Preview of CROSS//Process #4
What she liked the most? How much hesitation tamed Cairn’s lips as if she weren’t sure this was the right moment for them to confront their mutual longing. Or maybe it was how long a single second could last. Or two. Or three.
Sulim swore a thousand years lurked on those lips.
Who needed thoughts? Who cared for protocol?
The door was locked. The few minutes they had to themselves before someone inevitably arrived to rouse Cairn’s attentions were theirs.
This room was their private hideaway. Sulim’s body may have trembled, but it wasn’t out of fear.
Every inch of her was prepared to give herself over to instinct.
She knew how this worked. Just because she had never participated before, didn’t mean she hadn’t seen a movie or read a book.
Or seen what other people do around here when they think nobody else is looking. Or when they knew someone was looking…
Sulim didn’t want anyone watching them. Not only for their safety but because the thought of having Cairn all to herself was too delicious to turn down.
Take me away from this place. Whisk me away to wherever you go when you’re indulging in your vices.
Already Sulim knew this was her poison of choice.
Yet how could it be poison? That body beneath her hands was young, strong, and ready.
That tongue tasting her throat didn’t lack in character.
Cairn had done what she needed to survive, but that didn’t make her a bad person.
Sulim was prepared to stake her honor on that claim.
As soon as those heavy eyes and those parted lips came back for hers.
The worst thing wouldn’t have been being caught.
It would have been passing up the opportunity to show Cairn how much Sulim wanted this too.
She wasn’t afraid of doing something wrong.
She was willing to learn. This was a girl prepared to survive the Void knew what if it meant seeing this person again.
The one responsible for me being here. It wasn’t falling for her captor.
Not if her captor was the person she was always meant to be with.
The person she was meant to love.
Take me away from this door. Sulim wanted to push Cairn toward the bed but was afraid it would be misconstrued as her changing her mind.
Take me to bed. How could she say that, though, when she couldn’t bring herself to stop kissing those damnable lips?
Breath was unheard of now. This was who Sulim was.
Sulim swore Cairn’s hand was about to reach beneath her sweat-drenched shirt. She was about to touch Sulim in ways she never knew could feel so good.
Yet it wasn’t someone knocking on the door that interrupted the heat flowing into Sulim’s body. It was Cairn, who slowly pulled her mouth away and waited for Sulim to refocus her cloudy gaze.
“I think that’s good for now.”
After being lifted to such intimate heights, Sulim was about to crash back down to the earth. “Ah…”
“We don’t want to go too far tonight. What would you have to look forward to when you come back?”
Sulim pursed her lips and blew out the breath that had been holding her lungs hostage for the last minute. At least she didn’t worry about her mouth being dry. Not with someone like Cairn stroking a knuckle against Sulim’s cheek—a parting gift, and nothing more.
“Do you promise?”
“What?” Cairn’s ruthless grins knew how to trap Sulim in a fantasy of her own making. “That I’ll finish our business when you get back? I always keep my word.”
“But—”
“But, but, but.” Cairn backed away, pulling her shirt into place and stretching her arms behind her. “I thought you were more patient than this.”
“Maybe I’m not patient when it comes to you!”
“If I’ve refrained from pulling you into my bed for a whole year…” Cairn sat on that bed now, hands dangling between her legs. “I can wait a couple more weeks. You’re a woman worth waiting for, aren’t you? Why? Don’t think you could wait for me? I thought you wanted me to be your first.”
Sulim shrugged her acceptance of the situation off her shoulders. “I do.”
“You’re sure of that?”
“I thought you didn’t like playing these games.”
Cairn almost looked like she wasn’t going to say her next cheesy line. “It’s kinda fun when it’s someone like you, and I have the upper hand.”
Now that some clarity returned to Sulim’s mind, she said the one thing that would kill the mood. “What about the chief?”
“What about her?”
Sulim didn’t know what to say to that.
“You won’t have to worry about her with me around. When I have something that I think is worth protecting…”
Sulim gestured to the patch over Cairn’s right eye. “Don’t go doing stupid shit for me.”
That garnered her a haughty laugh. “Who do you think you are? My girlfriend? I’ll do all the stupid shit I please.”
She pulled her shirt over her head. Although she wore her bra beneath, Sulim had not been prepared for the sudden display of abdominal strength and a pair of biceps that put hers to shame.
It almost allowed her to ignore the scars and fresh bruises that covered Cairn’s chest and back. “If I think it’s worth it.”
Sulim unlocked the door. “When I get back…”
Cairn flung herself back on her bed. “I’m all yours, princess.”
That was Sulim’s cue to leave before she did something stupid.