He'd thought he just wanted to be friends. Really, he did. A friend who helped her escape a city, who kept a watch while she was gone on the bad gods who wanted her hurt or something worse, even though there was nothing he could have done other than watch. He'd been her friend through the months as she set up her life back in New York again, because he knew how much she needed a friend, and tried to be Kaden's friend because he could see how much Kaden needed a friend too, though Kaden was too skeptical to really let him. He hadn't thought about being more than that, not for a long time; that was kinda something he'd had to let go of, because, like she'd said, she'd been grieving. She'd been with Tragos and then she'd been grieving and he wasn't about to go being all selfish and wanting her to be over it so they could be something other than friends, and he'd had too much going on in his own head besides. He liked Marcie, he'd always liked Marcie, and he wanted to see her safe, and thriving, and he hadn't thought about seeing her eyes flutter closed as she kissed him at all—
And now her eyes were fluttering closed as she kissed him and it was all he could think about. He didn't pull away, but he didn't speed the kiss up or deepen it either, he felt like his thoughts were racing fast enough already, and he was feeling something deep in his chest, so much so that if the kiss got any more intense his brain might short circuit. Her lips were so soft, and the warmth of her radiated out, soaking into his palm as he lifted his other hand to wrap around her upper arm. His grip wasn't tight, but not delicate either, firm enough to feel the strength of her muscle there, way stronger than she'd been the last time he kissed her. She'd always had a strength about her though, even when her body had been wasting away. He's always found that strength so magnetic. It was something else to be feeling it physically under his hand, now.