Her eyes were blue fire. “Trust mine, then,” she said. “Real love doesn’t run so easily. And home is a thing that grows, wherever you are.”
“I don’t grow things, Ev.”
Maybe for her, love was something you watered and dug up for harvest, but I wasn’t like that. It was easy to paint the world in pretty colors when nothing was permanent and you could bring things back to life just by willing it.
But my love killed.
“You’re so determined to see your gift as a curse,” Eva said, as though she could hear the very thoughts in my head. “But every tree that dies and becomes a snag in the woods provides life to hundreds of creatures below it. You are like…” She seemed to search for the word, and when she found it, she lit up. “Like mulch!”
The monster snorted.“She’s terrible at flirting. Worse than you are, which I didn’t think was possible.”
Softening, Eva reached out and lifted my chin with a finger. “Are you really so afraid of yourself?”
“Of course I am.” I swallowed hard. “I ruin things.”
She was close enough for me to inhale the maple syrup on her breath. Close enough for me to kiss. I didn’t realize I was tapping on her arm until her fingers curled over mine.
“I mend things,” Eva whispered, leaning in.
Our mouths brushed, soft as a butterfly’s wing to a flower, light and so delicate I could easily pull back and pretend it hadn’t happened at all.
“Don’t you dare.”The monster was breathless, at my mercy for once. A thrill surged through me.
Eva angled her head and brushed her lips over mine again with more purpose, her skin warm and soft and seeking. An exhale rushed from me, and when I moved too fast in my sudden excitement, our teeth clicked together.
“Oh! Sorry,” Eva said with a little laugh.
“That’s okay.” I pulled her back to me, resting a hand on the bend of her hip to steady the both of us. Eva melted into the embrace, leaning fully against my chest as she tilted her chin and caught my mouth with hers again. She laughed, and it was sunshine.
This was actually happening. So many weeks of wanting to kissher, to touch her, and still I couldn’t believe that I was here with the bee girl in my arms.
“What are we doing?” she whispered, a smile still spreading her cheeks.
“What I should have done a month ago.” I deepened the kiss, instinctively sucking in her bottom lip. The pleasure of that simple indulgence sent a flush over my skin, my body hardening in response. I moved closer as Eva grasped the hair at my nape, her excitement tasteable. When she parted her lips against mine, I groaned.
Her tongue was a delicate agony.
Eva broke away. “You wanted to kiss me a month ago?”
“Yes.”
She play-smacked me. “You jerk!”
Then she kissed me again.
I hadn’t thought it possible that she could hunger for me like this. I fought my baser instinct to lick the salt off her skin, instead carding my hand back into her loose, soft waves.
Eva drew back again, panting slightly. “I thought it was just me. I didn’t know that you… that you wanted…”
Her words were honey, summer-scraped. The sweetness was almost too much.
“I do, Ev.”
I’d tried to ignore the wanting, knowing soft and stolen moments like these would only make it all hurt more in the end when I had to leave.
Eva chewed her lip. “I want… more of this,” she said slowly.
I frowned, sensing abut.“What is it?”
