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Roerton Julia Quinn 16610K 2023-09-01

Soan to spread in Penelope's chest She couldn't quite explain it; it was almost as if someone had heated her blood It started in her heart and then sloept through her arht-headed It made her content

It made her whole

She wasn't beautiful She knew she wasn't beautiful, she knew she'd never be ood days But he thought she was beautiful, and when he looked at her

She feltbeautiful And she'd never felt that way before

He kissed her again, his lips hungrier this ti her soul

Her belly had begun to tingle, and her skin felt hot and needy where his hands touched her through the thin green fabric of her dress

And never once did she think, This is wrong This kiss was everything she'd been brought up to fear and avoid, but she knew--body, ht She had been born for thisto accept the fact that he had been born for so was the inable

She wanted him, she wanted this, she wanted the way he made her feel

She wanted to be beautiful, even if it was only in one ht dreae bench, the only eyes that mattered

She loved hiry with her that she barely recognized hiry with her that she wasn't even sure she liked him, she loved him

And she wanted to be his

The first time he had kissed her, she had accepted his advances with a passive delight, but this time she was determined to be an active partner She still couldn't quite believe that she was here, with him, and she certainly wasn't ready to let herself dreaular basis

This ain feel the exquisite weight of hiue against hers

She had one chance One chance to make a memory that would have to last a lifetime One chance to reach for bliss

To that he would find soh and joke and even oing to make this a kiss to remember

She reached up and touched his hair She was hesitant at first--just because she was deter partner didn'tHis lips were slowly easing all the reason and intelligence fro that his hair felt exactly like Eloise's, which she had brushed countless ti their years of friendship And heaven help her

She giggled

That got his attention, and he lifted his head, his lips touched by an a your pardon?"

he queried

She shook her head, trying to fight off her s the battlewOh, no, you must," he insisted "I couldn't possibly continue without knowing the reason for the giggle"