Page 129 of The Other Side of Green

My head pulsed.

I needed to breathe.

Needed to walk and think.

For the first time in a long time, I almost wanted to pick up my violin just to see what would come out.

“What are you thinking about?” Jack tucked me into his side.

“Too many things to count.” Stretching, I kissed his jaw, reveling in the warmth of his skin.

“We will be okay, Lyra.” He nuzzled in closer, kindling a familiar heat in my belly.

How would we be okay?

How could we ever be normal?

I ached for who we used to be, which was sad really considering he was an abused teenager and I was a geeky misfit.

Ignoring the warm burn in the pit of my belly, I turned onto my side and rested my head in my hand. “I don’t want them to ruin you.”

His fingers found my hair in the darkness, stroking and tugging gently. “Lyra, don’t you see, they already have. This stupid idea I’ve had, that Greene has helped me create, that I can be my own man. That’s all it’s ever been, a dream. So I’ve saved a tiny bit of money—teaching aides don’t earn much—but it would never have been a way to put myself through a PhD on that small salary. Maybe this is all a blessing in disguise.”

“I don’t believe that,” I said firmly, feeling it deep in my gut.

“So maybe, you do your thing. Evan has plans for you I can’t even contemplate. I actually feel sorry for you. Do you think when you are sitting as a guest on the Late Night Show anyone is going to give a crap about rumors you slept with your lecturer? Hell, it will give you more infamy than anything else.”

“That’s not the point. I’ve never wanted infamy.”

“What do you want, Lyra?” His fingers grazed my face and I leaned into them.

“You. You are the single only thing I’ve ever wanted.”

Shifting forward, he pressed a kiss to my mouth, soft and gentle. “Lyra Bird,” he whispered, “You need bigger dreams than me.”

I shook my head resolutely. Grams always told me I was an old soul, that she could see my resolution before I made it myself. The woman was after all a witch. My resolution on Jack had never wavered even when I thought I’d never see him again.

“I do. But they are of us together,” I whispered back. “And I can’t change that, it’s the way I’ve always been.”

“Where do you get your steadfastness from?” He chuckled and wrapped me up tight in his arms.

“I don’t think we will ever know.” I waited for a disappointed ache to tighten my chest, but strangely it didn’t come.

“Well, I’m grateful for it all the same.” He pecked a kiss on my forehead and that little burn relit itself in my stomach.

“Kiss me again.”

He skimmed the tip of my nose.

“And again.”

A sweep of my lips.

“More.” I sighed, opening my mouth and giving myself over to everything we could be. For the first time we drew lazy patterns on one another’s skin, resting and tasting, the fury and dominance of our last couple of times together eased into something that felt at once totally different and equally the same.

Jack still owned me.

I still submitted myself one hundred percent to his touch, his control and his need.