Page 141 of Make Me Mean It

I lean up and kiss him anyway.

Just once.

That’s what I tell myself when my mouth brushes his, softer this time, no frantic need behind it. Just the slow press of his lips against mine and the cool drag of his piercing catching against them.

One more.

Something about the thought makes my chest ache.

I linger, breathing him in, my thumb brushing absently behind his ear trying to commit the feel of him to memory.

Which is fucking ridiculous.

I’m going home. Not to war.

Still, pulling away feels harder than it should.

I force my hand out of his hair and plant it against his chest before I can change my mind, rolling him off me and putting actual space between us.

“I need to go.”

Theo groans like I’ve personally ruined his life and rolls onto his stomach, propping his cheek against his palm.

The scowl he aims at me is ridiculous, and all I can do is stare at him.

“You’re actually sulking.”

“Fuck off.”

A laugh slips out of me, and I shake my head as I climb out of bed, ignoring the way Theo’s eyes follow me across the room.

My clothes are scattered everywhere.

I grab the nearest T-shirt and drag it over my head, then find a pair of joggers half kicked beneath the bed and shove my legs into them.

The second I straighten, I know neither of them are mine.

They smell like Theo.

His aftershave is caught in the shirt, faint but unmistakable, mixed with detergent and something warmer that is just him. The joggers sit differently on my hips too, slightly too loose, the legs bunching around my ankles.

I look down at myself, warmth spreading beneath my ribs.

Standing in Theo’s bedroom wearing his clothes after waking up in his bed feels dangerously domestic.

I glance back at him where he's still sprawled across the mattress, watching me with his cheek propped in his hand, dark hair sticking up everywhere and his expression caught somewhere between annoyed and amused.

I blow out a slow breath, crawling straight back onto the bed.

Theo’s eyebrows lift, his lips curling up, and I catch his chin before he can say anything, kissing him.

It’s supposed to be quick.

Theo opens beneath me, and my fingers flex around his jaw as the kiss deepens, my knee sinking into the mattress beside his hip.

I pull back barely enough to breathe.

“I—”