Chapter 1515
She swallowed. Her voice came quieter than usual, but steady. "It won’t let me stay out forever."
"You’re not out," Jude said. "You’re watching from the shore."
"I don’t want to lose myself."
"You won’t," Scarlet whispered from the moss, her body still half-curled. "You don’t lose anything. You shed what never belonged."
Emma looked past Jude, at the others - Grace’s flushed cheeks, Lucy’s dreamy smile, Zoey’s shining eyes. They were still themselves, and yet, clearly not. Something inside had unfolded, bloomed, and it had changed them. But they weren’t gone.
They were more.
Emma exhaled. "Then show me."
Jude didn’t wait. He leaned forward and kissed her, slow and deep, his hands coming to her waist and pulling her against him. Emma shuddered, tension breaking from her body like splintered glass under waves. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders, her breath caught in his mouth, and she kissed him back.
Hard.
The kiss grew quickly, fire from a spark, and she didn’t stop him when his hands slid under her shirt. She pulled it over her head herself. Her shorts followed, kicked aside in the dirt, and Jude lowered her slowly to the moss, his body sliding over hers, warm and ready.
But Emma wasn’t passive.