“I’m not doing anything to you,” I said, softer now, attempting to slow down his spiral. “Henry and I are just friends, you know that.”
His expression hardened instead of easing. “Because you act like that with all your friends, do you?”
I gave him a small smile. “Ash, we were just dancing.”
It didn’t work.
“You dance with your friends like that? Touch like that?”
“Yeah—”
“Kiss like that?”
I blinked. “Kiss like…” My eyes widened as it hit. “That was a fuckingpeck.”
His chest rose unevenly. “You still kissed him.”
“This is ridiculous.” I shook my head, trying to rein it back in. “It was innocent. You know that. And you have a whole fucking boyfriend, and you’re giving me shit for kissing my friend?—”
“My brother,” he corrected instantly.
“My friend,” I said, quieter but firm. “And we were having a moment. You’ve never done something like that?”
“No.”
“Oh, come on.”
He crowded into my space. “You knew that was going to hurt me.”
“No, I didn’t.” I stared up at him, refusing to step back. “That’s like thinking patting someone on the back is going to hurt your feelings.”
“Youkissedhim,” he insisted, but the words sounded less like anger and more like something breaking loose.
I exhaled slowly. “You’re acting like a kid having a tantrum.”
“Because you’re lying. You don’t kiss all your friends?—”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” I fisted the collar of his shirt and yanked him down, pressing a quick kiss to his lips. “There, see? It’s just a?—”
I didn’t finish.
Couldn’t.
Because his mouth met mine again, cutting off the argument entirely.
It was a short kiss. Soft.
But the shift in energy wasseismic.
Neither of us moved. His gaze held mine, dark and impossibly intense, before dropping again. His breathing hadchanged—shuddering, shallow pulls, controlled like he was forcing it to stay that way.
And I couldfeelit—the need burning behind his eyes was a tangible thing.
I was free-falling off a fucking skyscraper. No air. No sense. Just him and my heartbeat thundering in my chest. His eyes lifted back to mine, and beneath the heat there was something fragile, almost unsteady. A question.
Can I?
Before I could think—before the consequences could even take shape in my head—I nodded. And then, in a movement more instinctive than breathing, our lips met again.
