Page 462 of Bad Prince
Not with the way he says them like beauty isn’t a compliment, but a fact that has been wrecking him quietly for years.
He steps toward me then.
One step.
Then another.
Until his hands rise and settle at my waist, and the second they do, I feel the tremor in them.
Real.
Barely there.
But there.
My breath catches.
He feels it.
I know he does.
“Still okay?” he asks.
The question is low.
Careful.
More intimate than any dirty thing he could have said.
I nod.
“Yes.”
His forehead rests against mine.
“Tell me if anything feels too fast.”
“It won’t.”
His hands tighten just a fraction.
“Stella.”
I open my eyes and meet his.
And because there is no point pretending with him anymore, I whisper the truth.
“It won’t feel too fast with you.”
Something in his face breaks open then.
Not composure.
Something deeper.
He kisses me like that.
Not hard.
