We were kissing. Emmett was kissing me. I was kissing him. We shared sweet kisses, and deep kisses, and sloppy, sexy, passionate kisses. Emmett's tongue was in my mouth and I loved it, reciprocating. My hands held Emmett as close as humanly possible without us melding into the same being. It was so hot. And it felt so right. More than any other kiss in my entire life. Kissing Emmett felt like what I was meant to do. I didn't even care that I was so turned on, because Emmett was too. So many thoughts ran through my head about what we could do about that.

"God, I love you so much," I mumbled between kisses, twisting my fingers into his hair.

Emmett grunted, "I love you."

Those words started a tingling at the base of my spine; it travelled all the way up my back, down my arms, filling my head with the glorious prickling sensation, like it had suddenly awakened me to real life from a hazy unsatisfying dream. It was intoxicating. I wanted it to go on forever.

Unfortunately, Emmett's pocket started buzzing. He pulled away, groaning. "I hate whoever is calling me right now." He yanked his phone from his pocket as I nuzzled the spot beneath his ear, pulling his earlobe between my teeth.

"Stop." He pulled away again, rebuffing me. His face paled at the sight of the screen. "Shit!"

"What's wrong?" I cupped Emmett's cheek. Because I could do that now, without worrying what he might think.

"It's my mom." He glared at the screen as the phone continued to vibrate. "The school must've called her, because she's at work, and she never calls unless it's important."

"Why would the school call her?" I asked, dropping my hand from his face to rest it on his shoulder. As much as I wanted to keep doing those couple-y things that had been forbidden before now, this was not the time. At least he was still in my arms.

He stared at me. "Because I disappeared in the middle of the day." He made it sound like I should know that.

I doubted my teachers would even notice my absence, let alone report it to my parents. Half of them never took attendance.

With a resigned sigh, Emmett answered and put the phone to his ear. "Hey, Mom."

"You better have lost a limb, mister!" The phone wasn't on speaker, but Mrs. Noble's voice carried all the way to my ears.

"I'm sorry. I know it was stupid."

"You're damn right it was. Where the hell are you?"

"At the park."

"You skipped three classes to go to the fucking park! Are you serious, Emmett?"

Emmett's face fell as he pulled away from me. He turned away so that his back was facing me. "Mom, please. It's not like I've ever done this kind of thing before. It's a onetime thing. I just needed a mental health day."

Mrs. Noble said something else, but her voice was just a hum now. She must've calmed down.

"Okay... Yeah... I'll see you at home."

Emmett blew out a breath after he hung up. He turned back to me. "I'm sorry about that."

"I get it. I'm sure my parents wouldn't be thrilled that I ditched either."

Emmett walked over, stuffing his phone back into his pocket. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a hug. "Even if she grounds me until college, today was worth it."

I raised my arms to hug him back, my fingers sinking into his back, making sure this was real, tangible, and not just another dream. I pushed my face into Emmett's open collar and kissed his neck like I wanted to do that day at the pool.

"Today was perfect," I said, kissing a line across Emmett's skin, nudging the collar aside with my nose until it wouldn't budge any further. Then I kissed my way back to my starting point and up Emmett's neck. His jaw. His chin. His cheek. Finally finding his lips again.

After a wondrous moment, Emmett pushed me away. "I really have to get home now. My mom is probably tracking my phone to make sure I wasn't lying when I said I'm on my way."

I nodded. "Okay."

Emmett grinned and held out his hand. I bit my lip as I accepted the offer, lacing my fingers with Emmett's. Our hands fit so well together, like they were sculpted to be intertwined.

We walked hand-in-hand back to the car, only breaking apart to get in on either side. Once we were out of the parking spot, I immediately took up Emmett's hand again.

When we stopped at a traffic light that had just turned red, Emmett said, "Hey, Clay."

"Yeah?" I looked over, finally able to freely examine Emmett without being nervous that I was staring too long. He was so beautiful.

"I love you." Those words, no matter how many times Emmett said them, brought an instant smile to my face.

"I love you, Emmett." I felt excited that I could say them back. That I could say them at all. Emmett was here, and he knew, and he loved me. After weeks of holding it in, it felt better each time.

"You're doing it again—the staring thing," Emmett said.

"Can you blame me? You're incredibly hot."

His cheeks reddened. "Back at ya."

"I can't believe I get to just say things like that to you now."

Emmett laughed. "I know. It's great." His eyes flicked to the side. "The light just changed."

I nodded, turning my focus to the road, still grinning.

I heard a horrible screeching sound just moments before an explosive force slammed into the side of the car, knocking us sideways.