Kiss…His mind echoes.What will happen?
“You can kiss me if you want to,” I tell him.
I sense his fear like it’s my own, a flutter of trepidation, but it passes. It’s replaced by a burning question. A desire to know.
Slowly, he leans his head down, and he closes his eyes. I tilt my head up, meeting him in the middle. At first the kiss is tentative. His lips brush mine, featherlight, the softest embrace. He pulls back a millimeter, waiting, and I wonder if he saw something. His breath curls around my cheek, and it takes everything in me not to close the gap again.
“Still okay?” I ask.
All he can manage is a nod. He doesn’t answer out loud, but I sense it, his nervousness, his anticipation, his desire. It’s a jumbled mess, coiling around him like a storm cloud. It was his first kiss. I know it. Alas, it was not mine.
“Do you want to try again?” I ask.
He doesn’t answer with words. He doesn’t need to. It pours out of him like a dam broken, all of his emotions, his wants and fears, swirling in my thoughts. Then he moves in, pressing his mouth against mine. I melt when we touch, my pulse thumping hard in my ears. I give in and reach up, threading my fingers into his hair as we kiss again. His hair is soft, exactly how I thought it would be. I’ve wanted this for so long it hardly seems real.
My eyes slide closed, and I swim in the emotions we share.Tentative but curious, afraid to handle this fragile thing between us.
“You’re okay,” I say against his lips.
He sighs into the kiss. Our kiss. He’s holding me so close, I can finally touch his muscles I’ve so admired. His arms, his shoulders, his tight Captain America ass. I squeeze it. A small moan escapes me, and his breath hitches at that, but he doesn’t stop kissing me. Our mouths open, deepening the kiss, and I shiver beneath his touch. The taste of him makes my head spin, and for a moment, it feels as if I might be dancing.
His desire overwhelms me, and I’m lost in the moment.
Our jumbled thoughts intertwine. He’s a searcher, like me; he’s trying to find something real to hold on to. He wants so much out of life, and so do I. He yearns for what he cannot have, and he wants things that he’s afraid of losing.
I ride his thoughts like ocean waves, letting them move through me.
This is more than just a kiss. It’s two minds melding together, two souls touching for one brief moment. My tongue darts out, licking his upper lip, and this time he’s the one who moans. It’s soft, and it comes from somewhere deep inside his throat, and it makes me so hard.
I don’t need magical powers to feel his excitement, too. I’m practically sitting on his lap. I want him so badly that I might risk everything to have him.
Then I hear the words:But Raven…
He pulls back, and I let him. It’s as if all the air has been sucked from my lungs. The unsaid thing hangs between us: Raven. The one person he truly loves.
Fuck.
“Sorry, I—” He starts to say, but I cut him off.
“So did you see anything when you touched me?” I ask, fighting to keep my voice level. This was supposed to be an experiment. That’s all. I can pretend that’s all it was, but he doesn’t answer.
He doesn’t need to answer. He’s still thinking about Raven.
Just like I was thinking about him when Raven kissed me.
His lips are pursed. Mine are hot. He holds his breath and stares at me, his eyes pinpricks of light. I still feel his emotions, though they’re fading now that we’re apart, the way we’re meant to be. His aura glows orange and pink, just like when he looks at her. And then it’s gone.
Our minds are no longer joined.
He takes a step back and lifts the glove from the floor. He tugs it into place, and it’s as if he’s placed a wall between us.
“We’re cool, right?” he asks. I can’t read him anymore.
It’s taking everything in me to keep the tears at bay. I nod. Of course. We’ll always be friends. But I gave myself over to him, let him into my head, let him see the deepest parts of me, and still…he doesn’t want me. I’m practically standing naked in the cold.
The kiss is already a memory when he turns to leave the room.
16
