Her Redemption

9. Decisions

"What do you want to be?" He asks me grabbing my face between his hands until our noses graze each other.

"I don't know" I whisper feeling his warmth minty breath on my lips. Breathing him in.

"I don't want to be just friends either. But you're going through a lot right now. Maybe we take day by day. Until everything is better and we'll go from there." He kisses my forehead and intends to release me but I hold onto his hands leaving them on my face.

"Kiss me" I whisper staring into his eyes. I don't know why I just asked him that but being next to him makes me dizzy and lose all train of thoughts.

His eyes widen a bit at my boldness. We're not doing a scene. There's no cameras. We've never really kissed before. Only when I was thirteen and I kissed his cheek on his 11th birthday because that's what he wanted for his birthday. A kiss from me. That's it.

And now 26 year old me is asking him.

"Are you sure?" He questions me. Today has been rough but I want to forget. Just for one moment at least.

"Yes" I breathily say as we get closer, our lips grazing.

In an instant his lips are on mine and everything seizes to exist. It's just him and me in our own little bubble. No one here to stop us or tell us what to do.

It's soft and sweet. As his lips skillfully part with mine, taking his time to consume my whole entire being. It's short and ends with a chaste kiss on the lips. He reluctantly pulls away smiling down at me and I smile up at him.

"That should've been our first kiss." He says quietly pondering how we came to this position.

"I agree but I liked kissing you the other way too." I lick my lips smiling at him still. I feel giddy and so much better than how I felt moments ago.

He smirks "I meant not in front of anyone."

"Hmmm" I pull him by the neck and kiss him quickly on the lips.

He blushes and says "Well on the bright side now we have a video of us we can watch."

"Yes" I kiss him again, licking his bottom lip. He opens his mouth giving me entrance and I slide my tongue inside brushing his. He groans picking me up by my thighs and places me on his lap.

He pulls away breathing heavily "us and billions of other people." He kisses down my jaw, my neck, nipping and licking me. I go to grab his head and play with his hair when suddenly he pulls away.

"Bryan?" I question him looking into his eyes as they darken.

"I- uh" he closes his eyes and when he opens them whatever what was in his eyes moments ago is gone. He picks me up and puts me back on my side. "We shouldn't do this."

My heart skips a beat. "W-what?" I fix my hair pushing it behind my ears.

His eyes soften. "Not like this." He lays down and I copy his movements as we look at each other.

He cups my face, brushing my hair back. "Only when you're okay. Not now, not after..." he touches my neck.

I forgot I have bruises on my neck and I touch it softly. Of course I'm damaged goods. Who would want me?

"I like you okay?" I nod my head "let's go to sleep. It's been a long day love."

My chest warms again with the word love.

"Love?" When we were kids he use to call me love and I didn't think  anything of it. It's a term of endearment from where he's from. I never heard him say it to someone else. However, as an adult it's a totally different meaning.