Joey was convinced that she was dreaming. She had to be. She
was delirious. Her mind had finally cracked from all her worrying and
thinking and over-analyzing. Because this couldn't really be Pacey,
holding her to him so tightly that she could feel his heart beating
wildly in his chest… kissing her so deeply she was sure that he
was almost touching her very soul.
But she didn't care. She savored every minute of it, memorized how
it felt to be held in a mixture of urgency and tenderness that it was
enough to make her want to offer him her heart and her whole being.
She shut her eyes against reality and kissed him back with all the emotion
that she'd kept shoved back into a place where she hadn't had to deal
with them. They stood there for what felt like forever, but still didn't feel
like it was enough. Pacey lightened the kiss, his lips gently grazing
hers while the tip of his tongue tasted the outline of her mouth. One
of his hands became tangled in her hair. The other held her jaw delicately,
his thumb tracing in slow motion on her cheek. He broke the kiss and touched his forehead to hers, trying to catch
his breath. His blue eyes were electric as he held her searching gaze.
"Why the hell didn't you tell me you broke up with Finn?"
He demanded sternly. She stepped back and put her hands on her hips. "Excuse me?" "You broke up with Finn weeks ago, and you never told me?"
Joey raised an eyebrow. "Why did you have to know?"
She goaded him. "Because," he began indignantly, "I'm your -
" He paused. "Your ex-roommate!" "So?" Her expression was expectant. "Jo." He said in a warning tone. Then seriously, "How
could you not tell me?" "Well, I would have, but when I got back to New York from
Poconos, someone had packed up all his stuff and couldn't move
out fast enough." She answered. "How did you know I was here,
anyway?" Pacey shrugged, looking smug. "I have my sources." She rolled her eyes. "I made Jen swear not to tell you." "I bribed it out of her with a couple of Gray's Papaya hotdogs."
He grinned, pulling her close again. "God, Jo, I almost went crazy,
missing you. I thought you really loved him. I told myself I really
loved Anne." He held her in his arms, his lips tickling her ear.
She took a deep breath to keep herself from bursting into tears of
happiness. "What now?" Her smile was watery. "I'm kind of… apartmentless right now." He smiled at
the made-up word. "Oh?" "Yup," he said with exaggerated sadness. "Got kicked
out." "Aw, really?" She touched his face sympathetically. "You
can stay with David for a while." Her eyes twinkled. He pretended to consider her suggestion. "Too late. Already moved
my stuff back into our apartment." She grinned, her fingers linking behind his neck. "Our
apartment?" "Witch," he teased, his hands on either side of her face
as he kissed her smile. The kiss started slowly this time, building into something that made
her feel a throbbing, insistent ache in the bottom of her stomach. His
tongue tangled fiercely with hers, their mouths pressed so closely together
that it felt like her lips were becoming bruised. Pacey's hand moved
along the side of her body, catching on the hem of her top before it
slipped underneath to caress her soft, heated skin. It moved up slowly
as his fingers traced her ribcage. Her skin broke out in goosebumps
when his thumb brushed across one of her nipples, the dark pink flesh
puckering under his touch. "Pacey," She gasped through swollen lips, her eyes dark and
heavy-lidded. He looked at her, his hand still under her shirt, and nodded. "I
know. Not here." Her thumb touched his lower lip. "Bessie will kill us," she
said with a small smile. His chin rested atop her head. "How long 'til we can go home?"
She heard the resigned humor in his voice. She looked up at him coyly through her lashes. "A week." He grinned, an eyebrow going up. "Two days." "Five." "Three." Joey smiled and kissed him quickly on the lips before taking his hand
to lead him inside. "Okay." |