Chapter Nine:
The kiss was everything I remembered.Soft.Sharp.Deadly.
It tasted like memories I tried to forget — summer rain, broken promises, and his stupid laugh that used to make me feel like I was the only girl in the world.
And that was exactly why I pulled away.
Hard.
"I can't do this," I whispered, my breath still tangled with his.
Jace blinked, stunned, like someone had slapped him.And maybe I had. Just not with my hands.
"You came to me," he said quietly.
"I know."
"You kissed me."
"I know."
"And now you're running again?"
I backed away until my spine hit the door. My heartbeat was everywhere — in my throat, in my ears, in my ribs.
"It's not just a kiss with you, Jace," I said. "It's never just a kiss."
He didn't move. Just stood there, bare chest rising and falling, jaw clenched so tight I thought it might crack.
"So don't kiss me unless you're ready to stay," I added. "Because I'm not doing the whole 'love and leave' thing again."
His voice was rough. Angry. A little broken.
"I never left you, Dani. You left me."
That hurt.Because he wasn't lying.
"I left because I didn't know how to stay without losing myself."
Silence stretched between us like an ocean.He looked at me like he wanted to pull me back in.I looked at him like I might let him.
But instead, I turned around and walked out the door.
Not because I didn't love him.
But because I did.
Too much.