All Access (The Fangirl Series Book 1) by Liberty Kontranowski

and finally—finally!—they connect and neither of us pulls away.
    I feel our electricity in every single cell of my body. My vision is nothing but white light and gold fireworks. My torso is tight and prickling with energy. Out of respect for Niles’s germophobe ways, I’m careful not to use my tongue. But even without it, our kiss is the stuff dreams are made of. His hand plunges into my hair and my arms wrap tighter around his waist. This feels better than I could have ever imagined, and if it’s even possible, I press myself even closer to him.
    After ages of being absolutely outside of my own body, he pulls away. “So, uh, that happened.” He shakes his head and a huge smile takes over his face.
    “Yeah. It did.” My brain cells are like a heap of mashed potatoes right now, each one of them good for nothing. If someone asked me my name, I don’t think I’d even get it right. As cliché as it sounds, I’m completely weak. I lean into him for support.
    “Let’s get out of here,” he says, taking my hand. “I have a driver ready for us.”
    Whoa, we’re leaving? Holy crap, is this it?
    “No after-party?”
    Gah! If this is it, I’m ready. I am so ready. But still.
    “Not tonight. Just us.” He looks at me with big eyes. “Trust me.”
    I nod my head and follow as he pulls me along by the hand. At this point, I’d follow him anywhere. If he wants to lead me into some catacombs of death, hey, I’ll go. Lead me to an airplane where we’ll parachute into the darkness? Sure, why not? I’d even get behind the wheel and drive down a damn highway right now, as long as I’m with him.
    When we get to the car—a black Escalade—he nods to the driver and pulls me into the seat next to him. He holds my hand with one of his and runs the fingers of his other hand up and down my arm. My tummy butterflies rage so hard I can hardly breathe, but I feel relaxed at the same time. This is blissful.
    “I love Boston,” he says. “You ever been here?”
    “Nope.” I don’t want to move an inch because I don’t want to disrupt our comfy little people-heap, but I also want to turn around to look at him. If I do, I’ll be tempted to kiss him again, though. Is that bad? I’d feel kind of weird smooching in front of a stranger. Or would I? I try to turn just a bit, but decide I’m much more comfy as is, so I stay put.
    “You okay?” he asks.
    “Never better.”
    He squeezes my hand and settles his head against mine.
    I don’t dare ask where we’re going, because if it’s to a hotel, there will be no dancing around what’s coming next. I hear him breathing next to me and can’t help but think about how that breath just carried him through almost two hours of singing his brains out, running up and down the stage, jumping, bouncing, and belting out every perfect syllable. It’s staggering to me that the person who just entertained thousands of people is now sitting so close I can hear his breath. Talk about bizarre.
    We pull into a drive that seems to lead toward a park. Though it’s beautiful, it’s not quite what I expected. I don’t know if I’m relieved or disappointed. Maybe a little of both.
    “C’mon.” He pulls me across the seat and out the door. “Over here. I hope you like it.”
    He brings my hand to his lips for a quick kiss, then guides me over to a blanket spread out on the bank, strewn with rose petals and lined with tea light candles. Holy swoon.
    “Are you serious right now?” I breathe. On the corner of the blanket, I see a wine bucket with a bottle already chilled and opened. There are two glasses nearby, and a small cooler filled with beer. I look at him with tears in my eyes. “This seems a little familiar.”
    “I one-upped Nash, though.” He nods toward the cooler. “Nash forgot the beer.” He winks, then pulls me into him. “You like?”
    “I don’t like. I love.” I don’t mean for it to, but a tear slips out. Niles wipes it away, then kisses the spot he just