Kissing Her Crush (21 page)

“I’ll get to the apologies and explanations and groveling in a minute—and there will be plenty of that,” he said, his words just as fast and determined as his pace had been. “But this first.” Like he was psyching himself up, he rounded his lips, pushed out a breath, then focused those blue eyes right on her. “I’m in love with you. And if you’re pissed at me and want to throw Hershey bars at my head, I’ll still love you. And if you tell me my singing sucks and you hate my car, I won’t care, because I love you. I love all of you. So much.”

It wasn’t possible for Natalie’s heart to beat any faster, soar any higher into the heavens. She should speak—it was her turn. But hearing that flood of words from Luke turned her into a tongue-tied pile of happy goo, too dizzy and dazzled to form any cohesive reply.

“Looks like you need convincing,” he said. “I hoped you might.” His lips curved into that cocky smile she loved, and then those lips crashed into hers, making her stumble back and lose her footing, until his strong arms went around her.

He wouldn’t let her breathe, and she didn’t care. He kissed her until she felt more flushed and dewy than while in a mushroom-induced fever. All the while, her heart was turning cartwheels. His hand moved to cup her head, the other slid down her spine, and then he bent her into a dip, her arms flying around his neck to hold on.

“I love you,” she panted the first chance her lips were free.

Luke opened his eyes. “What was that?”

She grinned. “And I don’t care if you throw Brussels sprouts at my head”—she squeezed him—“I’ll still love you.”

Luke smiled back with a glow in his eyes that she knew shone in her eyes, too. Gently, he pulled her to stand upright, but before she could regain balance, he kissed her again. It was slow, penetrating, filling her with beautiful words still unspoken. She felt his love though every inch of her body.

“I’m so sorry about what happened that night,” Luke said, his voice husky, breath uneven.

“So am I.”

“No, I mean really sorry. I can’t believe I said those things to you.”

“It’s okay.” She ran a hand through the back of his hair. “I said some things, too…because I was hurt, and so mad you were leaving that I really was about to pummel you with Hershey bars.”

Luke laughed and pulled her into his strong, solid chest. “You should have.”

“But listen.” She took in a deep breath and lifted her chin so they were eye to eye. “I know you didn’t make that decision lightly, and I know it’ll be hard for you to be away from your family again. But Luke, it was stupid for us to pretend the long-distance thing would work.”

He looked at her, his mouth set in a confused frown. “What do you mean?”

Finally, she could tell him the rest. “Your life’s in DC now. I’m a Hershey girl, and I never thought anything would make me want to leave. Until you.” She grinned when Luke blinked in surprise. She’d caught
him
off guard for once. “I can’t bear the thought of living even a train ride away from you. One of us has to compromise, and I’ve decided it’s—”

As a thought dawned on her, her own gasp cut her off.

“Luke, the video of us in the tunnel!” She clutched his arm. “Why didn’t you destroy it? You know if it gets out, the NIH will never touch you.”

“Exactly.”

“And you’ll get fired from Penn Med.”

“Can’t fire me. I quit.”

Her mouth fell open like a fish, utterly confused now. “Why?”

He paced a finger under her chin to close her gaping mouth, kissed her forehead and tucked some hair behind her ear, each touch making Natalie melt a little bit more. “My turn to talk again?”

She nodded.

“The
why
is simple. I’d be an idiot to not do everything in my power to be where you are. Since you’re here, I’m here—end of discussion, Hershey girl.” Reading the bewilderment on her face, Luke took both cheeks between his hands. His rough touch setting her whole body alight. “You’re a nutty, beautiful chemist, and you opened my mind,
re
opened a lot of things in me.”

He hesitated before going on.

“But I screwed up big time, Nat. I reverted to that closed-up guy who couldn’t trust anyone. When I realized how utterly wrong I was, I wanted to tell you I’m sorry, but you were gone, and I couldn’t find you. Everything went wrong so fast, your trial was about to go to pot, and I couldn’t let that happen.” He shook his head and stared into the middle distance. “I had to do something. I had to help the only way I knew how. I did what I had to, and I don’t regret anything I did to complete the—”

He paused again and looked away. It took Natalie a few seconds to understand. When she did, she wondered how it was possible that she loved him even more?

“
You
finished the trial.”

His eyebrows furrowed like he was ready to deny it. But then he nodded. “How angry are you about it?”

“Angry?” she echoed, her throat growing tight with gratitude. “But why, Luke? It cost you your career.”

“I couldn’t let all you worked for just evaporate—it’s too important. Along with all the other things you changed in me, I know what direction to take my career now.” He took her hand and placed it over his heart—its strong, thrumming beat beneath her fingers. “If you’ll let me, I want to partner with you during all the future phases of your project. I want to see it through the developmental stages, the clinical trials, as far as we can take it.” He squeezed her hand between both of his. “Because I believe in you.”

All she could do was gaze at him, dizzily speechless.
Luke, the holistic microbiologist, wants to defend a theory based on chocolate?
If she hadn’t already been crazy-ass in love with this man…

She swallowed around the love lump in her throat. “That’s sweet, really so sweet, but I’ll never get any more funding. It sucks, but I’m dealing with it. Someday another researcher will pick up where we left off. I know it.”

He opened his mouth, shut it, opened it again and then looked at the ground. “Um. There’s one other thing I need to tell you.” He rubbed his jaw. “It’s a little embarrassing. I didn’t want you to know.”

“Luke.” She swatted his arm. “What is it?”

“You’re kind of fully funded, like forever.” Before she could wonder what he meant, he added, “I always said I’d only touch my inheritance if something really important came up.” He brushed a warm hand across her cheek. “It finally did.”

She knew her eyes were wide and unblinking with amazement, but she was too overwhelmed, too full of love and wonder to speak. She tried to say thank you, and the words hopefully made it out of her mouth before she kissed him.

Tears stung her eyes when he enfolded her in his arms, filling her with hope and warmth and better daydreams than she’d ever had. And then his mouth was on her neck, and a raging heat replaced the warmth as he whispered her name over and over, repeating those three little words she’d never tire of hearing.

“Ya know,” Natalie said, “right before your little slideshow in there, I was ten seconds away from leaving to track you down in DC.”

“Oh yeah?” He touched his nose to hers. “Couldn’t live without me?”

Heat spiraled around her core as she breathed him in. Why deny the truth? “Not for another second.”

“Since it’s finally clear that neither of us is leaving Hershey, how about we try for that omelet again.”

“Mmm. Excellent idea.” She slid both hands inside the back of his shirt, feeling hard, warm muscles and skin.
Just a preview
, she thought, so ready for the full unveiling.

Luke pulled her against him and exhaled a sexy groan from deep in his chest. Natalie wanted to groan right back. He kissed her mouth, her forehead, that spot under her ear. And then he drew back and just stared at her neck until her panting, expectant breaths were as loud as his.

“Time to get you off the streets, woman,” he said, then took her hand and led her shaky-legged through the parking lot.

That was when Natalie noticed the T-shirt he was wearing had
Kiss me, I heart Hershey
printed on the front. She grinned and squeezed her delicious sugar Nazi’s hand even tighter, knowing she’d never, ever love any chocolate bar as much as him.

“So,” he said, stopping in front of the Jeep, “will I get to see your special PJs again?” He dragged his gaze up her body, making her tingle with sweet thoughts, as well as a few savory ones.

“I was mad at you, so I threw them on the compost pile with the rotten apples.”

His expression crumbled. “Babe, no.”

She ran her thumb over his bottom lip. “But I have something else in the back of my closet you’ll like.”

“Sounds nice, for tomorrow.” He grinned a smoldering, knowing grin. “Tonight, though, we don’t need anything…except maybe a little chocolate whipped cream.” She shrieked as he swept her off her feet and into his arms. “But that’s all for me.”

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Acknowledgments

Thank you to Scott and Mark from The Hershey Company for the fabulous behind-the-scenes peek at chocolate heaven and for answering all the questions a romance author could have. Thanks to the usual suspects at Entangled Publishing—Alycia, Stacy, Debbie, Crystal and Jessica—for once more allowing me to live my dream. And to the phenomenal writerly/readerly women—Nancy, Sue, Lisa, Ginger—who helped me through every step in creating this book. Special thanx to Lindsay Emory and Alexandra Haughton for their bril and smexy plotty ideas. (tee-hee) Lastly, huge chocolaty kisses to my Hershey, PA family for, well, for just living in the “sweetest place on earth.” I’ll be visiting again soon! xoxo

About the Author

USA Today bestselling author
Ophelia London
was born and raised among the redwood trees in beautiful northern California. Once she was fully educated, she decided to settle in Florida, but her car broke down in Texas and she’s lived in Dallas ever since. A cupcake and treadmill aficionado (obviously those things are connected), she spends her time watching arthouse movies and impossibly trashy TV, while living vicariously through the characters she writes. Ophelia is the author of KISSING HER CRUSH in the new Sugar City series; AIMEE & THE HEARTTHROB; CHALK LINES & LIPSTICK; DEFINITELY, MAYBE IN LOVE; the Abby Road series; and the Perfect Kisses series. Visit her at ophelialondon.com. But don’t call when
The Vampire Diaries
(or
Dawson’s Creek
) is on.

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