Liora’s breath caught, and for one suspended heartbeat I thought she might actually say it. Might actually deny what simmered between us.
But her eyes flicked to my mouth. Her lashes fluttered.
And that was my undoing.
I closed the whisper of distance and kissed her.
It wasn’t fierce. It was a slow, seeking, an almost reverent brush of lips, like I’d been waiting all damn week for her to exhale just so I could breathe her in.
She gasped softly against me, her lips parting so that the kiss deepened, warmth sliding through me like a sip of whisky. Her fingers curled into the front of my hoodie, gripping tight.
I angled my head, lips coaxing, asking without words.
Liora made a small sound threaded with want.
And she leaned in.
Her body fit against mine as if she’d been carved for this exact moment in my arms. The truth spell hummed under my skin, pressing every unfiltered thought to the surface.
God, she tasted like morning.
Like possibility.
Like a beginning and an ending.
I pulled back only when the need for air insisted, resting my forehead against hers. Her breath came out in soft pants, plumes of white in the cold air.
“Tell me,” I murmured, voice ragged. “Tell me you feel nothing.”
Liora swallowed. Her hands slid from my hoodie, dropping to her sides as if it took every shred of willpower to let go.
“I…” Her voice cracked. She shut her eyes, regrouped, opened them again. “I can’t say that. Because it’s not true.”
A fierce bolt of satisfaction cut through me, hot and bright. “Aye. That’s what I thought.”
“But that doesn’t mean I know what to do with it,” she whispered, stepping back, retreat already in her posture. “Torin, everything in my life is upside down. I’m barely keeping my head above water. And if I fall for you, like, really fall?—”
“But you are, aren’t you? Already. Just like I am,” I said. I wasn’t trying to win. I wasn’t gloating. It was simply the truth, pulled raw from the spell.
Liora let out a shaky breath. “I need…space. To think. To breathe.”
I nodded, even though every part of me wanted to pull her back in and kiss her senseless again. “Take it. But don’t run from this. Or from me.”
She bit her lip—traitorous mouth—and then turned toward the back door.
I let her go.
She paused only once, hand on the handle, and said without looking back, “That kiss… I felt it, Torin. I felt everything.”Whatever you do, Torin, do not fist bump the air.
And then she was inside, the door clicking softly shut behind her.
I stared after her, heart hammering like a bloody drum.
A rustle above me made me glance up.
Bracken hung upside down from a branch, tiny paws pumping the air like he was celebrating a championship win. He let out a chirping cheer, then did a little spin, tail flicking in triumph.
“Oh, sod off,” I muttered, though I couldn’t stop the grin tugging at my mouth.