Between the soft thrum of the rain around them and the warm, quiet closeness of their shelter, the moment had the potential to be incredibly romantic. If this were a movie. But it’s not, Julia reminded herself. So, instead, the moment was awkward and uncomfortable and why did she think she could do this?

At some point in the middle of her internal wallowing about all the ways this moment could be romantic and wasn’t, Julia realized Luke was looking at her.

And it was that look.

Like Andie said, she could feel it.

Julia pretended to be fascinated with the texture of the bark on the log, the pattern of fallen pine needles on the ground—anything and everything that allowed her to avoid looking at Luke—because she was afraid that if she looked at him, he would stop looking at her. And she didn’t want him to stop looking at her the way he was right now, because she liked the way it felt too much.

“Is something wrong?” Luke asked.

“Huh?”

“You won’t look at me.”

“I’m fine.” Julia winced. She was so bad at this. “I was just looking at the, um, log. It’s a very nice log. Very sturdy. Makes a very nice place to sit.”

Oh, God, she had verbal diarrhea. She cringed inwardly. Why was she thinking about diarrhea right now? “And the trees. I’ve never seen such pine trees. The branches are so big and thick and—”

“Can I kiss you?”

Julia froze. She met his gaze. And now she was looking at him and he was looking at her and yes it was with that look. The one that made her feel beautiful and perfect and precious and amazing and oh shit she didn’t answer him yet, did she?

“Um, okay.”

He leaned closer, and for a split second, Julia wished he wouldn’t kiss her, because she wanted to hold on to this moment, this perfect moment, before it was ruined by a kiss that couldn’t possibly live up to the romantic promise currently vibrating between them.

But then his lips brushed hers and it was … She closed her eyes. It was … magic.

Julia had been kissed before. She’d kissed and been kissed. She’d had some bad kisses, a lot of okay kisses, and even a few good kisses, but she’d never had a magic kiss. One that she felt all the way through her, from lips to toes and back up again. And he hadn’t even actually really kissed her yet, just touched his lips to hers.