Hot.

Strong.

Real.

I gasp against his mouth, and I feel him smile.

I pull my lips away from his, tilt my head back, and suck in a long, slow breath. I need a second just to focus on the feeling of his hands on my body and my fingers in his hair.

Cole is breathing hard. Then his lips are on my neck, and it feels so unbearably good that I’m afraid I might pass out. I open my eyes and look up at the big night sky.

My stars.

I’m kissing Cole Culver at the top of a cliff. With all of the ocean spread out below us. And I’ve never felt this much everything. It’s almost unsurvivable.

I can hear the waves, but they don’t frighten me. Not with Cole touching me like this. He whispers my name against my collarbone. And I shiver hard.

From somewhere far away, there’s the scent of lavender.

My neck is so sensitive that Cole’s lips are almost too much. I guide his face back up, directing his mouth back to mine. We’re all lips and teeth and tongues. Searching fingers and pounding hearts.

Dripping. And sandy.

We’ve become sea creatures.

No brain. No bones. Just bodies.

I think I might die if he ever stops kissing me like this.

He does stop eventually, though, pulling back to look at me. And we stand there just taking each other in, trying to remember how to breathe normally. I feel so much more naked than I ever felt on the beach.

The fog is waist-deep now. It’s like we’re standing in calm water.

“That’s all I’ve been able to think about. Since that first night I laid eyes on you.” Cole leans in to me. Forehead to forehead.

“Again,” I remind him. “Since you laid eyes on me again.”

“Yeah,” he breathes. And there is something so sad in his eyes. “Again.”

I feel the tickle of his hair against my cheek. And, God, I want another kiss so bad I could die.

“I’ve been so scared,” he admits.

“To kiss me?” He nods. “Why?”

“Because there’s no going back now.”

“I don’t want to go back,” I tell him.