The doors open and I continue as we step off the elevator. “And not to mention, did you hear at the end how he said they were exclusive too and...”

I feel like I have had twenty cups of coffee. I’m practically shaking as I walk a million miles a minute and talk faster. It’s like I’m barely registering the words I am saying, let alone thinking and then speaking, like my mother is always reminding me to.

“And oh my gosh,” I say, holding open the door for Braden as we step into the sunlight. “That was so perfect, the way you pitched it, it was just—” I wave my arms, miming my mind exploding, unable to put my excitement into words anymore.

I expect him to make fun of me for being overexcited, like he did when I danced around my room when my Tory Burch package arrived, or when I cried when I watched that video of panda cubs playing to the sound of “Panda” by Desiigner.

But right now, he is practically as manic as I am. “I know,” he says, his eyes shimmering. “I can’t believe it.”

I practically walk into the big Bell Ventures sign in front of the building, and it becomes real again.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes yes!” I jump up and down, laughing. I pull Braden into a hug and he stumbles back for a second before wrapping his arms around me as well. I fall into him, trying to catch my breath. “I can’t believe it,” I say into his shirt, before leaning back. His arms don’t fall from my waist.

His eyes find mine; they are still shining, fiery and alive. And my breath catches for a different reason.

There is a pause, and the air around us buzzes with electricity. For a moment we just stare at each other. And I wonder if what is running through my mind is running through his. I blink so that my eyelashes flutter and bite my lip.

I look back up, and in a split second we both make the same decision.

We crash into each other. His lips find mine as his hands travel up my body and weave through my hair. He pulls me even tighter against him, and I can’t tell if we’re so close that I can feel his heartbeat, or if mine is just beating that fast. There is a sort of hunger behind this kiss, and the rest of the world becomes a blur. There is just me and him, and the release of this tension that has been building for months first as anger, and now maybe as something else.

And then there’s the sound of the door swinging open behind us.

Chapter Twenty-One

Roberto