I see it clearly now, the shift from want to something heavier, something that actually carries weight.
“You sure, Tink? We don’t have to… I’ll wait a hundred years if I have to,” he says, softer now.
And that’s it.
That’s the moment I know.
He’ll take care of me.
I pull him back down, kissing him because I can’t not, because the fear is still there but it doesn’t get to win anymore.
“I want you, Dex,” I whisper against his lips.
Something in him gives.
His hands slide under me, lifting me easily, instinct taking over, grip firm now, almost desperate. My legs wrap around him without thinking, and he carries us down the hallway without breaking the kiss, as if distance itself is unbearable.
“I can’t keep my hands from you,” he murmurs against my mouth, his voice rough, strained.
The door shuts behind us.
And then it hits.
My chest tightens. My breath catches halfway in. A flicker of something cold moves through me before I can stop it.
What if I panic… what if I ruin this… what if those memories come back…
He feels it instantly.
Of course he does.
He pulls back, setting me down gently, his hands coming to my face, steadying, grounding, his thumbs brushing over my cheeks.
“We don’t have to do anything,” he says, his voice firm again, controlled, even if I can still feel what sits just beneath it. “We can just sleep next to each other.”
My chest tightens for a different reason now.
Because that’s not what I want.
“No, I want to. I just don’t know how I’ll react…” My voice is smaller now. “I can’t control when the flashbacks come… or when I panic…” I shake my head. “I want this to be good for you.”
His expression softens immediately, like that’s the last thing that matters.
He pulls me back into him, firm, steady, safe.
“Lexy?”
No teasing. No distance. Just me.
“Yeah?” My voice barely holds.
He leans in, lips brushing mine this time, closer, more intimate, as if space between us is no longer something he can tolerate.
“If you feel like stopping, we stop, no matter how far in we are, okay?” he murmurs.
I nod.
“You trust me?”
