We stay where we are, trying to enjoy the music. After a few minutes, I feel Siaka’s hand inching over to hold mine. He’s still watching the band, but on his lips are a hint of a smile. He leans toward me, his breath hot on my ear. “We’re stuck here, so we might as well enjoy it. Right?”

I twine my fingers through his and embrace the electric current as his guérriseur touch affects my revenant skin. I’m wondering if it can possibly feel as good to him as it does to me, when he leans over with a serious expression. I incline my head to hear, but when he says nothing, I turn.

And that’s how his mouth ends up millimeters from mine. His eyes blaze, and I cross the paper-thin sliver of air between us and touch my lips to his. It’s like an all-out Bastille Day celebration inside me—fireworks exploding, music pounding through my veins.

He takes my face in his hands and pulls me closer. He tastes like cherries, with a hint of mint, lips soft and warm.

The room around us disappears. The crowd is gone. It’s only Siaka and me, kissing. It’s the way I’ve wanted to kiss him since the day we met. I wrap my arms around him as he cradles my face in his hands. It feels like we’re holding on to each other so we won’t lose our balance and float away. He pulls back and gazes at me dizzily, before grasping my hand and turning back to face the band.

I can’t breathe. I can barely stand, I’m so weak from the breakneck speed of the passion. Like I got knocked over by a powerful wave and I’m floating powerless in the surf.

“What was that?” I say next to his ear.

“We’re in public, so it totally didn’t count.” He looks as out of breath as me but manages a mischievous smile.

“Good thing Georgia didn’t turn around,” I reply.

“Didn’t have to.” She looks over her shoulder, before turning back to the band. “Seriously, guys,” she yells. “Next time, get a room.”

Chapter Twenty

Vincent and Arthur return as the concert ends. The two burnouts managed to evade them, so Vincent set a watch around Liv’s building in case they turned up there.

Once outside, Siaka says he needs to go home, and with a cheeky grin, gives me cheek kisses in front of everyone like nothing happened.

“Could you move those lips just a couple inches to the left?” I whisper, making his eyes pop open in surprise.

“Soon,” he taunts, and takes off leaving me a tingly mess of emotions.