Her arms tightened around my neck, cutting off the rest, but I felt it. Felt the way her body folded into mine like it never forgot how. We were still standing in the stupid front hallway, door wide open, but I didn’t dare move. I was scared that if I shifted even an inch, she’d vanish, and I’d realize my mind had finally broken.
“I missed you so much, Dirks,” she murmured, head dropping into the crook of my neck.
“You left Nova . . . your life.”
She didn’t say anything, and I knew I wasn’t getting the full story yet, but at the moment, I didn’t care. I tugged her fully inside, shutting the door with my foot. I kept my hands on her waist, grounding myself in the fact that this was real.
“You came here for me?”
Her eyes met mine. “Of course I did.”
“We have so much to talk about,” I said, and she nodded, lips parting like she might finally explain everything.
But before she could, I murmured, “You look beautiful, Luna girl.”
Then her hands were on me, tentative at first, brushing up the sides of my jaw, fingertips ghosting over the stubble.
“You don’t have a shirt on,” she murmured as her palms drifted down to the center of my chest.
“You’re right.”
Her hands didn’t stop. They moved deliberately. Her fingers dragged across my skin, a whisper of contact, enough to make my heart pound like I’d skated a full three periods.
Her eyes lifted, those bright, wicked blue eyes, and the air between us snapped tight.
“Dirks,” she breathed.
I nodded, jaw clenched, completely undone by her touch.
“Kiss me.”
I didn’t hesitate. The moment the words left her lips, I leaned in and met her mouth with mine, and everything else fell away.
Her lips were soft, yet her kiss was anything but. It was hungry and aching and tender all at once, like she was pouring years of silence into every brush of her mouth against mine. I gripped her waist, but she was already in control. She tangled her fingers in my hair and pressed her body into mine.
She tasted like strawberries and trouble and every damn thing I’d been missing. Our mouths moved together slowly. We had time to savor this because we both knew how fragile it was to touch something we’d almost lost forever.
By the time I pulled away, I realized she’d backed me up against the wall. Pinned me there with nothing but her mouth and her hands.
“I don’t want to make this all physical,” she whispered as her fingers lingered on my chest.
I nodded, mostly because my breath had been stolen, and because if I opened my mouth, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to speak at all.
“C-Can I make you food?” I finally managed.
She smiled, a soft curve of her lips that made my chest ache. “Lunch would be nice.”
I nodded even though my brain was still trying to reboot. She walked farther into the apartment while I turned toward the kitchen.
“Looks the same as the last time I was here,” she said, glancing around.
The last time she was here . . . .
Her curls bounced against her shoulders as she stirred something in the pan, humming along, toes tapping on the tile. She reached up to grab a spice from the cabinet, stretching onto her tiptoes, the soft arch of her spine knocking the breath out of me.
“Jesus, Lune,” I murmured from the doorway. “You’re trying to kill me.”
She startled, then laughed. “You scared me.”
