Taming the Street Racer ✔️

53 | feel my love

The air around us slows to a stop, isolating the two of us in this singular moment. I wring my hands, fighting off visions of running them through his thick hair. I want to slow my steps, to keep him waiting for just a few seconds longer. But my heart feels so raw in my chest. In the very center of my body, there is a pounding ache that can only be relieved by his touch.

I'm reminded of the first night we spent lying in this very field, pretending to stargaze even though neither of us could tear our eyes from one another. It was after I stumbled across his street race and we argued heatedly along the side of the road. This field is where we first opened up to one another.

We've kept away from each other, healing, for far too long. Affection thrums through me, aimed at the man standing only a few feet from me.

"I wasn't worried you wouldn't come," Gray says, letting his vulnerability show through. "Riv, I know you said you just wanted to talk but I couldn't stand another day witho--"

I silence him by closing the distance between us and pressing my lips to his. He takes less than a second to gather me in his arms and hold me tight against him. His lips tell me what his words struggled to. Our kiss--the first kiss in almost two months--is needy and light, a silent surrender to one another.

The feeling of his lips on mine is a feeling I'll never forget. During the time we were apart, I could only imagine his lips on mine, fantasizing about a day like this. But here I am, wrapped in his embrace once again, and the moment is greater than I could have ever imagined it to be.

It's only when he lowers me back onto my feet that I realize he swept me off the ground in the heat of the kiss. I don't release my arms from around him, though. I rest my chin on his shoulder, wanting to remember every fine detail of him.

"I missed you," I murmur into his shoulder, still unwilling to let him go. At the moment, I don't really care how desirous my actions may seem. It feels like the floodgates have opened within me, releasing every repressed feeling from the past few weeks. There's no going back.

We've dropped our masks, unable to hold our guises of indifference any longer. I should have known it'd be impossible to slowly ease back into our relationship. Coming back to each other wouldn't be like slowly stepping into the shallow end; we're both the type of people to dive head-first into unknown depths, together.

Gray doesn't say anything in return. He just presses a tender kiss to the curve of my neck, telling me everything I need to know. My heart stammers out of control and I finally step back to meet his gaze. With his arms still circling my body, I study him.

Gray does the same, moving his hand up from my waist to draw his thumb across my jaw and down my neck. His dark eyes drink me in, taking note of every small detail of my appearance, details that he may have forgotten.

"Would it be cheesy if I told you that you take my breath away every time I see you," he whispers, still tracing my skin softly. I grin up at him, remembering how sweet his gestures could be.

"Yes, very cheesy," I tease. "But I'd appreciate it, nonetheless."

"Well, in that case, you take my breath away every time I see you," he says, drawing me in for another amorous kiss. I rest my hands on his biceps and sink back into him.

When we pull apart once more, I find myself blushing. "You're distracting me. We're here to talk," I remind myself, without much certainty in my voice. In reality, I know we both want nothing more than to kiss for hours on end right here, making up for all the lost time.

He chuckles. "I'm distracting you? If I recall correctly, you were the one to kiss me first just now."

I smirk mischievously, pulling myself closer to him again. "Is that so? Your memory must've deteriorated because I'd never do such a thing."