Page 59 of Born in the Spring

A noise of protest escapes my mouth at the sudden absence of his, then his lips graze my ear, tickling with his husked, “This is really happening,” between kisses down my neck. His tongue on this new area of my body fades my laugh as I arch into him.

His kisses trail lower, along my chest, down the V of my top. . .

Once his mouth trails along the swells of my breasts, his fingers popping the first button, I’m overwhelmed by what I can only describe as a moment of panic. I freeze, going quiet, my heart stampeding against my ribs, protesting in a different way, but one I should’ve expected.

Jasper senses something is wrong almost instantly, and when he leans up, I push up and back, my eyes shutting as I try to catch my breath.

“Fuck,” he breathes, trying to catch his too. “Elara. I’m sorry, I—I wasn’t trying to take this further than I thought you—”

My wave cuts him off, and I see a panic on his face too when I open my eyes. “It’s not you,” I say through a headshake,and with that assurance, he loosens my hold on the back of the couch with his, his fingers clasping mine and bringing our hands down between us.

“I’ve dealt with this for years,” he tells me—this—knowing what’s happening inside my head and my heart as he says the words to ease me. “This past year was the hardest.” His hand squeezes mine on another flash of his own panic. “Butpleasedon’t take this back.”

I shake my head again, able to smile, my lungs finally forgiving. “I’m not taking this back.” This assurance is a sigh through his whole body, my pulse skipping at his returned smile, and the heat back in his eyes, warming me more than the flames behind me.

I pull him close again by his tank and he climbs back on top of me. “Just kiss me. Here.”I run my finger down my lips when he dips his mouth to mine, giving me exactly what I need right now, kissing me and touching me, in front of our crackling fire, deep into the night.

Twenty-Four

Jasper

It’s real.

This is real. I’m not dreaming. This isn’t a dream. I don’t have to close my eyes again and refind Elara in sleep. My eyes are wide open and she’s lying right here, across from me on the other couch.

It’s more than a different day. It’s the beginning of a whole new life. With her.

The early morning light shines soft over her sleeping face, her just as soft lips parted with her even breaths, a single red strand of hair over her cheek.

Last night happened. I’ve tasted those lips and experienced how she uses them.

I kissed her.

Andfuckdid she kiss me back.

I know now those returning nerves were because everythingwaschanging between us. I just couldn’t completely believe it. Andneither could she.

Some part of Elara has loved me longer than I could let myself realize. She’s been falling for me and she’s finally let me catch her.

Besides my love for her,shehas kept me hanging on to the possibility of us all these years. Every moment we’ve had that I’ve braved looking into past the surface—which usually backfires on me, but…I’ve ascended.

My laugh at myself is quiet, and a release of the last twelve hours, a sparkling kind of euphoria, like Christmas has come early.

But I still can’t unwrap her.

What I can do, though, is get off this couch, and I make it to sitting, with the thought of waking her like she’s Sleeping Beauty, when footsteps come up behind me. I don’t spring like I did when those steps were Elara’s, I shift slowly, to see Mom round the couch and stop at the table, meeting my wary eyes with an expression I can’t read.

I’m thrown under her fixed stare.

I didn’t think about her finding us like this. Icouldn’tthink. I lost my head as my heart took control of every choice I made last night. And I don’t regret a second of it.

Elara’s heart did the same, because she’s still here, waking up with me.

Her eyes first meet mine, a glint in them that reassures me she’s not taking us back, so when they meet Mom’s, now with a twinge of worry,myonly concern is waiting for a cue.

I could shout from every balcony of every lodge about what’s happening between us, but I’m also not a dumbass anymore. I know our situation and I know we have to navigate it one step at a time.

So I wait for Elara to guide this next step.

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