He shook his head and held his breath, feeling just about the most laid bare he had ever been in his entire life. “No. It was about you. Us.”

Audrey took the slightest step forward and lifted her hand. It hovered for just a second before she slowly, purposefully set it on the center of his chest.

Clarke’s breath whooshed out. “Dree.”

Audrey didn’t answer. Not with words. Instead she pressed her hand more firmly against him, laying her palm over his heart. Then she lifted her eyes to his, which held nothing but invitation and trust. She was too good for him. She was too good for everyone.

But Clarke was tired of fighting against what he wanted more than anything in his life. Tired of fighting something, he realized, he had wanted for far longer than he’d known.

He reached out and gently cupped Audrey’s face, rubbing his thumbs over her familiar features, giving her plenty of time to step away, to change her mind.

When she didn’t, he bent his head down and kissed his best friend. And this time, there was no doubt in either of their minds as to why he was kissing her. Or why she was kissing him back.

Breathless with wanting her, he tore his lips away from hers just long enough to nibble along her jawline, pressing his mouth to her exposed neck when her head fell back. “Be sure, Audrey. Be all the way sure.”

Her hands found his waist, her fingers flirting across the knot of his towel.

“I’m sure.”

Audrey didn’t remember falling asleep. She definitely didn’t remember making the decision to fall asleep at Clarke’s place. But after she opened her eyes and registered the unfamiliar ceiling, the unfamiliar sheets, the unfamiliar alarm clock, she remembered everything else.

She remembered sleeping with Clarke.

With a quick glance to her left confirming that she was alone in the king-size bed, she lay on her back, and setting both palms against her stomach over the soft sheet, she drummed her fingers and waited for the crushing panic, the dread of having to look Clarke in the eyes now that she’d seen all of him and he’d seen all of her. Worst of all, she braced for the terror that nothing would ever be the same, that she’d ruined the best thing in her entire life.

She waited. And waited. But the emotions never came. Not the panic, not the dread, not the fear. Instead, she felt… good.

Audrey grinned. She felt great. The best she had felt in a really, really long time.

Ever? Nah. She was probably just extremely overdue for a little physical release.