23 #3
A spark of anger that’s there and gone in a flash, and then she sends a warm feeling down the bond.
I can’t fully comprehend it, and I think she’s done that on purpose, not yet ready to let down all her walls and allow her emotions to flow out freely like mine do, but my pulse still skips several beats.
Or a million. “You are perfect, Alby. I do not like it when you think to insult yourself.” Then she adds bluntly, “If you insult or question yourself, you are insulting and questioning me.”
My eyelids pop wide, and my chin almost smacks my chest as I whip my head up from the pillow to see her better. “I would never!” I rush out.
She’s already looking up at me, and she smirks that cruel smirk of hers.
“That’s a good slut.” Another thousand degrees seeps into my veins and the heat in my cheeks.
With a more serious expression, she tells me, “You felt my pleasure, Alby.
This is not something I would lie to you about.
I admit, I have lied when it comes to my fath— Joseph .
. . but that is an entirely different situation. Do you understand that?
“Yes,” I whisper quickly, and I really do. “I-I’m sorry. I hope I haven’t ruined th—”
A single finger presses to my lips. “You have not. You could not. I understand with your past”—fury like no other yanks the breath from my lungs as it crashes through her at just the thought, and my heart leaps as if it’s grown wings that are flapping with all their might in attempt to get to her—“that this is . . . that your insecurities are ingrained deeply.” Her voice drops, the intensity of her mismatched gaze increasing along with her hot-cinnamon scent as she leans right into me, lips pausing and inch from mine.
My mouth waters instantly, begging for a taste I’ve not yet got today.
“But I am here now. And I will abolish those. I will slay all your demons, my shy boy. I am the only thing allowed to haunt you now.”
Shuddering, there’s too many words, too many feelings, and I can only summarise it all in those three little words when my eyes gloss over, blurring her otherworldly features: “I love you.”
She stares at me for a moment, unmoving, before eventually sending that same warmth down the bond again where I once might have thought there would be nothing but icy coldness, and I melt even further for her.
Eyes dropping to her lips, I then ask timidly, “Can I . . . can I please have a kiss?”
She smiles. “You may.”
Sucking in a quick breath, I move fast, as if she might change her mind, resulting in us meeting halfway.
Butterflies explode in my belly, and my hands shakily move to her shoulders as she kisses me with that unbelievable tenderness, tongue gliding along the seam of my lips.
My gasp gives her the access we both want, and I try to keep up with the movements of her tongue, to be good for her, but I’m still too new to this.
And I’m reminded of her adoration of that fact when glee and possessiveness on velvety smoke trickles through to me, dissolving any embarrassment or insecurity I might’ve had.
Breathing completely out of control again when she pulls away, I’m not thinking as I try to chase her lips, and she laughs again, making my light-headedness even more prominent, especially as she moves back in for a peck.
I don’t miss the way she seems to internally stutter through the still-open bond, like she doesn’t quite know why she kissed me that way either, before she seems to shrug it off.
It’s as if I can sense her storing the information in a box in her mind to unpack for when she sees fit to delve further into her new feelings and, subsequently, behaviour.
Tip of my ear hot to the touch as I nervously brush some hair off it, I smile shyly up a her. Lips twitching up at the corners in response, she shifts to lay her head back down on my chest. “I would like to stay here for a moment.”
She’s telling me what she’s doing, but I could swear it almost sounds like she’s asking for permission, like she really cares about my comfort.
“Of course!” I say faster than lightning, wrapping my arms around her with less hesitancy this time.
“I-I want you to stay. I’d—I’d be happy to stay here forever if we could .
. . just like this . . .” My voice grows quieter at the end.
The nail of her pointer finger slowly draws across my hairless chest. “I am . . .” She seems to search for the right words before starting again, “I am thoroughly content here, too. However, I do need to see my wild one.” I smile for my best friend and brother as I hear unmistakable fondness slipping into her tone.
“I would like to spend some more time with you—five minutes, maybe, and then I will go.”
There’s disappointment in me. Of course there is.
No matter how short an amount of time it’s for, I always want her around.
But I’m happy she’s spending time with all of us, and as much as I like when we’re all with her together, I definitely want these moments alone too.
I’ve never felt so special and at peace than I do right now, and Tiger and my other brothers deserve to feel this way as well.
So I whisper, “Okay . . .” And I hug her to me tighter, soaking up all of her that I can before she has to leave.