“Why would you be disappointed?”
He lifted a shoulder, slowly crossing the space between them. “I guess it made me feel like a teenager again. A kid who needed to prove his worth in a family full of heroes.”
She frowned. “You never needed to prove anything, Jace.”
“With you, I’ll always want to be better.” He stopped in front of her and slipped a finger into the waist of her jeans, tugging her toward him. “With you, I want to prove that I’m worthy.”
She gaped at him. “Jace, you’vealwaysbeen worthy.”
One side of his mouth lifted, but she was certain he didn’t believe her. “I haven’t checked, but I bet the lock on that window’s still broken. I should really make sure it isn’t…you know, safety and all. I just haven’t been able to bring myself to do it, because there’s a comfort in you having access to my home.”
Her lungs stuttered, and she had no idea why.
“Do you know how often I wanted to kiss you in this very spot? Do you know how hard it was to resist you every time you were in here with me?” His head lowered, his breath brushing her ear as he whispered. “It was torture.”
She shook her head. “No. It wasmewho had to distract myself with the stars on your wall to stop myself from kissingyou.”
His lips grazed her cheek. “How did I resist you for so long? How did we not fall together as easily as I want to now?”
“I was different back then.”
“Kind of. But you were also the same. The same beauty. The same sweetness.” His head lowered to her neck. “The same soft skin that haunts my dreams.”
A shudder rolled down her spine. “What are you doing?”
“I have no idea. With you, I never know what I’m doing, Tink. But every day I’m around you, and I can’t touch you, I lose a little more of my sanity.” The hand on her jeans moved below her shirt to touch bare skin.
“You said friends.” The words were a whisper from her lips, but dammit, she could barely speak.
“I’m trying. God, I’m trying so hard…” His hand slipped farther under her shirt and moved up to her waist. “But I’m not as strong as I was when I was a kid, and you’re impossible to resist.”
His lips pressed to her neck. Then her jaw.
A voice in her head told her to push him away. But no matter how loud it got, the voice that said she needed Jace always seemed louder.
A partof Jace knew he needed to step away. Respect her boundaries. He’d told her he’d be her friend for a while. And friends didn’t kiss. They didn’t touch each other the way Jace needed to touch Elle.
But hecouldn’tstep away. He couldn’t handle even the smallest of spaces between them. And when her hands slipped below his shirt, running over his skin, he almost lost it then and there. He cupped her cheek, letting her heat run into his veins like lava.
When one of her hands moved around to his neck, the air got stuck in his lungs, and he couldn’t move. Every part of him needed to know what she was about to do.
He didn’t have to wait long. One second, then she lifted to her toes and kissed him.
It cut off every thought in his head. Every feeling except the one of her against him. And it awakened something deep within. Something hot and primal and territorial. Something that screamedhis.
Shewashis.
He hauled her against him so there was no space between them and slipped his tongue inside her mouth. And there it was again. That spicy sweetness that was Elle. The perfect combination of candy and wine.
He ran his tongue over hers, his lips sliding and grazing.
When that wasn’t enough, he lifted her against him, and her legs immediately wrapped around his waist. They fit so damn well together, like two puzzle pieces that were always meant to find their way back together.
He kicked the door closed and twisted the lock before walking over to his childhood mattress and easing her down so she was lying on her back, covering her body with his, pressing into her.
“Jace.” She groaned his name and it rippled into him, guiding him somewhere only she could take him. Away from everything that came before this moment.
He tugged his lips from hers and worked kisses down her cheek, then neck. Jesus, every part of her was sweet.
