Page 101 of Love, Magic and Misfortune
Violet bit her bottom lip, thinking she absolutely would.Absolutely. But she smirked, her cheeky sense of humor getting the better of her. “I would,” she said, looking down at him, “but I’m not sure I can compete with René and Fre—”
In a flash, Jasper lifted and caught her mouth in a quick kiss, but he caught Violet’s forehead, too. The throb of their skulls clashing overshadowed any delight from the first glorious moment of their lips touching. Violet sat straight, groaning and lifting the back of her hand to the tender spot between her eyebrows. “Ah—God,Jas—”
“Sorry! But don’t make jokes right now—”
“Okay, but you don’t need to headbutt me.”
“I don’t know what I’m doing. Tell me what todo.”
“J-Just calm down.” Violet rolled her shoulders. “Everybody calm down and take a breath.” As she exhaled, Jasper dropped his head, lying against her thigh and rubbing his face there, mumbling.
“Humiliating… so stupid.”
“No, no no. None of that. Just, ah…” She grabbed the damp towel she kept nearby while she worked, except it was almost dry. Still, she wiped her hands as best she could, her fingers dark and messy with charcoal.
He turned his head to the side as he lay in her lap, blinking up at the canvas beside them. He sat straighter, taking in his portrait for the first time. She hadn’t allowed him to see it until it was ready, but it was nearly there now.
“Is this supposed to be me?” he asked.
“Um, yeah.”
“This is how I look to you?”
“This is how you look, period, Jas. Even Simone saw it the other day and said it perfectly resembles you. This is my first serious attempt at painting a portrait in charcoal. Not to toot my own horn, but… Toot toot.”
He shook his head as he stared at the canvas, as if refuting the painting and the truth of it: the straight nose and narrow jawline, the haunting depth of his stormy eyes and the complex emotion in his expression. Darkness and light. Despair and hope.
“Can you look at me, please?”
Miraculously, he did. Turning his head and meeting her eyes. She smiled. “About kissing. You’ve got the baseline objective, just… a little softer and slower. That’s all.”
“Okay…”
She leaned down until their noses brushed, then tilted her head just a bit as she whispered. “Part your lips, but only enough to take a breath, not wide.”
He did. But instead of breathing in, he exhaled, the heat of it interwoven with the scent of the second strawberry smoothie he’d had a little earlier. She pressed into him once, firmly, parting her lips as she did so: a gentle push of their mouths meeting and colliding. Violet pulled away slightly, her voice low. “How’s that?”
Subtly, he slid his tongue across his bottom lip before pulling it in to bite, as if he were tasting and thoroughly considering all the evidence before answering. He’d kept his gray eyes open, and now they flickered back and forth between her eyes and mouth. “Good…”
Violet leaned down, keeping her dirty hands in her lap but tilting her head once more. This time, she moved against his mouth, slow and careful, as if she were tasting something that she knew she’d love and want to devour, but needed to savor. Something extraordinary that should be cherished.
She felt Jasper lift his chin and stretch, his instincts kicking in, mimicking her movement and sighing in the kiss. Violet’s heart beat even harder, working overtime to keep up with the sheer delight of the moment. His palms unclenched at her sides and found their way into her own hands within her lap. Despite their grimy state, she opened to him, clasping their hands together as their mouths explored, gentle and sweet. Cautious but intentional.
She’d expected Jasper to show some sign of wanting to stop—of having enough. When he didn’t, Violet pulled up first. She was thinking that shoving her tongue in his mouth might be a bit much, so she should probably quit while she was ahead. But the naked disappointment in his face when she sat straighter made her question that decision.
Violet smiled. Her blood rushed through her body as if it were carbonated. “You don’t hate this, I take it?”
Jasper smiled, dropping his shoulders and sighing heavily. He wilted, leaning forward and laying his head in her lap again. Violet blinked, grinning and confused. “Are you okay?”
“All I could think about was how I had never kissed you.”
“What? When?”
“Yesterday,” he breathed, “all day. I’ve been wanting to kiss you since I was eight years old. But I… I knew if I showed you what I am, I wouldn’t ever be able to and I was really stressed about it. That you’d find me repulsive and everything would be over. I wanted to kiss you yesterday—I wanted to kiss you on mybirthday, or for you to kiss me, but I didn’t know what to say.” He held her hands even tighter as the words spilled out in a rush. Frenzied and relieved.
“Hm, I thought you were acting strange on your birthday.”
He whipped up, dark brows furrowed. “Why didn’t you kiss me? That’s what people do to me on my birthday—they kiss me.”
