She pulls back. Not far—just enough to breathe, forehead against my chin, hands still fisted in my shirt. Her eyes are closed, and her breath comes in shallow bursts, and I can feel her pulse hammering where my thumb rests against her jaw.
"This is a bad idea," she says.
"Probably."
"I don't do casual."
"Who said anything about casual?"
She opens her eyes. Up close, they're not just brown—they're amber and gold, with flecks of black near the pupil. The eyes ofsomeone who sees the world in detail and can't help recording every bit of it.
"You mean that," she says. Searching my face for the lie.
"I mean it."
"Tucker, we've known each other for four days."
"I've made bigger decisions with less intel."
A laugh escapes her—surprised, slightly hysterical. "That is the most military way anyone has ever justified kissing me."
"Is it working?"
"Annoyingly, yes."
She steps back, and the loss of contact feels like stepping out of sunlight. Her hand goes to her mouth, touching her lips as if verifying the kiss was real. The room reasserts itself—the library, the bookshelves, the rain, the ordinary world that has been suspended for the duration of that kiss and now comes flooding back.
"I need to process this," she says. "I need—I'm a processor. I need to outline my feelings."
"You're going to outline your feelings?"
"Don't judge me."
"I'm not judging. I'm amazed."
She grabs her laptop, clutches it to her chest like it's the only solid thing in the room, and backs toward the door. "I need to think. And write. And possibly have a crisis in the bathroom. Give me?—"
"Take all the time you need."
"An hour. Maybe two. Don't read anything into it."
"I won't."
"And don't—" She points at me with the hand that was in my hair thirty seconds ago. "Don't smile like that."
"Like what?"
"Like you just won the Scrabble rematch."
She's gone. The library door swings shut, and I'm standing alone among the bookshelves, and my heart is beating like it's been restarted after a long period of dormancy.
My phone buzzes. Channel 16.
Riggs: any update??
Decker: leave him alone Riggs
Riggs: I’m bored.
