The corners of his lips curled up as he brought his fingers to my jaw, grabbed it as if to hold me in place, analyzed my lips like he was doing it for the first time again, but this time with much morewonder.
“Well?” March whispered, and we were both still breathing so heavily, but I could whisper, too.
“It felt…new,” I told him. “And old.”
An eager nod, and March leaned in and planted another kiss on my lips.
“Exactly,” he said, never moving back. “It felt…timeless.”
Timeless.
It sounded right. New and old together, something that had deep roots and brand-new flowers at the same time.
I nodded a million times, eyes closed, smile wide, and March kept me right there. On his lap, our lips almost touching while we breathed each other in, while we…settledinto the feeling.
Sparetime save me, my chest was so full so suddenly I thought I might break open.
“Ora,” he whispered next, just said my name like he was testing it. Trying it. Getting used to the letters rolling off his tongue.
They did so perfectly. I had never loved my name as much as I did when he said it.
“Will you stay with me tonight?” he asked, and I leaned back again, looked at him, a little confused.
If he thought that there even was an alternative to that, he was delusional. “I’m not going anywhere.”
He slammed his lips to mine so fast I forgot to breathe all over again.
The world faded away so beautifully, so softly, like falling on clouds. He shifted us both until we were lying down together on the narrow cot, too small for two people, which was why it was perfect. I didn’t want us to be two right now. Just one.
The kiss slowed naturally as our bodies settled on one another, our arms around each other, and I was practically lying on top of him. His chest might be the most comfortable thing I’d ever lie on.
I fell asleep with my lips against his jaw while he rubbed circles on my shoulder with one hand and caressed my hair with the other.
For the first time in weeks, I felt…complete.
18
Iwas smiling before I opened my eyes.
Someone was knocking on the door, and for a second there, two different scenarios developed in my mind as I tried to predict the next second—Jinx coming in through the door with tea or my father coming in to wake me for the day.
Neither happened.
“Ora.”
That voice.
The arms underneath half my body.
I wasn’t lying on a bed at all, I realized, and the hand that was over the side of my waist wasn’t mine.
My eyes opened to two wide ones, mostly red, with some rusty maroons mixed in them. Quite possibly the most beautiful colors I’d ever seen, and they wereright therefor me to enjoy.
Just like that, I lost track of my thoughts. I had no clue what to expect of the next second, and I didn’t really care.
March.
March was here, lying with me.
