This time he was was ready for it and kissed back, an arm slipping around her waist and nestling in the small of her back. Once he had pulled away, he couldn't bring himself to meet her gaze. It was a shock to the system to release the tethers on that part of him he kept shut away at all times and an unknowable fear made his blood run icy. Instead he focuses his attention on other things; the curve of her lip, the heat of her fingers against his skin, the weight of her shell and the sense of implacability that it ever lent her.

He was going to need guiding through this.