Is It Getting Hot In Here??

Happy Valentine's Day!  A day for being in love, for hating love...and for all sorts of love in between.

I'm late in posting, but I didn't want to miss out on the fun!  Today is the Is It Getting Hot In Here Blog Hop hosted by Cassie Mae.  Hop over to her page to check out the entries!
I'm cheating this year because I didn't have time to write my own scene...instead I'm posting the kiss scene from Saving June by Hannah Harrington.  I adored this book, and you should all read it!  :)

Enjoy!

The night air is clear and cool and silent, save for the bugs humming around the buttery-yellow lamps overhead, a car's wheels sounding against pavement as it guns out of the parking lot.  And beyond that, faint echoes of the ocean tide.

'You can't hold yourself responsible for what she did,' Jake says, so softly I barely hear him.  'There's nothing you could have done.  Nothing.'

I shake my head.  'You don't know that.'

'Come on, Harper.  You're smarter than that.  It was her choice.  Hers, not yours.'

I feel like he's lying, except he's never lied before, he never sugarcoats anything, so why would he start now?  And if he's right, it doesn't really change anything.  It may not be my fault, but she's still gone, she still chose to leave.  I'll still always wonder why I wasn't enough.

My eyes water, my breath catching in dry not-quite sobs.  Jake moves toward me, but I wave him off.
'I'm fine,' I insist, swallowing hard, trying to shove the emotion down again.

He says, 'You're not fine.  And that's okay.  No one is expecting you to be okay right now.'

'It doesn't matter, okay?'  I whisper.  'How I am-it's not important.  It doesn't matter.'

One of his hands falls across the inside of my knee.  I turn my head to see his face, hovering inches from mine.  His expression is so open and understanding and sympathetic that my throat closes up just looking at it.

He leans close and says, 'It matters to me,' right against my mouth, and then kisses me like he means it.

I've thought about what it'd be like to kiss Jake over the past few days, way more than I'd care to admit.  But I don't even have time to register the firm press of his lips against mine, without breath, before he pulls back.  His face freezes, eyes wide with oh shit written across them.  Maybe I'd be offended if I wasn't so sure that my own expression matches his perfectly.

'I shouldn't have done that,' he blurts out.  'I'm an idiot.'

'Yeah,' I agree, 'you really are.'

I grab the collar of his shirt and tug him back to me.


........And then it gets better.  ;)

I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day!  I'm off to check out the rest of the entries....