I want to be the girl he kisses. I’ve wanted it for weeks. And now... I notice a familiar head of blond hair moving through the crowd. A moment later, Jase’s eyes meet mine.
My heart skips a beat and then picks up where it left off, even faster. Blood rises into my cheeks. He’s here.
He’s smiling at me, and my heart is ready to break out of my chest. My skin begins to tingle as his smile gets wider. His eyes are shining, and all at once, I have no idea if I’m nervous or excited. I don’t know anything anymore. Only that I can’t stop looking at him.
He holds up his hand, and at first I don’t understand, until I see he’s holding something white. It’s my note, I know it, without him having to say so or show me.
The fluttering in my stomach gets a thousand times stronger as I approach him.
“Hi,” he says softly when I get there. So softly that I can barely hear him over the loud music. But I can read his lips.
“Hi.” My voice is just as soft. I have to crane my neck to see him properly. His hand strokes mine, a tender touch that hits me right in the heart. I can’t breathe anymore; I can only look at him. His fingers interlace with mine. It feels like it should have always been like this.
“Are you coming with me?” he tugs at my hand, and my feet move of their own accord. I let him lead me through the crowd at the edge of the dance floor until we reach the wide patio door.
It’s quieter in the Hammonds’ yard; the music isn’t nearly as loud out here. It’s still warm even though it’s late and the sun went down a long time ago. I breathe in the smell of freshly mowed grass and summer.
Jase guides me away from the door, and our footsteps echo too loudly on the wood of the deck but go silent as we step onto the lawn and walk farther into the yard. The whole time, he’s holding my hand and doesn’t let go until we’re standing between two tall trees. Someone hung a string of lights around the tree trunks, and the world around us is bathed in a warm glow. It’s absolutely perfect.
Jase turns to look at me, and his eyes have an expression that I’ve never seen before. There’s a gentle, almost shy smile on his lips. Locks of blond hair fall over his forehead, and I want to push them back and caress and kiss him. He’s so beautiful that it almost hurts.
“I found your note.”
I can’t look at him anymore, because everything inside me is urging me to touch him. But I can’t look away either, just because he’s too much Jase and I’m too much Zoe.
“Did you?”
He grins. “Yeah, I did.”
My mind is suddenly blank. I want to give him a response that means something, but every single word escapes me.
Jase takes a step closer, and now the entire lengths of our bodies are touching. His legs are touching mine, his chest, his arms—everything. And he’s still holding my hand.
“Why do you want me to kiss you, Pixie?” His voice is soft and warm, and I never want to hear anything else.
I swallow hard. “You know why.”
“Say it anyway.” His thumb strokes mine, gently and carefully. I gasp.
Because we’ve trusted each other with every one of our secrets for the last three months, I will do it again this time.
“Because you’re you, and I’m me. And I believe that together, we can be everything.”
He lets go of my hand and strokes my bare arm, my shoulder, and I feel the touch in every nerve of my body. My skin glows as if he has set it on fire.
“We really can, can’t we?” he whispers. “Be everything, I mean.” His hand rests on my cheek, firm and sure. His gaze wanders from my eyes to my lips, and he pauses.
“Yes, we can.” My voice doesn’t sound like me. It’s far too hoarse and far too excited. I hold my breath.Kiss me, I beg silently. Maybe I said it out loud. Either way, it doesn’t matter, because Jase closes the last inch between us, and his lips meet mine.
My eyelids flutter closed, and my heart is ready to leap out of my chest, straight to him—not only because I want to give it to him, but because it’s already been his for a long time.
The kiss is gentle, careful and unsure, and somehow everything at once. Just like us.
Part 3Variations of Her
Phase Three of the Pas deDeux
Chapter 23
