I lean against Josh in the cold, not wanting to move a single millimeter away from his chest, his light breath on my hair. Instead of feeling the thirty-degree air, I am a furnace of warmth and wanting. And then Mother Nature acts, unleashing the largest meteor I've ever seen in my life. The comet-dragon bolts across the sky, gold-streaked and long-tailed. It is so beautiful, I leave the shield of his chest to sit forward, like that will bring me closer to the dragon even as it escapes from sight. I grab Josh's hand. Or maybe he grabs mine. But we are holding hands, and the enormity of that doesn?t even hit me because we are both laughing, awestruck."Did you see that?" I ask him. With my free hand, I jab my finger heavenward. "Did you see that thing?" He looks down into my eyes, and there it is again--this palpable electricity, this comet of an emotion that streaks from him to me and back again. "You want to kiss me," I whisper to him."Do you say that to all your guys?""Am I right?"I know I am. The air is fraught with expectation. Anticipation. My lips tingle, and he closes the gap between us, cradling the back of my head in his hand. Then, his lips a mere breath from mine, he makes me wait, wait, wait. "You're right," he says.And when I finally feel his lips upon mine, all I can do is trust that the earth is still spinning, gravity still anchors us to the ground, meteors are still flashing above us. Because with my eyes closed, leaning into this boy, his kisses become my sky. Excerpted from Lovely, Dark, and Deep by Justina Chen All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
