I pull back to brush my thumb across the vibrant coat of lipstick, smearing it. Her lips are soft as petals under my finger. I do it again and again until nothing but the natural pinkish-brown of her mouth remains. Her breaths come harder every time I touch her lips, and she’s panting, her eyes never leaving my face. I cup the back of her head and bend, giving her one last moment to think better of it—to pull away. But instead she leans in, meeting me halfway, her mouth open and her sweet tongue seeking mine. I groan into the kiss, searching the silky interior of her mouth, my hands roaming down her back and squeezing her ass through the shimmering layers of fabric.

Just when I think I’ll combust, cold water sprays my face and back and arms.

“What the…?” I look up to the sky, expecting rain.

“It’s your sprinklers,” Kimba says, sounding horrified and wriggling to get out of my arms.

The hell I’m letting her go. The water dances over us, a shocking shower soaking me through. She squirms in my unbreakable hold. “Ezra! My hair!”

The silky, straight strands are wet and clinging to her neck. The perky layers of her dress now droop with the weight of water. I laugh and pull her even closer.

“Ezra Stern,” she grits out. “If you don’t—”

It only makes me laugh harder because if she could see herself, she’d laugh, too, but she can’t so I’m laughing for both of us. She turns in my arms, poised to run, but her high heel gets stuck and her foot sinks into the mud.

“Dammit.” She pushes the wet hair from her face and bats at my arm around her waist. “Let me go.”

“No way I’m letting you go,” I whisper in her ear through a clump of damp hair that’s already starting to curl. “You said yes.”

She goes still. Stops squirming and looks up at me over her shoulder, her lipstick smeared, her mascara streaked. The annoyance slowly dissolves from her expression, and a smile, the kind I haven’t seen since we were kids, high on anticipation and down for whatever, breaks out on her face. I spread my hand over her stomach and pull her back into my chest, angling my head so I can reach her mouth, and I kiss her.