My body reacted with an immediacy I could neither prevent nor hide entirely.
“What does close mean to you?”
“No barrier.”
I held his gaze.
“After the results. And only if that is still what you want.”
“It will be.”
“It might be.”
I watched irritation gather in his face.
“I hate when you leave room for me to change my mind.”
“I love that you’re allowed to.”
The irritation softened.
“What was it like?” he asked.
“Between us?”
He nodded.
I considered every possible answer and found them all inadequate.
“Intimate.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It wasn’t only physical.”
“What was it, then?”
“Trust made tangible.”
His eyes remained fixed on mine.
“We had already shared almost everything two people could share,” I said. “But making that decision together felt like crossing another threshold. There was nowhere left to hide, and neither of us wanted to.”
His throat worked.
“And afterward?”
“I held you.”
“That isn’t what I meant.”
“I know.”
Color deepened across his cheeks.
“Did you stay close to me? All the way?”
Heat tightened low in my body.
