“Thanks.” My expression softens and all the doubts in that crevice of mine no longer feel as heavy or as suffocating as before.
The displeasure that clung to Reuben moments ago also seems to have disappeared. His shoulders are much more relaxed and he looks relieved for all of two seconds before a teasing light enters his eyes.
He leans in close to my ear and my heart does a little jump in my chest when his scent envelops me, “So what do I usually smell like?” His voice has dropped to a soft tenor that sends a fierce fire through my body. He’s too close again. If I lean forward even a little, I’d be able to touch one of the marks on his neck with my lips. A pink bruise that tempts me. The urge to drag my tongue over it is unexpected. Would he hold his breath if I did? Would his heartbeat staggerlike mine?
Before he can back away enough to take a look at my face, I’m covering his eyes quickly with my palm. My dick is hard and I want to bite him. Still, he doesn’t move away from me, and his smile becomes even more devastating. So much so that I’m staring at his lips and biting my own.
“You really hate when I read you.” His voice is simultaneously stoking a heat inside me and sinking into my erection.
Ever since that night in the church he’s been mesmerizing me. His voice. The fucking marks on his neck. The ribbon in his hair. The way he looks at me—alwaysthe way he looks at me—
The way he took my side. The way he comforted me on the ship. The things I’ve shared that suddenly feel like I’ve opened the door much too wide.
Reuben Taiga has successfully burrowed beneath my skin, becauseneedis coiling inside me like a spring, making me want to stroke myself off right now.
“Your turn.” I ignore his question in an attempt to drive the heat away. “How are you able to read me so well? What’s your secret?”
He whistles, “So we’re trading secrets now.” He looks so fucking pleased with himself, the crazy bastard.
I’m waiting for him to answer but he doesn’t. The room is quiet, and I’m watching his expression become something hesitant, something genuine.
“I… can see other people’s emotions.” His confession is not at all what I expected. “Whether I want to or not. I can tell when you’re sad. Or when you’re upset. When you’re lying… When you’re breaking.”
Fuck. In this moment that couldn’t be anything worse than my fucking nightmare.
Not when my dick is pulsing beneath my pants and I keep staring at his lips.
“You can… see them?” As strange as it sounds, somehow I know he’s not lying, “What do they look like?”
It’s the first time I’m seeing him look so hesitant. That alone tells me how much he’s chosen to give me. “Like a haze of colours.” His voice is soft. “It can bemurky or cloudy or bright. It depends on the person.”
“… Does it get too much for you?”
He smiles. “No. I’m used to it.”
“So even if I ask you not to read me anymore,” I swallow, “you won’t be able to?”
“No. I’m just like you. I can’t turn it off.” His fingers reach for mine to remove them from his face.
“But your emotions to me…” his voice has fallen into a whisper, “are the prettiest.”
My need intensifies like a fever.
“I wouldn’t ever want to stop seeing them.”
Fuck.
I apply more pressure on his eyes before he can remove my fingers, “Step back.”
His body stiffens. For a moment, I'm not sure if he's going to listen to me, but after a controlled breath, he steps back. My hand is still around his eyes when I’m able to reach the door handle. I feel bad, but I open the door and push him back out into the hallway.
“I can’t have you seeing my emotions anymore.”
The moment I remove my hand, I’m closing the door quietly in his face, “Sorry.”
The fever beneath my skin is too much. My hand is flat on the door when I reach into my pants and pull out my dick. I know he’s still there, hovering on the other side. But the fever has spread to my mind too quickly, and I’m stroking myself once. Twice.
The feeling is new. Foreign. It feels fucking amazing but still, I wish it was Reuben touching me.
