Nicholas' POV
Her lips were still on mine when my brain finally caught up to my body.
Soft. Warm. Unsteady...but not uncertain.
I should have pulled away immediately. I knew that. Every rule I had ever lived by was screaming at me to stop, to step back, to put distance between us like I always did when things edged too close to chaos.
But I didn't.
For a few suspended seconds, I let myself stay there.
Explanation never came easily to me, especially when it involved emotions. I preferred logic, structure, and control. But standing there in the dim quiet, with the night pressing in around us and Emma swaying slightly toward me, all of that dissolved into something simpler.
Calm.
That was the word. Not fire. Not hunger. Just calm.
Her mouth moved against mine again, slow and instinctive, as if her body remembered something her mind hadn't fully registered yet. My hand lifted before I could stop myself, fingers brushing her waist...not pulling her closer, just steadying her.
