I squeezed his shoulders. “No, you haven’t mentioned that,” I said, mimicking him.
“Well, I do,” he said, taking my face in his hands and bringing it down to his. How could a kiss be both searing and tender at the same time? Because that’s what it was. I melted against him, and for several seconds there was nothing in the world but his lips and his warmth.
But I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to tell him. I broke off the kiss with a gasp. “I love you, too.”
He traced my lower lip with his thumb. “Oh, good. That’s convenient.”
I chuckled, then wriggled against him.
He made a deep noise in his throat. “As much as I’m enjoying this, you need to get off me so I can read this poem to you.”
“I don’t need the poem. I have you.”
He smiled. “Trust me. You want to hear this.”
Oh, well. This probably wasn’t the best position to be caught in anyway. I rolled off. “All right.”
We crawled back toward the lamp and sat cross-legged in the grass, facing each other. He flipped through the pages of the book until he found what he was looking for. “Okay, you ready?”
“Yeah,” I whispered.
“‘Love’s Philosophy’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley,” he said, reading slowly, as though he wanted me to take in every single word.
“‘The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the Ocean,
The winds of Heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
in one spirit meet and mingle.
Why not I with thine?’”
He twined the fingers of one hand with mine.
“‘See the mountains kiss high Heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth
And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
What are all these kissings worth
If thou kiss not me?’”
He looked up from the book, his face a mixture of expectation and uncertainty. Warmth flooded my chest. I slid my fingertips across his cheek. “I think,” I whispered, “I want you to read that to me every day.”
He smiled. “Be happy to, Drama Queen.”
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to everyone who supported me during my mad dash to write this book.
To Georgia McBride and the entire publishing team at Swoon Romance, thanks for having faith in me. A special shout out to copyeditor extraordinaire Annie Cosby for going beyond the call of duty in answering my questions.
To my critique partners/beta readers/fabulous writers: Emilie Bishop, Danielle Hinesly, Sara Lyon, Kate Martin, and Daphne Riordan. Thank you for providing feedback so quickly on this book. Your input was invaluable!
To Steven, David, Megan, and Topher: Thanks for your love, encouragement, and support. You’re the best family a writer can have! And thanks again, Topher, for helping with the video game scene. Any mistakes there are totally mine.
And, as always, I want to thank God, for making all this possible.
PATRICIA B. TIGHE
The mother of two grown sons, Patricia B. Tighe lives in El Paso, Texas, with her husband and two dogs. Her love of the written word caused her to get a journalism degree from Texas A&M University in 1980 and an MA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in 2008. When not writing, Patricia can be found walking the dogs or yelling at the TV during an NFL game. Or, if she’s really lucky, exploring a foreign country with her extended family.
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Acknowledgements
About the Author
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