Page 147 of Revenge Puck

Kiss it.

She smiles…lovingly at me…cups my face with both hands, framing me in as if I’m something precious.

“You sweet man.” Kisses the tip of my nose. Running her finger along the scar on my eyebrow. “So misunderstood.”

I mean—yeah.

I am.

I slide my arms around her waist, pulling her closer until there’s no space left between us. She comes willingly—of course she does—folding into me, legs tightening around me.

She fits perfectly.

“I was thinking,” I admit softly, resting my forehead against hers, “that I don’t want this to end.”

I feel her happy smile against my shoulder as she nuzzles my neck. “Then it won’t.”

My arms give her a little squeeze.

Hand runs over her spine, fingers spreading wide over her back, caressing her as if she was the one who needed comfort. As if she’s the one who battled it out under harsh arena lights in the cold air and came out with a bruised ribcage.

Maybe she’s not the fragile one here.

MaybeIam.

I press my lips to her smooth cheek, then to the soft skin at the base of her throat.

“You’re going make it hard to leave,” I confess to her quietly, the double meaning lost on only me.

Juliette hears the surface layer of it.

I feel all of it.

She tilts her head back slightly, looking at me with that open, luminous expression that keeps undoing me.

“Then don’t,” she whispers.

I don’t want this to end.

Not tonight.

Not…

Ever.

And if I stay very still, I can pretend the world outside this room doesn’t exist. That there aren’t consequences waiting.

“I could get used to this,” I murmur, brushing my nose lightly against hers.

She smiles softly. “I think you already have.”

She slides her hand up into my hair again, fingertips threading through it slowly, rubbing my scalp, soothing something she can’t even see or name.

And if I close my eyes for a second, letting myself lean into this moment, I can pretend it’ll last.

I can pretend this could work between us.

You sweet man…