Both of them were still trying to catch their breath when they burst into laughter. The cold drizzle speckled their face to aid in calming their hearts skipping. It seemed like the most absurd thing to escape from, the hoard of violent merchants, but they managed it. That was when she saw it. He did have fear when they fought, he just refused to allow it to control him.
He pressed his forehead up against hers, lost in the moment while the rush still carried them and pounded within their hearts.
“You were amazing.” His nose pressed up against hers as a smile lit his lips. His eyes closed as he spoke, “The way you moved…” and he stopped himself from whatever he had planned on saying. Instead, his eyes remained closed as if he was lost in thought about the brawl.
Everything fell away: their fight, the secrets, the over-accumulating reasons why they shouldn’t be together. All that was left was their hearts beating out of their chests from fighting, not at each other, but in unison against everything around them. For a moment, the reasons they were both shoving each other away, in a world that sought to separate them both before they even met, couldn’t penetrate the alleyway.
She thought his lips were about to brush against hers with the rain glossing his cheek as his eyes opened, staring at her like there was nothing more important than feeling how soft her lips felt against his. Unlike the night they kissed in Raven’s Edge, he held her differently. He viewed her differently. He didn’t dart his eyes from falling into the emerald forest trapped among her irises. It only drew him in further and she didn’t flinch from it either. She didn’t want to.
She stood there locked on the turquoise specks scattered within his eyes. It still reminded her of crashing waves and she was tempted to swim among them. It locked her against him before the threat of reality came crashing down.
Their breath bounced off each other’s lips, steaming in the air, offering her a taste of how sweet his would be against hers, if he admitted he wanted to kiss her again as much as she had realized she ached for it, while the mist of rain continued to fall around them.
“I missed this.” He let out a frustrated sigh, instinctively nestling into the crook of her neck.
Her pulse skyrocketed from his touch and she worried he would take note of it. He was capable of listening to her pulse without even touching her, and here in the alleyway, it would take her less time to point out her body parts that didn’t touch him than to list every part of her that grazed against him. It would take no effort at all from this distance. He was cool and crisp like an autumn morning and she’d forgotten how much she enjoyed that.
His hands that rested on her hips, once tight from grasping into her to prevent her from crashing, now softly found their place against her curves. His chest rose and fell with hers as he pressed gently into her, making the water droplets resting on her corset, dampen the fabric of his shirt.
“How long do you insist on punishing me?” His voice was low and gruff as his breath struck her neck, sending a tingle throughout her body.
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