Mary was breathless when Johnny broke the kiss, and there was a grin lingering on her lips. There was a little hint of reality threatening to creep into the back of her mind, but she kept it at bay for now. She reached up and cupped his cheek with her hand, reveling in being able to touch without it being for show and without feeling like maybe she was encroaching on personal boundaries.
“That was much more eloquent than the words coming out of your mouth,” she teased lightly.
Her smile dimmed just a bit as she thought about what he’d said just before this. Kiss or not, the whole situation was fucked up. She knew it, and she couldn’t help but wonder about the headtrip that all of this must have been for him. She took her hand back and chewed her lip for a moment, wrestling with herself. There was the right thing to do and the thing she really wanted to do.
And then there was the fear. Fear that she felt more strongly than this version of him. Fear that the version she’d left back in her time had never really cared as much as she’d thought he had. Fear that had nothing to do with them and everything to do with the realization that her parents-the people she’d always held up as the gold standard in romance working for hunters-were perhaps in the process of breaking up.
“I hate to say this, but... maybe we should sleep on this?” she sighed and shook her head, resisting the urge to lean in for another kiss. “I really hate to say that,” she said, as much to herself as to him. “But you told me that you needed time, that you weren’t ready to promise me anything and I was okay with that. I just want to make sure that this isn’t just happening because you know that we eventually end up like this or because we’ve been playing house. That you’re ready for this. Because if not, I’d rather know now than find out in a few days or weeks.”