“You are smoking, Lu. You don’t smoke.”
“Erin seems to like you,” she says.
So, it’s about Erin?
“What does you smoking have to do with Erin?” Everything, I know.
She tosses her head. “I don’t mind you hooking up, Jace. Just not in my house. Please.”
Oh, great.“I’mhooking up?” I hold back a smile.
“It’s rude. I like you living here, but if you’re going to hook up, go to her place. I don’t need to hear you—”
“What are you talking about?”
“Erin is not that nice. She’s a bitch, actually.” Lu’s voice is irritated and unusually snappy. “Flirt with someone else.”
She’s tipsy, the cigarette sloppily hanging between her fingers.
“Lu? I wasn’t flirting with her.Shewas flirting withme.”
“Yeah, well, have some respect for this house.”
Gently, I take the cigarette out of her fingers and drop it onto the floor.
Lu’s so close, unbearably close, and I want her even closer. She’s gazing away, biting her lower lip.
“Lu? What’s happening?”
She shakes her head.
“Look at me, please,” I ask.
And now she does. She raises her eyes at me. Her eyelids flutter like she has a hard time keeping her gaze locked with mine.
Her eyes are fire. There’s hurt in them like I just betrayed her. And anger, I think. But also something that reminds me of those spicy episodes she writes, that unmistakable surge of energy.
“Did you get jealous?” I ask softly. That’s a bold question.
She flinches at the words. “Yes,” she whispers way too quickly.
That’s all I need, and I step in closer, my heart thumping hard like it’s sending an SOS signal.
“How jealous?” I ask almost in a whisper, raise my hand to her face, and gently run the back of my fingers along her cheek.
Her lips part slightly in a tiny gasp. Her face is only inches away. She doesn’t break eye contact, and I pray she won’t because I’m afraid to lose whatever is happening right now and I need to see that she is too.
“Very jealous,” she whispers.
I lean in and kiss her.
A tiny little kiss. No tongue. Just our lips touching for a second.
When I slowly pull away, Lu’s lips follow mine just an inch, like she doesn’t want to let go.
And I kiss her again.
As soon as our lips fuse together, I know nothing ever compared to this, to the way my heart booms in my chest and every cell surges toward her. I have to restrain myself from attacking her when I take her face between my palms and deepen the kiss.