Chapter 28 The Actual Kiss
Ivy's POV
"What would your family think? Your friends?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper as the weight of what he was proposing settled over me like a heavy blanket.
The question hung in the air between us, laden with all the complications and consequences neither of us had fully voiced yet.
He was quiet for a moment, his jaw tightening almost imperceptibly before he finally responded. I watched as he seemed to wrestle with the question, his eyes drifting to the window where the city lights twinkled in the distance like scattered diamonds against black velvet.
"I don't care if they found out about it, but I don't care...it's my life and choices,"
"They don't have to know," he said finally, his tone careful, measured—as if he'd already thought through every possible angle of this situation we found ourselves in.
"Yeah, they really don't have to, but…" I trailed off, letting the silence stretch between us as I studied his face with new intensity.
The sharp line of his jaw, darkened with the shadow of evening stubble. The way his eyes seemed to hold secrets in their depths, layers upon layers of things left unsaid. The tiny scar above his left eyebrow that I'd never noticed before tonight, probably from some childhood accident he'd never told me about.
Everything about this moment felt surreal, like I was watching myself from somewhere outside my own body, observing this scene as if it were happening to someone else entirely.
"I would like some time to think about it. Marriage, either fake or real isn't something you just go into on a whim. It's legally binding, emotionally complicated, and even if we're saying it's just for convenience, just for whatever reason you need this… it changes things."
He nodded slowly, understanding flickering across his features like candlelight. "Of course. Take all the time you need," he said, though something in his expression, a slight tightening around his eyes, perhaps, or the way his fingers drummed once against his knee, suggested he hoped I wouldn't take too long.
The air between us grew thick with unspoken words and possibilities, heavy with the tension that had been building for weeks now. We'd been dancing around something for so long that I'd almost convinced myself I was imagining it. But this proposal, ridiculous as it was, had torn away all pretense.
He rubbed a hand down his face, and I watched the gesture, so familiar yet somehow intimate in this moment, the way his palm dragged across his skin, the slight exhale that accompanied it. When he looked at me again, something had shifted. The serious, almost businesslike demeanor he'd worn while explaining his proposal had melted away, replaced by something warmer, more dangerous.
He leaned closer, closing the space between us until I could feel the warmth radiating from his body, and could catch the faint scent of his cologne mixed with something uniquely him. My breath caught in my throat. His eyes, which had been serious just seconds before, now glinted with unmistakable mischief, a playful challenge dancing in their depths that made my stomach flip.
"You know I could kiss you now," he murmured, his voice dropping to a whisper, such that it sent shivers cascading down my spine like a trail of electricity. His right hand came up slowly, deliberately, giving me every opportunity to pull away if I wanted to. But I didn't want to.
His fingers were gentle as they cupped my face, his thumb brushing softly across my cheekbone as he drew me even closer to him, until our faces were mere inches apart.
My heart hammered against my ribs so hard I was certain he could hear it, could feel it in the pulse point at my neck where his gaze briefly lingered. I felt heat flooding my cheeks, spreading down my neck, warming my entire body from the inside out.
The logical part of my brain was screaming that this was a terrible idea, that we were already in complicated enough territory without adding physical intimacy to the mix. But that voice was growing fainter by the second, drowned out by the thundering of my pulse and the magnetic pull I felt toward him.
"Hmmm, so what's stopping you?" I asked, the words coming out breathier than I'd intended, my body already leaning into his touch despite the chaos of thoughts swirling through my mind. My hands, which had been gripping the edge of the couch, relaxed slightly, one moving almost of its own accord to rest against his chest where I could feel his heartbeat—just as rapid as my own.
His lips curved into a slow smile, one that made my knees weak even though I was sitting down. "Absolutely nothing," he breathed, and then the distance between us disappeared entirely.
The kiss started soft, tentative, as if we were both testing the waters of this new territory we'd stumbled into. His lips were warm and surprisingly gentle against mine, and for a moment everything else, the fake marriage proposal, the complications, the uncertainties, all of it faded into insignificance.
There was only this, the taste of him, the feeling of his hand cradling my face like I was something precious, the way his other hand had found my waist and pulled me closer still.
When we finally broke apart, both slightly breathless, he rested his forehead against mine, his eyes still closed as if he was savoring the moment.
"So," he said quietly, a hint of amusement in his voice, "does this complicate your decision-making process, or simplify it?"
I laughed softly, my hand still pressed against his chest.
"Oh, it definitely complicates it," I admitted, opening my eyes to find him watching me with an expression I couldn't quite read, hope mixed with uncertainty, desire tempered with something that looked almost like fear, doub
"Good," he said, surprising me. "Because nothing about this, about us has ever been simple. Why start now?"