Page 120 of Your Place or Mine

I deepened the kiss, and her breath hitched in a way that made every nerve in my body fire off at once. My hand slid to her waist, steady and slow, needing to feel her, to make sure she was real.

Because nothing had felt real in a long damn time.

Not since Lucy.

Not since I buried half of myself in the ground beside her and walked away with the other half locked in my chest.

But Lydia—

Lydia made it all burn again.

The good, the bad. The sharp edges I’d dulled down for survival. She was touching nerves I didn’t know were still alive.

She was breath, spark, bite, andlife.

I pulled back just enough to look at her.

Her eyes opened slowly, pupils dark and wide, lips pink and parted like she wasn’t done with me yet. I brushed my thumb across the curve of her cheek, and she leaned into it like it was instinct.

“You okay?” I asked, my voice rough with everything I was holding back.

She nodded, just barely. “Yeah.”

But her voice trembled.

And something in me softened at the edges.

“Tell me if it’s too much,” I said. “If I’m too much.”

“You’re not,” she said quickly, her hand curling around my wrist. “I just… didn’t expect this.”

“Me either.”

It was the most honest thing I’d said all week.

I kissed her again, slow and careful this time, like I had all the time in the world, even though every part of me felt like a live wire.

She kissed me like shetrustedme.

And that…that damn near wrecked me.

Because I hadn’t earned that yet.

Not from her.

Not from anyone.

But she gave me permission freely, this soft, aching kind, to hold her, kiss her, and press my forehead to hers while her hands slid under my shirt, fingers grazing my skin like I was something worth touching.

I hissed out a breath. “Jesus.”

She smiled against my mouth. “Sorry.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Okay,” she whispered. “Maybe I’m not.”

That quiet, breathless laugh broke something in me.

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