safe in my arms

Jude

You're blushing your cheeks
and I'm falling for it

It had been easy to put it all down to her being his first friend, his best friend. Even as simple as equating it to the deep admiration he has for her. It's not until he has her here opposite him in his bedroom, in his bed, that he considers maybe every time his hands went clammy or his heart skipped a beat it meant something different. But something about the way she'd come running from an entirely different region has opened up his eyes. When his world had gone completely upside down, she'd been the first person he reached for. That meant something. And she had come without a second thought. Surely that had to mean something in return?

The possibility that he is misreading all of this crosses his mind only in the half-second before he kisses her, because after it starts there is only a pleasant emptiness in his head. No room for doubt or fears. And while Jude has never been much of a romance reader, it feels like something straight off the pages of a book. The distant sound of the birds outside, the golden hour sunlight that spills over them both, their hands which remain intertwined in stubborn reminder of how familiar a motion it has always been.

Of course those fears reemerge the moment he pulls back, eyes slowly opening to hesitantly take in her response. Breath still and frozen in his lungs. Waiting. Hoping.

She leans in, and this time he lets her come to him. It seems only fair. And then his mind blanks again, reduced to nothing but sensation and input until the moment she pulls back again. A bit dazed, he opens his eyes a second time and can't help but smile shyly. His fingers tighten around hers. "Sorry," he whispers through his smile, though it's clear he's anything but repentant. "Felt right."

Because everything sweet
comes with a warning