A/N: SPOILERS AHEAD from A Curse For True Love so reader beware. This is a rewrite with content from Ch. 41. And Happy Birthday to our one and only favorite apple-eating scoundrel with unfair dimples!
Glass shattered. He’d dropped the jar—and as soon as he did, the kiss took on new life. It felt like stars colliding and worlds ending. Everything was dizzying and spinning. He kissed her harder. She held him tighter, fingers bruising on the back of his neck before slipping into his soft hair.
Evangeline never wanted to pull away. But she was starting to feel light-headed. Her eyes were closed. But she could see stars.
“Little Fox—” Jacks’s panicked voice broke the kiss.
I'm all right, she said, or she tried to say. Evangeline couldn't quite get out the words. Her head was spinning too fast. The stars were spinning, too. Little constellations behind her eyes.
Then Evangeline felt his arms catching her as she fell. She tried to stand, tried to move, but her head would not stop spinning.
“No!” Jacks screamed. “Not again!”
He dropped to the ground with Evangeline in his lap. She could feel his chest shaking as he held her.
Jacks—she thought his name. She couldn’t speak quite yet, but she could open her eyes again. The stars had left them and now the world was slowly coming back to focus. First the sky, all indigo and violet. Next, she saw the tree, all glowing and gold.
He looked angelic and anguished. His beautiful face was drained of color. Tracks of blood fell from his eyes down his pale cheeks.
“Don’t cry, my love.” She carefully wiped his tears with her fingers. “I’m all right.”
She gave him a wobbly smile.
His eyes went wide and as blue as a clear sky after a storm.
“How is this…” he trailed off.
It was a little endearing to watch. His sulky mouth gently parted as he seemed to forget how to speak.
“I already told you. You are the love of my life. You are mine, Jacks of the Hollow. And you’re not going to be the end of me.”
“No,” she said, a little embarrassed. “I just forgot to breathe.”
Jacks stared at her for a long moment, mouth still agape in shock and disbelief but the bloody tears stopped and he was gripping her for dear life. She gazed back at him, caressing his cheek but it looked as though the poor boy was not processing anything.
It was too much and she understood why. Every other girl, except Donatella and now her, that had been in this position sadly succumbed to his kiss and didn’t get to rise from his arms again. The Prince of Hearts’ kiss of death was no more.
But the longer he remained motionless, she started to worry. “Jacks? Are y-”
Before Evangeline could finish, he was cupping her cheeks and pressing kisses everywhere; her lips, her forehead, her temples, her jaw, her eyelids and eyebrows, the tip of her nose, the pink apples of her cheeks. She flushed at the sudden, unexpected show of affection which was entirely unlike him but took it happily all the same, letting him shower her with his sweet kisses.
When he finally stopped, giving her a final, long and lingering kiss on the lips, Jacks allowed himself another look at her, stroking the sides of her face gently as if she were a glass figurine, delicate and too fragile. He gazed at her with a sort of lost awe and hope, a shimmer of a bright future ahead, for once. Again, she tried to prompt him to speak. “Ja-”
Once more, he cut her off. He'd wrapped his arms around her tightly and buried his face into the crook of her neck, not wanting to face her. She also brought an arm around his upper back while the other went to his waist. They stayed like that for another few minutes. But she couldn’t resist.
Jacks? She sent through their mind link as she tried peeking at him from the corner of her eye; he only shook his golden head in response. Evangeline tried to pull back slightly but he squeezed her tight in retaliation. Sighing quietly in defeat, the hand that until that point had been rhythmically rubbing up and down his upper back traveled to the nape of his neck, slipping into his hair and she mindlessly ran her fingers through his blond locks.
He let out a content sound and she smiled, continuing the motion. You’re not playing fair, Little Fox.
“I learned from the best,” she answered aloud. She felt him smile into the curve of her neck, pressing a kiss to her collarbone before he withdrew from his hiding spot. When he looked at her again, she saw a small mischievous grin but his eyes gave away the wariness he was clearly feeling. She brought her hand back to his cheek and he leaned into it, closing his eyes for a moment. Then they fluttered back open with sudden clarity.
“Don’t do that again, please. I thought I lost you.”
“I’m sorry,” she blushed in spite of herself. It was rather unfortunate that their first kiss was ruined by her dizzy spell but it was still just as swoon-worthy and perfect and sweet and lovely as she imagined. More. His fingertips brushed her jaw as he tilted her head up so they were face to face. He leaned forward and captured her lips softly; she cupped the back of his neck in return.
After they parted, he whispered, every word a caress, “Never again, Little Fox. Never again.”
That we are in agreement, she replied silently. He leaned his forehead against hers, exhaling in relief with his eyes shut and a heartbeat passed, two before he spoke again. “I love you.”
She smiled brightly, saying, “I love you, too.”
“I’m never going to let you out of my sight.”
“You make that sound like it’s a bad thing.”
He pulled away and they were both grinning widely at each other, too stuck on the feeling of this newfound happiness to really do anything more. He loved her. She loved him. And it wasn’t doomed.
The Archer and his Fox had found each other again.
Jacks leaned down again and pressed his lips against hers, his golden hair falling into his eyes as he hugged her tight to him. Evangeline tangled her fingers in a fistful of his locks and pulled, getting lost in his all consuming kiss.
Once upon a time, there was nothing but kissing, and everything was perfect. And then there was even more kissing.
A/N: I hope you all enjoyed that! This was a bit of a rewrite or rather, an elongation, of the first kiss from Ch. 41 in A Curse For True Love that was inspired by a review of the book from @thedrunkenreadersreviews. They mentioned their want for Jacks giving Eva relieved kisses all over when he realizes that she isn't dying from their kiss and I thought it was a cute idea so I added that on. If you do read this, @thedrunkenreadersreviews, I hope you liked it and thank you for the inspo!
