Rose
I can’t stop kissing Abel. I’d never found so much appeal in the idea of pressing my mouth to another individual’s for the sake of lust or some fleeting sentiment. Not until he touched his lips to mine like he was asking a question.
Or taking the answer from me.
I’m not as skilled as he is when it comes to letting my body express my emotions, but that doesn’t bother me. He makes me feel too good to worry about anything other than what his tongue is doing with mine; a slow roll that is somehow mimicked deep in my abdomen. He makes me feel like he might be mine to keep, after all.
He quiets the constant roar in my head and makes it sound more like a lullaby; something that could maybe come second to him.
His fingers curl against my cheek and slide down to graze the side of my breast. If I ever lit someone on fire, it wouldn’t hold a candle to how hot my skin feels right now.
“You’re everything I imagined.”
His lips move down to my neck as he says those words and I shiver against him, my hands in his hair. Those soft curls brush over my skin as he moves his tongue over my pulse. How is this feeling so sensational? He’s rolling his taste buds over my skin like I’m some sort of delicacy.
We’ve been in here for what feels like hours and when someone enters the restroom, Abel presses his fingertips against my lips as he climbs on the toilet seat. I’m still sitting on the floor and I’m happily stunned, immobile, weakened by him.
“Ms. Montgomery?” A timid voice calls the question out like they’re afraid of my answer.
My eyes shoot to the stall door and I clear my throat. “I’m not feeling well,” I lie, wishing they’d leave us here forever.
“Do you need anything?”
Her voice is getting closer and I start to panic. “No. Just leave me alone!”
I look up at Abel and he shrugs, tilting his flattened hand with his fingers spread to one side and then the other, his lips pressed firmly together as if he’s telling me to be nicer. Fine.
“Please,” I add quickly. “I’ll be out soon.”
“Are you sure?” Her question rings out even closer and I try not to panic.
I stand and open the stall door to show her that I’m alive and well.
The nurse backs away quickly, knocking into the paper towel dispenser as her eyes widen. To her, she’s alone in the bathroom with a monster, capable of harming her. To me, she’s a minor annoyance that I wish would leave me alone.
The distance between our realities isn’t lost on me.
“I’ll be out shortly,” I mutter, glaring at her from her clogs, up her gray scrubs, ending at her flushed face.
She nods and turns away to walk out. Once I see she’s gone, I lock myself back in the stall. Abel is already climbing down from the toilet and I yank him to me, cutting off his chuckle with a quick kiss.
Kiss.
One word, four letters, and I feel like it’s not enough. The English language should’ve spared more letters. Maybe all twenty-six, used several times.
It shouldn’t take something named with four letters to change my whole world but that’s where I am now. Looking at things a little differently.
All because I’ve been kissed by a man who promised to set me free.
I can’t sleep. Instead, I turn over and over in my bed, sure that hours have passed and nearly wishing I counted them because then I’d know how long I’ve gone without Abel’s presence. I look over at the windows, one of its bars half covering the moon from my vantage point.
There’s a sound at my door but when I look over, I see no one.
My door opens, and I frown because the nurse has already done her bed check. I saw her pasty face in the window of my door some time ago.
But when I see Abel crouching inside, I jump off the bed and hug him. “What are you doing?” I whisper, aware that I’ve never experienced this sort of physical reaction to anyone in my life. “They could’ve caught you.”
He shakes his head and pushes the door shut behind him so the click of it is quiet enough to miss hearing. “I’ve already figured out which ways to go to avoid the cameras.” He places his hands on my cheeks and presses a quick, hard kiss to my mouth. “I promised you I’d get us outta here and I’m working on it. I’ll get you out of here, .”
I kiss him softer and he steps forward so I have no choice but to step back. This happens, step after step, until I’m being lowered onto my bed. My hands reach for the skin beneath his shirt again and I feel the lines my nails made earlier. I reach higher on his back, so I’m running my fingers down his spine and he takes my lower lip between his teeth. A gentle tug unlike the way I drag my nails against his skin. I am rough and relentless, and he is romantic and real .
When he rolls his hips into mine, I gasp at the hardness I feel against me, and he pulls away with a grin.
“I’m not gonna fuck you, espinita . Not today, anyway.” He pulls my arms away from his body, sets them on the bed with determination, and drops a kiss to my forehead. “Not today, but definitely someday.”
He’s out of my room quickly and quietly. Only the way his natural scent lingers proves that I hadn’t dreamed his presence.
Can words reach out and touch you?
Can they stroke you and make your skin heat with something you’ve never felt before?
Desire.
Are words capable of such things?
Every moment with Abel makes him seem more and more like some mythical creature that can love a monster.
No, Abel is a mythical creature that can make a monster fall in love with him .