us know exactly what we want and there’s something so very hot about that. About that knowledge. That history. That experience.