Page 43 of Try Hard

“My apologies for not having a more… eloquent reaction.” I smiled with her when she smirked at the weird accent still permeating my words.

“I don’t know. I kind of liked your reaction.”

“Yeah?” I asked, so hopeful it felt like my lungs might explode.

“Yeah. I… Well. As you know, I’ve done a lot of stuff trying to reclaim my body, and it’s not always easy, but, for the first time in a long time—probably ever, honestly—I feel comfortable with someone else.

Physically. With you, I feel safe. I…” She ducked her head, blushing furiously, before she looked very pointedly at my lips. “I want physical things again.”

The breath rushed out of my body. It wasn’t like I didn’t know how she felt, but I’d been happy to wait for her, for however long she needed. I hadn’t expected this. “You don’t have to—”

“I know. I want to. And part of that is because I know you’d never push me. And, I suppose, it’s reassuring to have learnt you always liked me.”

I felt like I was going to cry with how perfect she was and how much of a dream come true this moment was.

I was the one she was letting read the pages of that perfectly bound book she was.

There was no way in the world I deserved it—deserved her—but I was sure as hell going to spend every single day trying to be worthy, giving her everything she’d ever needed, wanted, and deserved.

“I guess,” she said warmly, tracing her fingertips over my lips and guiding my head down so our noses brushed, “it was a little unfair of me to… reveal the piercings—”

“That was many things but unfair is not one of them.”

She laughed and it was everything. “Okay. Well, I still think it was a little bit teasing given that I’m not ready for sex. Yet.”

I froze as the emphasis hit my mind and felt like it bounced around my skull. “Yet…”

She hummed, our noses gliding together as she nodded. “We should talk about what that might look like because… I think I want that again. With you, Eve.”

I was genuinely going to die. She was going to kill me, and, fuck, what a perfect way to go. “Anything you want—need—desire. Genuinely, anything, at any time, for… the rest of time.”

I felt her muscles relax under my hands—like she’d thought for even a second that I was going to reject her. How absurd. Ophelia Pendrick had always, always been it for me.

She sucked in a breath and pulled her fingers from my lips, lacing them through my hair instead. “For the time being, how do you feel about kissing?”

“Fantastic. Really fucking spectacular.”

“Yeah?” she laughed.

“Are you joking? I’ve been dreaming of it since we were kids. You were the first person in the world I ever wanted to kiss.”

“And you were mine.” She hesitated, looking directly into my eyes. “And I think you’ll be the last one.”

“Ophelia…” I could feel the tears in my eyes.

She had no idea how much I adored her, no idea how much she’d already been that person for me.

Everyone in the interim had paled into insignificance compared to her.

I’d never wanted them like I wanted her.

The idea that she felt the same way was incomprehensible, but I was unbelievably grateful for it.

“Can I kiss you now?” Her voice was little more than an excited breath.

“Always.”

I leaned into her, but let her close the distance, ready to wait as long as she needed. This was a huge moment for her, she was trusting me with something people had hurt and betrayed her with, and I was never going to underestimate that.

It didn’t take her long. After only a second of hanging in the moment before the kiss, electric jolts buzzing through my body, her lips found mine. Soft, pliant, perfect lips brushing over my own.

My stomach dropped, my arms tugging her closer, and my heart raced like I’d never felt before. Everything was Ophelia, exactly as I’d always known it would be, as it always should have been.

Her mouth against mine was simultaneously gentle and yielding whilst also being deliciously demanding, awakening every cell in my body, every inch of desiring her I’d ever possessed.

She pressed up on her tiptoes, dragging her fingers along my scalp to grip the back of my neck and hold me against her, leaving the most delectable goosebumps in her wake.

I laughed into the kiss, adjusted my grip, and picked her up with ease.

She gasped, momentarily breaking the kiss.

Her pupils were blown when she looked at me.

I’d never seen anything so perfect in my life.

She’d never looked happier or calmer. Of course, she also looked wrecked in the most wonderful way, but she looked like she felt completely and utterly secure. It made me want to cry.

“Archer,” she squeaked fondly, “you don’t have to pick me up.”

“What if I want to?” I pressed a kiss to her jaw and her head fell back, her answer coming slowly as she luxuriated in the moment.

“Well, okay. I just don’t want to… exhaust you.”

I could tell she was being careful, that the concern came from that hurt place inside her.

I hated everyone who’d done that to her.

“You won’t. If you wanted a volunteer to carry you around for the rest of your life, I’d be right there at the front of the queue, Ophelia.

And I’d fight off anyone else even trying to beat me to it. ”

“Eve,” she breathed, amused and sweet and a little overwhelmed. I still loved hearing her say my name, especially like that.

“Just say the word and I’d do anything for you.”

Her eyes brimmed with tears and adoration as she looked over my face, landed on my lips, and whispered, “Kiss me again.”