16. Like the Light #2
She was certain Driz could feel and hear how fast her heart was beating. And Pearl knew, if she’d had blight in her senses, she’d have been able to hear Driz’s too, her wings in a state of constant fluttering.
“Like this?” Driz asked.
“Yes. Now kiss me again.”
Driz obeyed, eagerly and more boldly leaning in and pressing her lips to Pearl’s. Bringing their bare chests together.
Driz’s hand slipped out of the way, spanning around Pearl’s ribs, sliding down to her hips. The light drag of her claws and rumbling growl traveled straight between Pearl’s spread legs.
Wings snapped open, sending out a scattering of dust and debris from the force of the movement. Driz tore herself away, leaning back, her eyes wide and her breath quick.
The arousal between them was thick. Pearl almost pushed for more. To continue. To reach between them and discover if Driz was as wet as she was.
But the almost frightened look on Driz’s face made Pearl behave.
“Too fast?” Pearl asked.
“No.” Driz shook her head, but Pearl thought that might’ve been the closest thing to a lie Driz had told.
Pearl started to pull her shirt back together, but Driz stopped her.
“No,” Driz repeated, and the single word churned Pearl’s belly.
So Pearl released her button again and let her hands fall.
Driz caught them, grasping them as she simply stared.
Her gaze roamed over Pearl’s stomach and breasts and throat, up over her face, and back down again, as if drinking Pearl up.
Pearl took the opportunity to do some staring of her own, until the heat of their contact faded and the chill of the night made her shiver.
Driz frowned. “You are cold.”
“A little.”
Driz pulled her against her once more, so Pearl’s nose was tucked into Driz’s neck, her cheek on Driz’s broad shoulder as wings curled around them both. “I will keep you warm.”
The promise made Pearl’s eyes sting. How annoying. It must’ve been the dust.
Pearl knew she shouldn’t be here. She was losing sleep and starting to desire things she couldn’t have. It would all crumble soon, like everything else. The world wouldn’t let Pearl keep someone as good as Driz.
She tilted her head back, peering through the wild mane of hair at the plateau and star-studded sky beyond.
“I should go home,” Pearl whispered.
Driz’s hold tightened ever so slightly before it loosened.
Pearl sat back and did up her buttons. Driz didn’t stop her again, but she still watched her closely. Pearl avoided her eyes and noticed Driz did not redo her own shirt. When she stood and pulled Pearl to her chest to fly back, Pearl could still feel all of her pressed against her.
“Let me take you to town,” Driz offered.
“No, the ravine’s fine.”
“It is easy for me to—”
“I can walk.”
Pearl couldn’t let anyone know who she was meeting. Or allow anyone to get within shooting range of Driz.
Driz brought her back to the ravine as directed, landing and straightening with Pearl still around her, setting her gently on her feet. It was indeed late, and Pearl had a mile walk back to town. She reluctantly unwound her arms from around the strong, warm neck.
Driz chased her as she stepped back, pressing one more kiss to her lips.
Pearl smiled, tempted to melt back into her. But Pearl wasn’t that woman. She needed to put space between them. “Good night.”
“Will I see you tomorrow?”
Pearl hesitated, knowing she shouldn’t promise, but foolishly wishing she could.
“Please?”
“Maybe.”
The front door creaked as Pearl closed it slowly.
“Where’ve you been?”
Pearl jumped out of her skin. Her mother sat at the kitchen table in the dark. “Have you been here waiting for me all night?”
“Answer the question.”
“I’ve been out.”
“Where?”
“None of your business.”
“Don’t do it again.”
“Since when’ve I had a curfew?”
“Since you started lying to me.”
Pearl huffed. “Yeah. Right. Whatever.”
“I mean it. It’s dangerous.” Sheriff Oak stood.
“I’m nearly thirty years old, Ma.”
“Then act like it.”
Anger simmered in Pearl. She’d had too much of an amazing night for this. She still wore the sensation of Driz pressed all over her. “Where d’you think I was? Where were you nearly every night this week? Don’t make rules you wanna break.”
“This is still my house, my rules,” Sheriff Oak said, her voice hard and tinged with that stubbornness that Pearl knew meant she wouldn’t hear reason with just words.
“Fine.” Pearl yanked open the door and strode back out into the night.
“Pearl!”
Pearl didn’t look back, instead scuffing her way a few doors down and around the back, climbing up Molly’s rear porch.
Buster snored loudly in his overstuffed bed.
Pearl sank down beside him, moving one large paw so she could settle her head, using it as a pillow.
His tail thumped a few times, and then he started snoring again.
The covered porch shielded them from the wind.
It wasn’t the first time Pearl had slept here, and she doubted it’d be the last.
The porch steps creaked beneath one regular boot and one wood, and she hastily shut her eyes. Her mother moved past and sank down in Molly’s rocking chair.
They were both silent for a while, as Pearl ignored her and Sheriff Oak rocked.
“Come home, Pea,” her mother finally said. “Please.”
“I don’t owe you an explanation of my every move.”
“No, you don’t.”
Pearl sat up and glared at her mother. “So you’ll drop it?”
Sheriff Oak’s jaw ticked. “For now.”
It was as much as Pearl was going to get.