[h2]Esme Stirling[/h2]

Esme felt a change in Duke when she leaned into the kiss. It was as if the hesitance he felt and fear of her lashing out faded away as soon as she returned his kiss. As he brought his hand up and wrapped his fingers around the back of her neck, her hand slid from the back of his hand, down his arm, then up to his bicep when he pulled her lips tighter to his and brushed his tongue across her bottom lip. She was half tempted to meet his tongue with her own but feared that it would push them to a point of no return, which would be moving too fast at this point for her, and she wasn’t capable of doing so. It surprised her she was even kissing him at his point. Yes, they knew each other from the past. They both loved each other back then and seemed that they still did today, but this wasn’t like her. She didn’t just kiss anyone, no matter how well she thought she knew them. Not to mention, this was Duke, who was practically a bother to Dean. 

It almost felt like she was going from one brother to the other, but she still couldn’t deny that she had feelings for Duke that had lingered from their past. Yes, she was with Dean back then, but she had loved Duke as well. Her love was just stronger for Dean then. Back then, they were her everything; they were all she had, so of course, she loved them both dearly and would have done anything for them. That still stood true today. When Duke carefully broke the kiss and brushed his fingertips across her cheek, her eyes opened slowly to meet his gaze and bright smile with flushed cheeks as he scanned her eyes. She couldn’t stop the smile that came to her lips as she held his gaze and took in his words. “You don’t have to tell me. I know you have.” she whispered with a light laugh when he smiled widely and chuckled. She was about to say more when he moved his fingers down to her chin and brushed his thumb across her bottom lip, and spoke again. 

Her eyes dropped from his and her cheeks flushed more in embarrassment from the unintentional sharing of her own emotions, followed by a light, nervous laugh. With her eyes averted away from him, Esme missed him leaning in for another kiss but kissed him back when his lips met hers, noticing the excitement behind it. She slightly smirked behind the kiss as she freed her hand from his and placed it upon his bare chest. She then pushed him back just enough to break the kiss, but to where her lips lightly brushed his. “Easy there, Cowboy.” she whispered against his lips, her smirk growing. Softly brushing her nose against his, she kissed him again, deepening it a bit more than the last one. Her mind soon drifted to the same things Duke was thinking about. She wasn’t sure what this meant either, other than there was a spark of some sort between them.

She wasn’t sure where they stood or even sure if this was a mistake or not. Did she care at that moment that it could possibly be a mistake? No, she didn’t at all. Would things come to light later to show if it was right or not? Yes, it probably would when they least expected it to. Would the others have a problem with it once they found out? She couldn’t say if they would or not. What she was sure of was that she was perfectly content there with him. All the nervousness and fear of being touched she felt earlier had faded away and had been replaced with a calmness that made her melt into Duke's touch and kisses. She also knew that she just wanted him to hold her close and not let her go. The pizza could wait. She just wanted to live in the moment and hold on to it for as long as she could until someone or something interrupted it.