He kissed me.
But not the way I'd imagined it, over the years, in the small private moments I'd never admitted to anyone ….not urgent, not desperate, not the sudden release of two years of held-back wanting all crashing out at once.
Soft. Careful. The kind of kiss that manages to be a question and an answer at exactly the same time.
His hand cradled my jaw like I was something worth handling gently, worth taking his time over, and for a long moment that's all it was…. slow, deliberate, almost unbearably patient.
Then it wasn't soft anymore.
His other hand found my waist and I turned into him without deciding to, some part of me making the choice before the rest of me had caught up, and the careful part of it gave way all at once to something that had clearly been waiting a very long
