This was going to end poorly.

So much for being better.

She was invading his space and his senses and Brookes could feel the exhale of her dare on his skin and he hated the wave of goosebumps it left in its wake. Fuck. He'd been doing everything by the books with Effie, the courtship, the casual touches in public and while he didn't mind, it left him a little touch-starved.

He was going to hate himself in the morning. Fortunately there was no physical evidence of this mistake like there was with accepting the pocket watch. Brooks had never been good with backing down from a dare anyway and she knew that. He leaned in close, just a breath away and mumbled, "You're terrible to me." Before crashing in with a hungry kiss that left little to the imagination.