Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the series, The Mortal Instruments. The characters belong to Cassandra Clare.

Jace crouched down eyeing the window before he jumped. Easily, he landed on the roof just outside of his girlfriends room. He pulled the window up, thankful that it was unlocked, and slide inside as he closed it back.

Clary was lying down under the covers on her bed, but her eyes were opened and she smiled at him as he entered the bed. Soundlessly sliding under the covers, taking extra precaution not to touch her.

"Hey." Clary whispered into the dark, rolling on her side to face him.

"Hello." Jace smiled, even though he couldn't touch her or kiss her like he really wanted, just being with her was enough to make his heart swell.

"How did you get past Maryse?" She asked, locking her green eyes on his. Jace's heart did a flip.

He smirked, "I told her that I was going to see my girlfriend. When she said no, I walked out of the front door anyway."

"Jace, you should listen to her." Clary scolded half heartedly.

"Would you rather I stayed home?" He scooted closer to her, touching her bed-sheet covered hip.

Clary sighed, "I don't want you getting into trouble."

"Clary, it's alright." Jace said, "Maryse knows I can protect myself, hell, now I can without even touching someone. In retrospect it makes everything so much easier."

She was suddenly angry, "Trust me, I know, if anyone touches you they are immediately burned! You don't have to keep reminding me!"

Jace frowned, "Clary, the Silent Brothers are working on it. They have never seen anything like this before, I'm sorry, I know we were just getting physical and-"

"Do you want to work on it?" Clary asked as his hand fell to his side and he frowned.

Jace shook his head quickly, "We can't. I won't hurt you."

"That's right. You won't." Clary scooted closer to him, gently pushing his hair away from his eyes. He flinched away from her, Clary sighed, she knew why he did it, but it still hurt the same.

"I'm sorry." He narrowed his eyes, "Dammit, this is so frustrating. I want to hold you and kiss you."

"Then let's practice, Jace." She sounded desperate even to her own ears, "Practice makes perfect, you know."

"Clary, I would love to practice, but let me practice on a demon first." He suggested.

"A demon?" Clary rose her eyebrows.

"Why not?" Jace smirked, "Haven't you ever wanted to go to third base with a demon?"

She stared at him, "I've never really thought about it, to be honest."

"Interesting." A grin tugged at his lips as Clary giggled.

"So are we not going to practice at all?" Clary asked when he nodded, "Jace, we're a couple. Are we not supposed to kiss or touch or hold hands?"

Jace's eyes filled with sadness at her tone, "I'm sorry. I just- I don't want to hurt you. Give me a little time to learn how to control the fire."

"Fine." Clary huffed in annoyance as she fell down on the bed and got comfortable, "I'm going to sleep."

Jace chuckled without humor, "That's alright with me, I love to watch you sleep."

Clary rolled over, her chest just an inch from touching his chest, her nose almost touching his. Their gazes locked. "That's a shame, Jace." She whispered, "Because all of the movies say that what I'm wearing really excites a man. Almost so much that he can't take his hands off her."

Jace swallowed and his eyes widened, "What are you wearing?"

Clary's smile was slow, "I'm glad you asked."

She glanced down at the bed sheets covering her body and pushed them down, revealing her silky, red nightgown with her black bra showing underneath it. She heard a sharp gasp and small moaning sound come from the man in front of her. Clary looked up, seeing Jace's nearly black eyes and his mouth wide open. Clary lifted up her hand and held it like a peace offering between their two bodies.

"Hold my hand, Jace."

"That's not what I want to hold right now."

"Jace," Clary whispered again, raising the hand and shaking it slightly, trying to get his vision on the hand and off her body. If what she guessed would happen, happened, he would be touching that later. "Hold my hand."

"Clary, I don't know about-" Finally, his looked to her hand and then her eyes.

She cut him off, "You won't hurt me. As far as I know, you can't. Not even if you wanted to."

"I don't ever want to hurt you." He looked back down at her hand as if it were a weapon. His hands were still neatly folded in his lap.

"You won't." Clary repeated, "You love me, Jace, you won't hurt me. Now, hold my hand."

Jace glanced up, locking eyes with her for a few moments, then ever so slowly, his hand lifted and reached for hers. Their fingers knotted together the way they always did and Jace's eyes flashed to hers, checking to see if she was hurt. But, she wasn't. Clary half expected tiny flames to come out of his hands at their contact, but that didn't happen. All she felt was the warm, comforting, electric shock that flew threw her vines and into her heart whenever Jace touched her.

"See?" She asked, looking back at him evenly, "I told you."

Jace smiled softly, "That's great. At least now I know that I can hold your hand. But let's not push it."

"Since when do you obey the rules?" Clary gently placed her other hand on his cheek, fingertips only touching his skin. She wasn't hesitant but by the look on Jace's face, she started slow because she didn't want him to throw her hand off. Slowly, she laid her hand flat against his cheek, and smiled. "See?"

"Clary..." Her name was just a whisper as Clary started to lean in. "I can't control it when I get too excited."

"It's alright," She whispered, getting closer and closer to his lips. "Just kiss me, Jace."

His protests were dissolved as he moved his look to her lips. The yearning and emotion was clear in his eyes and reminded her of a much worse time. She knew it was mirrored in her eyes.

They had kissed before, pecked really, when he had the heavenly fire inside of him. However, Jace knew that she wasn't asking for that, he knew what she wanted. What they both craved for. Ever so slowly, ever so carefully, Jace gently touched his lips to hers. He immediately sighed happily at the contact, as he started to move his lips against hers.

Clary's hand against his cheek started to move back as she twined it in his hair, pulling him close. They leaned into each other and the kiss started to grow more passionate, more heavy. Just as Clary was going to make this kiss deeper, she felt a spark - a quick heat of fire passing through his lips to hers- Jace jumped back.

Before he could ask, Clary spoke, "It's okay. It didn't hurt."

"Are you sure?" Jace's eyes opened and he watched her.

Their face's were still inches apart, "Yes." She gently moved the hair off his forehead, "Jace, I told you we could kiss."

He smiled slightly, "Yeah, I guess you were right. Go on and say, 'I told you so'."

Clary laughed lightly, "I will, after we get a little bit more of a make out."

"Clary, I think that's enough for tonight." It seemed painful for him to say.

"Really? Because I was starting to like the literal idea of baby-I'm-on-fire-when-we kiss."

Jace licked his lips, "I won't let that happen. You can dream about it all you want, but I will not hurt you."

"Alright more practice, tomorrow, then." She said. "Let's go to sleep."

"Wait, hold on." He pulled her back up as she started to lay down, "Sorry, babe, but if I can't touch I want to look." He said, motioning with his free hand to her nightgown. His eyes followed his hand, the gold turning black as he kept looking down and up her body.

Clary shook her head, removing her hand from his hair, "How long is this going to last?"

"All night." He replied hungirly.

Clary whispered, "Do I get anything in return? Are you not going to touch me at all?"

"You can ask me to strip anytime you want." Jace smiled, locking his gaze with hers as his hand gently touched her waist. "As for the touching," He glanced at his hand and then back at her, "Practice makes perfect, right?"

"Pervert." Clary giggled as he continued to watch her body and touch her clothed skin.

A/N: Thanks for reading!