Chapter 16
Chapter
Sixteen
GHOST
I don’t know if I’ve ever slept that hard in my life.
No dreams, no nightmares, no flashbacks or night sweats, just blissful sleep.
The steady sound of Alessio’s breathing sets me strangely at ease before I’ve even opened my eyes, and I could write fucking sonnets about the way his silk sheets feel against my skin.
A smile unexpectedly tugs at the corners of my lips.
Is this what it feels like to wake up happy?
My heart stutters, but I try not to let the shadows lurking in the corners of my mind pull me under.
I’m not naive. I know nothing stays perfect forever.
If you can even call this perfect considering Alessio is worried that his boss might lose his shit or try to kill me, and I’m afraid to feel his hands on my skin.
I think I like our fucked-up version of perfect though. Messy and uncertain feels more real.
But still, I’m aware that this could all fall apart. That it’s likely to fall apart sooner or later. I want to see it through, though. I want to know if two fucked-up people can have a future together.
I’m getting ahead of myself. There’s no future until the Reapers are dealt with. Until then, all I have is the past, with its sharp claws dug so deep into my back that I can’t shake it loose no matter how hard I try. I want a future like I never have before though, and that’s something.
I lift my heavy eyelids and roll over to face Alessio.
Even in his sleep, he left a foot of space between us on the bed so he wouldn’t accidentally touch me.
My heartbeat stutters again, but in a way that feels light this time.
He doesn’t want to hurt me… not even accidentally.
I don’t know why that realization is only sinking in for the first time right now when he’s been nothing but the perfect, needy, obedient sub since the night I met him, but it is.
And it makes it feel possible that eventually I could get past some of my shit and let him touch me.
Instead of recoiling or feeling nauseous at the thought of his fingers dancing over my skin, a warm feeling floods my belly.
I watch his eyelids flutter in his sleep and I let myself imagine the two of us lying in bed completely naked, Alessio splayed on top of me, both of us sweaty from a good, hard fuck, as he uses his fingertips to trace the lines of my tattoos.
Fuck, I want that. I want it as much as I want every last Sleepless Reaper dead.
I don’t know if he can feel me watching him like a total creep, but his eyelids flutter again and then ease open. His gaze is unfocused for a few seconds. He blinks a couple of times before a smile stretches slowly across his face.
“Morning,” he croaks.
“Morning.” I take a chance and scoot a few inches closer, leaving only half as much space between us.
Obviously, I wasn’t going to sleep in my leather gloves, jacket, or jeans, so I’m more naked right now than I’ve been around another person in seven years.
I have on a T-shirt and a pair of boxer briefs, and after a quick shower last night, he came to bed in nothing but a pair of blue lace panties.
He must be a warm sleeper, because he kicked the sheets off himself at some point during the night.
All of his smooth skin and dark hair look so damn soft and tempting, begging for me to run my hands all over him, to feel the heat of his body without my gloves in the way.
There’s no reason I shouldn’t. I’ve never really been worried that putting my bare hands on someone would trigger me, it just felt like a safe barrier from the world and everyone in it.
And maybe it didn’t feel fair to touch someone else if I wasn’t going to let them touch me.
The way he’s looking longingly at my hand resting on the bed between us though, I don’t think he’s worried about what’s fair.
I reach out and run my index finger along his collarbone.
His skin is even softer and warmer than I imagined.
He shudders, and a quiet moan works its way through my throat.
I inch a little bit closer and press my whole hand against his chest, feeling the tickle of his chest hair under my palm and the uptick of his heartbeat as it goes from a slow, sleepy pace to racing in a matter of seconds.
“Did you leave the plug in last night like I told you to?” I ask gruffly.
My cock is already stiff and aching to be buried inside one of his warm, tight holes.
I had no idea that after seven years of not feeling another person’s body with my bare hands, the lightest touch would be better than any foreplay I’ve ever had.
Or maybe it’s just because it’s Alessio I’m touching.
He nods. “Yes, Sir.”
Another moan builds in my throat, and I take an even bigger chance, throwing off the sheets and rolling on top of him.
Now it’s not just my hand on his chest, but a dozen places where I can feel the warmth of his skin against mine.
My bare thighs straddle his, our bellies are touching where my T-shirt is riding up, my feet are brushing against his calves…
He lies still underneath me though, his hands fisting the sheets and his hard cock straining against the delicate lace of his panties. I slide my hand from the center of his chest up to his throat and press lightly as I lean in to bring our mouths within kissing distance.
“I died seven years ago, Alessio, and I’ve been a ghost ever since,” I murmur. “But you make me feel alive again.”
“Spettro,” he sighs, tilting his chin to beg so sweetly for a kiss.
I’m aching for it too, to feel his mouth, to swallow his panting breaths and desperate moans, but I don’t kiss him just yet.
I rock my hips, dragging the stiff length of my cock against his, the sensation just barely muted by the thin fabric of our underwear.
He gasps and I lick his parted lips, then pull myself away from him.
“No,” he gasps, gripping the sheets harder.
I chuckle and squeeze my cock, then slip my underwear off and kick them aside.
“Relax, slut, I’m coming right back. Take off your panties, spread your whore legs, and grab the headboard.”
“Fuck.” He groans, scrambling to do exactly what I told him to.
“How do you always know exactly how to talk to me? I’ve played with other Doms, and none of them could get it quite right.
They were either too polite or too degrading, but you know just the right words to make me feel used and sexy at the same time. ”
I know he doesn’t mean anything by it, but the mention of anyone else touching him, even in the past, makes something feral claw at the inside of my chest. I grab the things I got up for—one of his belts and a bottle of lube—and I climb back on top of him.
I toss the lube onto the bed and wrap the belt around his wrists, then loop it around the slats in the headboard.
I check to make sure it’s not too tight, but that he won’t be able to slip out easily, and then I grab his jaw roughly in my hand.
I marvel at the rough feeling of his stubble for a fraction of a second, bringing my lips close to his again so I can feel that trembling strain work its way through his body as he holds himself back from kissing me.
“That’s because you’re mine, slut,” I growl. “No one else will ever know what you need the way I do.”
His breath catches and he nods. “Never, Spettro.”
His words soothe the beast inside me a fraction, and I finally give him what he wants, slamming my mouth into his in a deep, hungry kiss.
With his hands bound and his body willingly at my mercy, I find myself even more greedy to indulge in the feeling of his skin under my hands, running them over his chest and down to his belly as I lick into his mouth.
I drag my fingers through the thick patches of his dark body hair and pinch his nipples roughly when my hands find their way to his chest again.
He feeds me a shuddering gasp and squirms underneath me so I can feel the silky bare skin of his cock against the inside of my thigh.
I sink down and moan from deep in my chest as my naked cock meets his for the first time, hot and velvety, both of us already slick with precum.
“Fuck, you’re such a perfect slut for me, aren’t you?” I pant as I nip at the edge of his jaw and cant my hips to hump our cocks together, reveling in the feeling of our cockheads catching and the blissful pressure of his stiffness against mine.
“Yes, Sir.” His skin is flushed, his lips are damp, and the needy, submissive look in his eyes could probably make me come all on its own if I gave it a few minutes. “Use me, breed me, fucking wreck me any way you want to.”
I groan again and catch his lips in another ravenous kiss, our tongues tangling and our moans crashing into each other in the cavern of our joined mouths.
Alessio gasps when I break the kiss and slide slowly down his body.
I take a brief detour to suck one of his nipples between my teeth, enjoying the keening sound he lets out, and another to dip my tongue into his belly button and watch him squirm.
His cock spasms when I near it, like an overeager puppy perking up for its master, but that’s not where I’m headed.
I grab both of his legs under his knees and press them up towards his chest. He holds them there, his thighs trembling slightly, and I grip the base of his plug to tug it out gently.
Alessio gasps, and his loosened hole clenches immediately, trying to make up for the sudden loss of fullness after so many hours.
I toss the plug aside and drag two fingers along his rim.
It twitches and flutters under my attention and he makes more choked whimpering sounds, his hips twitching as he whispers my name over and over like a prayer.