She turns to me, startled. “What?”
“The way you affect people. You just... explode into their lives with this incredible light.” The words feel raw, too honest. “I’ve watched you do it - make Alex braver, get Ethan to actually care about something, even make my Gran laugh again after years of silence.” I swallow hard. “You did it to me, too.”
“What do you mean?” Her voice is soft, careful.
“When I’m around you, it’s like...” I struggle for words that won’t reveal too much. “Like I can’t help but catch some of that light. You make it impossible to stay in the shadows.”
She steps closer, and suddenly the night air feels electric. “Is that why you wear all black?” she teases, but there’s something serious in her eyes. “To balance out my rainbow explosion?”
“Obviously.” My voice comes out rougher than intended. “The universe needs both stars and the darkness between them.Basic astronomy, Tink.”
Her lips curve into that smile that drives me crazy. “Want to come up? For... coffee?”
We both know she doesn’t mean coffee.
“Tara.” Her name feels like a warning - to her or myself, I’m not sure. “This isn’t...”
“Isn’t what?” She steps even closer, tilting her face up to mine. “Part of the plan?”
I shouldn’t be here.
Shouldn’t be standing this close.
Her hand brushes my jaw, knuckles grazing my skin like a question.
And for a second—just one—I forget every reason why this is a bad idea.
I should say no. Should keep this friendly, fake-relationship only.
“I can’t give you what you deserve, Tink.”
“I don’t want what I deserve.” Her eyes are dark, challenging. “I want you.”
My control fractures. Years of careful distance, of keeping everyone at arm's length, shatter like glass. I cup her face in my hands, my thumbs tracing her cheekbones,giving her one last chance to pull away. To save herself from this - from me. “You have no idea what you're asking for.”
Her fingers curl into my shirt, pulling me closer. “Then show me.”
I kiss her again like I've wanted to since the night the sprinklers went off - not rushed or desperate like before, but deliberate. Hungry. Claiming. She tastes like expensive wine and bad decisions, like everything I've denied myself wrapped in strawberry lip gloss and dangerous promises. Her mouth opens under mine, soft and sweet and addictive. My hands slide into her hair, angling her head to deepen the kiss as she makes this little sound in the back of her throat that nearly breaks me.
This is everything I've tried to resist - the way she melts against me, how perfectly she fits in my arms, the soft sounds she makes as my teeth graze her lower lip. I'm already addicted to the taste of her, to the way she kisses me back with equal fervor, like she's been starving for this too.
“Alfie.” She breathes my name.
“Upstairs.” I manage, already addicted to the taste of her. “Now.”
She pulls back just enough to meet my eyes, lips swollen, cheeks flushed. Something vulnerable flickers across her face. “You sure?”
No. I’m not sure of anything except how much I want her. How dangerous this is. How this is going to change everything. But watching her in that white dress that’s been driving me crazy all night, I can’t remember why I ever tried to resist this.
“Yes.” I capture her mouth again, harder this time,pouring weeks of wanting into the kiss. “Unless you’ve changed your mind?”
Her answer is to bite my lower lip. “Race you to the elevator.”
The ride up feels endless. Tara’s pressed against the back wall, and I’m keeping deliberate distance between us. Because if I touch her now, in this enclosed space, we’re not making it to her apartment. The tension crackles like electricity, making every second feel like torture.
Her eyes meet mine in the mirrored wall, dark with desire. “You’re doing that brooding thing again.”
“I’m not brooding.” I am absolutely brooding. “I’m thinking.”
