Page 40 of Muse (Fighting Fate)

I looked up at him, a little surprised by his bluntness.

His lips twitched with a tiny smile. “And believe me when I say that’s saying something, because you are fucking incredible in bed.”

My cheeks heated with the blush that rushed to them, and Jace whispered a soft laugh, but as he watched me, his expression slowly turned back to serious. “Look, I’m not exactly sure how to say this, so I’m just going to say it and hope to God it doesn’t sound presumptuous or cold.” He swallowed. “I want to go back to what we had before.”

I watched him stand up and move to sit on the bed in front of me. My pulse was racing with excitement.

“I know I shouldn’t. I know that with where the band’s headed I should be thinking of keeping you as far from that as possible...but it seems I’m a selfish prick because I want you, and I don’t want to do it without you. I’ll do whatever you want, Mia. Just tell me what you’re comfortable with and I’ll do it.”

My breath was stuck in my chest. Was he really asking me what I thought he was? I exhaled heavily. “I want to be with you too, but the thought of you with someone else makes me a little crazy...”

Jace reached out and gently took my hand. “So, you want us to be exclusive...that’s fine by me – I don’t want to be with anyone else...”

Holy shit. “You don’t?”

He laughed softly at my expression. “Believe me, Mia, it’s no sacrifice on my part to have you exclusively. I want to be with you, and I want everyone to know it.” He watched my eyes widen with horror then smiled sadly. “But I know that’s not something you’ll be comfortable with, so...”

I stared at him for a while, trying to calm my racing thoughts. “I don’t know what to say. This whole situation is just so unexpected...”

He nodded his agreement. “Tell me what you liked about what we were doing before. We can make that a starting point.”

I bit my lip to try to stop a grin from spreading on them. “I liked being with you...and the sex – that was nice...”

He grinned. “Just nice?”

I laughed. “Okay, maybe more than nice...”

“Was it just the sex?”

God, did I tell him everything? I sighed, knowing I probably should. “I’ve kind of liked you for a while – probably since the second time you came to our house back in our freshman year.”

He recoiled, looking stunned. “Really?”

I nodded. “Up until that night in Aspen, I’d known having a real relationship was going to be virtually impossible for me, so it kind of surprised me when we got together that night.” I stared down at the duvet without really seeing it as I remembered how wonderful that night had been.

“After that night of the party though, when you came to my room, I knew I wanted more. I thought being with you casually was better than not being with you at all, but I guess I’m not really that kind of girl. I couldn’t really separate my feelings that way.”

I looked back up to meet his gaze. Relief flashed in his eyes, and I realized he’d been worried about what I was going to say. “So, let’s do it then.”

Wait. What? My eyes widened. “Jace-”

“No. Wait. If you took everyone else out of the equation – took away the obvious worry you feel about having any attention on you, and it was just you and me, would you want to go out with me?”

When he put it like that the answer was easy. Of course I would. “Yes.”

“So we’ll start out how we were before, but this time, we’ll both know it’s more than just sex. No one needs to know...at first...”

The panic was trying to push its way forward again. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’ll be my girlfriend.”

Yeah, that seemed to have done it. He must’ve hit some sort of freeze or mute button, because my brain function just seemed to stop altogether. “I’m...I don’t...how will that work?”

His gaze was intense. “We’ll just make it work. We just have to put more thought into how we can see each other. The other stuff can come later – when you’re more comfortable.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

He shook his head with disbelief. “I just want to be with you, Mia. I’ll take whatever you’re willing to give me.” He watched me while I considered his offer, then added, “But you have to promise me one thing.”

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