Her lips are soft. Warm. She tastes like mint toothpaste and warm woman. The kiss is gentle at first. Testing. Learning. Her breath ghosts my cheek, and her mouth opens to mine. Sweet. Tender.
Then she makes a small sound in the back of her throat, and everything shifts.
Her hands fist in my shirt. Pulling me closer. I respond without thinking, one hand sliding into her hair, the other wrapping around her. Drawing her against me.
The bondsings. Completion flooding through the damaged connection. Relief so acute it borders on pain.
But beneath that… something else. Something that has nothing to do with magic and everything to do with the way she fits against me. The way her heart beats against my chest. Theway her fingers trace the line of my jaw like she’s memorizing the shape of me.
She shifts. Swings a leg over my lap so she’s straddling me. The movement is fluid. Natural. Like we’ve done this before.
My hands slide down her sides. Explore the curve of her waist, her hips. She gasps against my mouth and—
I stop.
Pull back just enough to break the kiss.
“K?” Her voice is breathless. Confused.
“We need to stop.”
“Why?” Her hands are still in my hair. Body still pressed against mine. “I want this. You want this. What’s the problem?”
“The problem is tomorrow.” I force my hands to still. To not pull her closer. “If we do this now—make this choice while the bond is still active—we’ll never know if it was real.”
“It feels pretty real to me.”
“That’s the bond talking.”
“Is it?” Her eyes search mine. “Are you sure? Because I’m pretty sure I’ve wanted to do this since we dragged you away from those Syndicate bastards.”
The confession makes my chest tighten. “Then it will still be true tomorrow. After the bond is broken. When we know for certain.”
“And if it’s not? If afterwards, we wake up and feel nothing?”
“Then at least we didn’t cloud our judgment with this.” I lift one hand. Track the line of her cheekbone. “I want you, Mara. But I want you to choose me freely. Not because magic is pushing you toward me. Not because we’re both terrified and seeking comfort. But because you want me without compulsion.”
She’s quiet.
Then she nods. Slowly. “That’s really fucking noble of you.”
“I don’t feel noble. I feel like an idiot for stopping this.”
“Good.” She slides off my lap. Settles beside me. “Because if you felt noble, I’d have to punch you.”
Despite everything, I laugh. The sound surprises me.
She grins. “There we go. Thought you’d forgotten how.”
“You’re remarkable.”
“I’m a disaster.”
“Those things aren’t mutually exclusive.”
She laughs. The sound is shaky but genuine. Then she leans her head against my shoulder. “Can we just… stay like this? For tonight?”
“Yes.”
