"Y-you what?" Jace stammered through his mouth full of pasta.
"I- I love you, I you make me feel safe, you make feel wanted, you make me feel perfect and secure and I-I'm sorry I shouldn't I know that's not why you got into this… I'm sorry, Jace…" Liliana flung herself onto her bed, O'Malley after her, worried.
"I got into this because you made me think twice about myself, Liliana.." Jace said, quietly. "No one has ever done that before," Jace told her, sitting next to her on the bed, running his fingers through her hair. "You're worth the wait to me," Jace breathed. "Every single second of it," Jace finished.
"C'mere," he cradled her to chest. "It's okay to let go, you're allowed to feel and you don't have to be sorry for feeling anything, doll... "
"I-I'm really not, Jace. I think that could be the problem. I'm not sorry."
Jace's thoughts were a million miles a minute. He knew that he was loving someone broken, but he knew that he lacked the pieces and the information to fix it. He was unsure of himself and how to proceed; he knew that he couldn't let her fall apart or lose herself; so he just quietly held her as close as possible, trying to let his solidarity soothe her. That was the one thing he'd promised Josu- that he'd be her solid rock, her steady place. Everything that they'd never had.
"C'mon, let's get out of here, you don't need to be here, it's stressing you out. Especially because Su isn't here... "
"You're here," Liliana said, barely louder than a whisper.
"I'm going to be with you wherever you go, Liliana," Jace whispered in her ear. He pulled her closer into him, kissing her neck slowly, not hard enough to leave any sort of mark, but just roughly enough that she'd know he'd been there.
"Where are we going?" Liliana queried, slightly breathless. She buried her hand in Jace's hair, pulling him closer to her, trying to put the words that were in her heart into it, the words she still couldn't speak.
"Running," Jace said. "I've got to have a reason to have you out of breath when we get back," he said, the devilish grin that Liliana loved coloring Jace's features.
They both assumed that their parents suspected nothing. And right now, they didn't.
By no means was she out of shape. Jace had seen and marveled at her physique on more than one occasion, but this was a motion he had never seen, and it marveled him just as much as her slow undulations when she was on top of him. His thoughts strayed to the last time they'd been together, on the couch this morning. He felt as though he couldn't be sated. There was a pain in his chest- he wanted to scream it from the rooftops that they were together, that she belonged with him. But he couldn't. The secret that Liliana referenced was going to drive a hole in his heart- he couldn't let it.
He could keep pace with her, so he let his fingers lace through hers, squeezing it and bringing a smile to her face. He would be with her anywhere that he could, anywhere that their secret wasn't in jeopardy. The next step made sense to Jace, but he wasn't sure that Liliana would go for it.
About a mile and a half in, she stopped at the foot of the trail Jace had been leading her to.
"You didn't say we were hiking!" Liliana said ruefully, though her face betrayed the fact that she wanted to be there. In fact, there was little else she'd rather be doing. She passed him the water bottle, and he took it, thankfully.
"I love you," he said, smiling at her.
"Me too," Liliana answered.
"Maybe one day it'll be I do," Jace said before he thought. Liliana just looked down at her feet, unsure of what to say. She knew that the likelihood of that ever happening was minimal, marginal at best, but that didn't stop the vision of herself in a white dress from popping into her head, completely uninvited. She just smiled a small smile at him- she wasn't Kaalia. She wasn't someone's person, and she knew this.
"Look at me," Jace said. And she did. His eyes were sincere. He never knew the depth of feeling that he could have for a person, not until the other night when she had abandoned every inhibition she had for him and willingly jumped into his arms. "I'm not giving up. This won't be easy, but it will be worth it." He planted a kiss on her forehead, laced his fingers through hers again they begin their ascent into the forest.
Lousiana was hot in September, Jace thought. Both of them were drenched in their own sweat. Liliana put her hands on her knees, very out of breath, slumping against the nearest tree and done with uphill climbs.
"I was already sore, you know." She said, a trace of a grin appearing on her face.
"Mmmm… Were you now?" Jace said, making no bones about what he was going to do. She saw the look in his eye and smiled back at him, making a come here motion with her finger. Jace's lips met hers with the ferocity they did the first time that he'd needed her, his hands gripping her hips, her lips parting slightly in a moan.
"Don't let go…"
"Never ever," Jace said, pressing his forehead to hers, feeling her hands braid into his hair. This time, it was her who spoke.
"Mine," she said.
"Yours," he finished, as their lips met again. There wasn't any stopping it, just like the first time that they had been together, when lust took over their senses, Jace could feel the love for the woman in his arms surge in his heart and he couldn't hold back. He needed her. Her body melted against his, as her hands slid confidently under his shirt, his hands pressed harder into her hips before dropping below her waist to play with the band of the elastic things that couldn't even be called pants.
"Please," she said. "I need you," Liliana breathed.
She could feel him pressed against her tummy, the sensation driving her mad.
She didn't wear underwear, Jace felt, and he was already aching with desire, he could feel his need for her eclipsing everything else.
"Mhmm," he said, his fingers finding her center, but neither Jace nor Liliana was in the mood to tease. He wanted to bury every inch of him inside her.
"Do you feel what you did?" she purred in his ear, and Jace Beleren was done. Pushing her pants down to her knees and parting her legs was the only thing on his mind. She moaned in his ear again as she unabashedly yanked down the basketball shorts he'd been running in and biting her lip in anticipation. She arched her back for him and he groaned when he took her- he would never tire of this. She was the epitome of everything true, pure, and perfect.
She relaxed against him, they fit together like two pieces of a puzzle, the bark of the tree rough against her palms. Air seemed as if it was in short supply, both of them gasping; Jace was relentless; half flabbergasted at himself for doing this, here.
"Jace! Don't stop!"
It was like he hadn't had her this morning, his orgasm was building at the sight of the sweaty, beautiful, wanton girl in front of him.
"Lili,fuck, you're so fuck!"
She came against him with his name on her lips, Jace stopped fighting his own release and gave himself to her fully, she made small sound of pleasure at being full; Jace collapsed against her back and she smiled.
"Perfect," she sighed.
"Feel what you did?" echoing her sentiment from earlier and gesturing to the mess that he created. She smiled despite herself. A small rustling in the bushes scared her. Sure it was some kind of poisonous something intent on throttling her, she yanked her pants back up and gestured for Jace to go look, the man just rolling his eyes. He pulled his own shorts back up his waist and pursed his lips.
I love her so much, he thought.
"Come look, Lili!"
Apprehensively, Liliana raised one of her eyebrows. She peeked over the helm of the bushes, and the only thing there was a mewing kitten, a Siamese. It looked distinctly underfed and was nursing a hurt paw, but let Jace pick him up. There was a thorn lodged into it's left front foot, and Jace plucked it out, to which the kitten gave him an appreciative nuzzle.
"We're keeping him." Liliana said
"I don't know if that is such a great idea…" but Liliana cut him off.
"His name is Loki," she said. "We found him and now he's ours."
"Liliana- I don't even like c-" Jace started, but Loki nuzzled himself closer into Jace's neck.
"His name is Loki," Jace sighed in defeat.
Her eyes lit up. If it made her happy, Jace didn't care. He wasn't sure how her other cat would take it, but to him, this seemed like a huge step for her. She hadn't said mine. She had said ours; and that in and of itself brought a smile to Jace's face. So, kitten in hand, they set off back down the trail, unaware of the storm brewing in their household.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN KAALIA IS PREGNANT? Kate shrieked.
"Not in my house," Rafael growled.
"I'm not apologizing for my child," Josu snarled. "Especially not to you." He spat the words at Kate.
