I study him for a second. The guy who held me in a Library and didn’t let me fall apart alone.
“Why don’t you ever kiss girls?” I ask softly.
His gaze flickers, something sharp cutting across his expression.
“Because it’s too fucking personal,” he says.
“More than sex?” I ask.
“Way more.”
There’s no hesitation in that. No smirk. No deflection.
“Why?”
He exhales slowly through his nose, eyes locked on mine.
“Because kissing is real,” he says. “Sex is release. It’s heat. It’s bodies. And it doesn’t mean shit.” His jaw tightens. “Kissing… that’s letting someone in.”
I study him in the low light. The tension in his shoulders. The way he looks almost exposed by just admitting that.
And then, quietly, before I can lose my nerve, I say. “If I asked you, Jace… would you kiss me?”
His eyes darken instantly.
The air changes. Thickens.
“Why do you want to kiss me, Bells?” he asks, voice rough now.
“Because I’ve often wondered what it would be like to kiss you,” I admit. My heart is pounding so hard I’m sure he can feel it through my ribs.
His thumb shifts against my waist as he goes quiet.
Not the careless quiet he wears at school. Or the bored silence he throws at teachers.
This is different.
“If I do…” he starts, then stops. His jaw clenches first before he speaks. “You need to promise me something, Bells.”
“What?”
“That it won’t change anything between us.” His eyes lock onto mine, intense, almost desperate beneath the edge he tries to wear. “I like this. Whatever this is between us. The arguing. The shit talking. The way you don’t treat me like I’m some fuck up or some walking bad decision.”
My chest hurts that people treat him like that.
“It’s the only thing in my life that feels…” He pauses before he exhales sharply, frustrated with himself. “You’re the only one who treats me like… I don’t know.”
“Who sees who you truly are?” I say softly.
His gaze flickers.
“Yeah,” he admits. “And I don’t want to lose that. So if I kiss you, you have to promise it doesn’t change that. That you don’t get all weird on me.”
Weird. The word almost makes me smile.
“I promise,” I whisper.
His eyes search mine as if he’s trying to decide if I mean it.
