“I—um—I’d love that, the sex, I mean” I admit quietly.
Lex’s eyes darken, like he wants to drag me back into that bed.
“But,” I add quickly, “we should probably get dressed. Shower. Think about… everything.”
His face lights up at the wordshower.
“Not together,” I say firmly, even though my brain is screamingyes, together, please, ruin me against the tile.
Lex groans dramatically.
“You’re killing me.”
I laugh.
“You’ll live. I just… I need a second to breathe. And we should act normal today.”
He moves toward me again, slow and purposeful, and my pulse jumps.
Lex cups the back of my neck, tilts my face up, and kisses me—long, warm, and deeper than before. A kiss that feels like a promise and a warning and a beginning.
When he pulls back, I’m breathless.
Before I leave, I rest my hand on the door handle.
“No one can know,” I whisper.
“Not our friends. Not the team. Definitely not our parents. Not yet.”
Lex watches me with something dark and claiming in his eyes.
“Fine,” he says.
“We’ll keep it a secret.”
His gaze flicks to my lips one last time.
“For now.”
I step out and close the door behind me, my heart pounding like I just walked away from something dangerous.
Something forbidden.
Something I already know I’ll come back to.
****
It’s been a few weeks since my birthday, but it still feels like the world splitopen that night and stitched itself back together wrong—in the best possible way.
I’m still adjusting to the idea that Lex Rothwell, human thunderstorm and campus demigod, who’s also, let me remind you, is my stepbrother, came out tome. Kissedme. Slept with—okay, yeah, slept withme. And keeps doing it like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
And weirdly… nothing about it has been awkward.
If anything, it’s almost too easy.
Too good.
We’ve been spending more and more time together—quiet corners, empty classrooms, the backseat of his stupidly expensive car, both of us pretending we’re not waiting for the next moment we get to be alone.
