This time it was Brody who shivered. “Because I dream about you. Every night, I dream of you…and me. Yet at school we act like strangers. But I know things about you I couldn’t possibly know. I know you hate the color red, hate being the center of attention. Love journaling, love Asian dumplings. I’m right, aren’t I?”
“I don’t know.” She avoided looking at him. Afraid he’d see the truth in her eyes.
He reached out to touch her shoulders. “How could I know that your kisses taste like honey? And I would give anything for another one, but yet…I don’t think we’ve ever kissed.”
The tears came, and Mina thanked God that it was raining to at least hide them. “I don’t kn—”
“Stop. Don’t say that again. I don’t think I can hear those words again. Not from you.” Brody’s grip became tighter and he pulled her closer.
“I’m sorry. I don’t have the answers you want,” she answered softly, refusing to meet his gaze.
“No, I think you do.” The water trailed off of Brody’s cheek and dripped onto Mina’s face with a small stream. She flinched from the splash and her movement brought Brody back to the present. He looked around and only now seemed to notice he was holding her captive in the middle of her driveway in the pouring rain. He stepped back, appearing upset with himself, and ran his hands through his hair.
Mina wanted to wrap her arms around him and tell him everything would be okay. But she couldn’t. She didn’t dare. She was a bona fide chicken when it came to him. “I’m sorry, Brody,” she whispered. She looked over her shoulder at him before she walked away. “For everything.”
Without warning, he grabbed her arm and pulled her into his embrace. His lips locked onto hers, and he kissed her. She was momentarily a prisoner of his desire, and she didn’t respond right away. His hand lowered to her back refusing to let her pull away. He wasn’t going to let her escape.
She didn’t try. She leaned in and met his kiss. The ember of desire that she’d been squelching for so long started to burn hotter. Maybe it was because Jared was gone that she felt lost…alone. She’d closed herself off from so many other emotions that she forgot what it was like to feel. And right then, with his kiss, she felt more alive than she had in weeks. Her hand reached up to cradle his neck, encouraging him. Never before had their kisses been like this. It may have started off soft, unsure, and confused, but then it was as if something awoke in them.
Their lips remembered. Then the sparks that have been pushed down for so long resurfaced.
He pulled away and Mina gasped for breath, his mouth still inches from hers. His eyes locked onto her lips as if he couldn’t believe what they had just shared. Their breaths were ragged, and he squeezed her closer to him.
“See, we’re a natural fit. We’ve must have done this before,” he buried his head into her shoulder, hugging her close, the rain a forgotten thing.
Mina sighed in happiness. This—this was what she could have if she had a normal life. Brody leaned back and brushed away a wet tendril of hair that had wrapped around her cheek. “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to try that again, just to make sure I won’t forget this kiss.”
Mina smiled. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Brody’s face lit up and he lifted her chin slowly. Her heart raced with anticipation as he leaned in to seal their kiss and their new relationship. She felt the warmth of his breath whisper across her lips before an animal-like snarl ripped through the night, searing fear into her heart.
Brody spun, and Mina stared over his shoulder to see an impossibly large black wolf only feet away. The wolf’s mouth was opened wide, teeth glaring as he lunged for Brody’s throat.
Chapter 6