Chapter 11: Say It

  Mira pressed into Lena’s side, heart still hammering. The shelf boards at her back were rough beneath her fingertips; the quiet library seemed to hold its breath.

  Lena brushed a strand of hair from Mira’s face, her fingers lingering at Mira’s cheek. “Look at me,” she murmured.

  Mira lifted her head. Her eyes were gssy, lips swollen. “I… I’m yours,” she whispered, voice small and raw. “Completely yours.”

  Lena’s thumb traced Mira’s lip. “Again.”

  “I belong to you,” Mira repeated, more confident, each word a promise.

  Lena’s lips curved into a slow, possessive smile. She captured Mira’s mouth in a soft kiss, then held her close. “So perfect,” she murmured, voice low. “You begged like you meant it.”

  Mira sighed against her. “I needed you so badly.”

  “I know,” Lena said, her hand gliding down Mira’s arm to rest at her hip. “And now you have me.” She paused, then added, “This little space is ours, and no one else's.”

  Mira nodded, a shuddering breath. “I understand.”

  Lena straightened, one arm around Mira’s waist, the other smoothing Mira’s hair. “Come with me.”

  Together, they stepped from the hidden alcove into the hush of the main aisle. Every other student and whisper of pages turned felt distant. Lena pressed a single kiss to Mira’s temple.

  “You did so well,” Lena whispered in her ear. “Next time, I’ll let you beg again.” Her voice dropped a register—more intimate, more fierce. “But only when you’re ready to come undone.”

  Mira leaned into her arm, head resting on Lena’s shoulder. “I’ll be ready.”

  Lena guided her toward the exit, one hand csping Mira’s firmly. In the silent glow of the library’s mp, they walked out together—two halves of a secret whole, bound by need and the promise of more.