Chapter 139. Seed of Doubt

June POV

His breath touches my skin before his lips do.

I can feel him hesitate — an inch between us — his warmth ghosting against my mouth like a question he was too afraid to ask. My chest rises and falls in an uneven rhythm, the air between us too fragile to disturb.

“Breathe,” he whispered, almost to himself.

And I do.

Then he move slow, careful, as if he is learning how to exist in this moment. The first brush of his lips is hesitant, barely a touch. My heart thud painfully in my chest. His lips is cold. The good kind of cold.

He pulls back a fraction, his forehead resting against mine, his breath unsteady. “I—” His voice cracks softly. “I don’t know how to do this.”

I smile — small, trembling — and whisper, “Then don’t think about it. Just feel.”

That is all it took.

His mouth finds mine again, this time with a quiet hunger. His hand cups the back of my neck, drawing me closer, deepening the kiss inch by inch. The re