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She felt her hands balling at her sides – clenching and unclenching in an erratic heartbeat that she was desperately trying to keep even. The smug little smirk on her face was a clear invitation: I dare you. I dare you to do it. I dare you to be brave and crazy and reckless enough to do it.
And Maker, she hoped he would.
This stalemate had gone on too long. He was too hesitant to make the first move. She was too anxious to move beyond flirting. He was too self-effacing to entertain the thought she might ever want him. She was too afraid of being rejected to try closing the space between them.
But now there was only a campfire between them. Everyone else asleep in their tents, and their watch almost over. Standing there, staring at each other.
I dare you.
I dare you.
He made no move, either towards her or away. He just looked straight on, keeping his keen blue eyes locked on to her hazel-green. And the look was so intense that her smirk started to falter. She had been sure she was winning. There was something hungry in his expression that he couldn’t hide anymore, even when he tried. And hers was equal measures pleading – asking for him over and over in ways that words couldn’t.
Please.
I dare you.
He didn’t falter and he didn’t move, and the butterflies that had taken up residence in her belly started to settle, making her feel distinctly sick. She hadn’t won at all. She was just a pleading child, hoping to be noticed by a man she neither deserved nor was worthy of. Her eyes trailed down to the center of the fire, and her fists balled tightly into themselves, knocking nervously against her hips. Void take her, she was a stupid little girl and she should just go back to her tent and pretend none of this ever happened.
Pretend that the conversation about former lovers and shivering touches had never happened. She could just wipe it all out of her mind and move on, and never speak to him about any of those things ever again.
But while she had been looking away, he had come up next to her – setting one crooked finger under her chin and tilting her head back up to look at him. And this time it was him who had a smirk tucked into the corner of his mouth.
His stupid, perfect mouth.
So she said: “I dare you.”
And his stupid, perfect mouth molded perfectly over hers.