When she bit her lip and didn’t smile, it wasn’t nerves—it was a warning disguised as an invitation. The tip of her canine caught the plump flesh, just hard enough to redden it, and her eyes stayed steady on his, no crinkle at the corners, no softening of the gaze. It was a look he’d seen before, in the quiet moments before a storm, when the air hums with something that could tip either way.
He’d leaned in too close, his laugh warm against her ear as he told a joke that walked the line between playful and bold. The crowd around them faded—friends clinking glasses, a jukebox playing a familiar tune—but she didn’t step back. Instead, her lip disappeared between her teeth, and her fingers, which had been resting lightly on his arm, stilled.
It was the stillness that gave her away. Normally, she’d laugh, nudge his shoulder, turn the teasing back on him. But now, her silence stretched, and that bitten lip glistened, a beacon that said proceed with caution. He felt it—a prickle of awareness that this wasn’t an opening, but a boundary. She was letting him know she’d noticed the shift in his tone, the way his thumb had brushed her wrist, the hunger that lurked beneath the humor.
He straightened, clearing his throat, and reached for his beer. “Sorry,” he said, though he wasn’t sure what he was apologizing for—crossing a line, or getting caught trying to.
Her lip slipped free, unmarked but for a faint redness. “Don’t be,” she said, and her voice was soft, almost tender. But her fingers still hadn’t moved from his arm, their weight a deliberate contrast to her words. It was the invitation part—the I’m not pushing you away, but you’ll have to earn the next step.
Later, when he found her alone on the porch, the screen door clicking shut behind him, she was smiling then, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “You get it, don’t you?” she said, her shoulder brushing his as she leaned against the railing.
He nodded. That bitten lip, that lack of a smile—they’d been a map, drawn in red. I want this, but not like this. Not without respect.
She bit her lip again, but this time, there was a flicker of a smile, quick as a heartbeat. “Good,” she said, and this time, when she stepped closer, it was her turn to lean in, slow and sure.