"And now I'm looking at you," he said, "and you're asking me if I still want you, as if I could stop loving you. As if I would want to give up the thing that makes me stronger that anyone else ever has. I never dared to give much of myself to anyone before , but Clary, since the first time I saw you, I have belonged to you completely. I still do. If you want me." For a split second longer she stood motionless. Then, somehow, she had caught the front of his shirt and pulled him toward her. His arms went around her, lifting her almost out of her sandals, and then he was kissing her -or she was kissing him, she wasn't sure, and it didn't matter. The feel of his mouth on hers was electric; her hands gripped his arms, pulling him hard against her. The feel of his heart pounding through his shirt made her dizzy with joy,. No one else's heart beat like Jace's did, or ever could. He let her go at last and she gasped -she'd forgotten to breath. He cupped her face between his hands, tracing the curve of her cheekbones with his fingers. The light was back in his eyes, as bright as it had been by the lake, but now there was a wicked sparkle to it. "There," he said. "that wasn't so bad, was it, even though it wasn't forbidden?" "I've had worse," she said with a shaky laugh. "You know," he said bending to brush his mouth across hers, "if it's the lack of forbidden you're worried about, you could still forbid me to do things." "What kind of things?" She felt him smile against her mouth. "Things like this."