He doesn’t sputter as much as I expected him to. I think he’s felt the shift between us just as keenly as I have. Of course, he moves slowly, like I’m an animal he doesn’t want to spook, but there’s no real hesitance in it.
He stops when his chest is an inch from mine, keeping his hands to himself. He’s a little bit taller than me, so I tilt my chin up to look at him, trying to keep a confident expression on my face as I lick my lips.
“Have you ever kissed anyone before?” he asks, his voice low and honeyed in a way that makes my blood rush.
I shake my head.
“I never saw the appeal. Until now.”
Colm is serious, but I can see the pleasure lurking behind his eyes. Who doesn’t love to feel special? And it’s not a lie. He is very fucking special, for some reason.
He leans in even closer, then decides to put two fingers under my chin so he can tilt my head back a little more. I comply, and then barely have the chance to blink before he presses his lips against mine.
His lips are warm and he kisses me firmly, but not messily. I can’t help but tense at first, but it’s not as unpleasant as I might have feared. In a few seconds, I find myself softening into it. I reach forward as well, slipping a few fingers into the front of his jeans so I can pull him closer to me.
Colm takes a half step, and then we’re finally pressed together, chest to hips. It’s nice. Weird, but warm. Like he’s a wall between me and the rest of the world.
I part my lips a fraction, and Colm takes the invitation for what it is. His tongue slips into my mouth and it feels natural to do the same in response. By the time he wraps an arm around my waist to hold me tight to him, my heart is racing and my poor, exhausted cock is attempting to summon an erection for the occasion.
Nothing goes further. It feels easy for a while to stand there, close together, kissing languidly under the desert stars. I’ve never in my life pined for this kind of closeness but now that it’s here, I understand a little more what the fuss is about.
When we finally break apart, Colm spends a long minute hovering close to me, all breathy and flushed like he gets when we fuck.
“Okay?”
“Good job, little rabbit. Top marks.”
He smiles again, small and sincere, and then finally pries himself away from my body. Neither of us says anything else, because there’s nothing else to say. Eventually, we’ll have to figure out what we’re doing here. But right now, I feel utterly content to justbe.
Chapter Eighteen
Colm
San Francisco is crowded and loud. I have lived over a quarter of my life span—probably more, if we’re being honest about my future—and I have got to finally admit that I don’t fucking like cities.
All the people on top of people reminds me of the group homes and behavioral units I grew up in. I’m used to never being truly alone. It’s not like the Banna are quiet to live with. But this is too much.
I didn’t say anything, but when we got out to Possum Hollow for the first time, I felt like I could really breathe. And it’s not like we were in a San Francisco-sized metropolis to begin with.
We drove here without stopping after the incident with the Aryans. Now that the tracker is gone, I think we’ve finally shaken them off our trail. Or hopefully killed enough that their whole grudge doesn’t seem so important anymore. Either way, it seemed to be worth powering through and putting some distance between us and the crime scene.
Luckily, I bought spare plates with us, so we’ve switched them out twice and now we are safe and anonymous in the city. The loud, busy city.
As soon as we got here, we ate, showered and crashed, sleeping for well over 16 hours. I woke up once to have a brief conversation with Kaitlyn, and she’s working on getting us into some casino where she says her trail leads. I’d rather ask her straight up where Ellery is, because that’s the real goal of this whole shenanigan, but I’m not convinced she wouldn’t warn them and send Ellery scurrying for cover.
I have no idea whether they’re genuinely avoiding Fallow or they just took the opportunity to run and didn’t think about what it would mean to leave him behind. My guess is on the latter, although he definitely suspects the former. Either way, I don’t want to risk it.
Bright light is filtering in around the thick motel curtain the next time I open my eyes. I’m groggy and tempted to go back to sleep, but as soon as my stomach rumbles, I realize there’s more important things to take care of. I sit up enough for a full-body stretch and look around for Fallow.
He’s still asleep beside me. By the time we were looking for a motel room last night it was getting late, and we were both exhausted to the point of delirious. We found one with vacancies and parked quickly. By the time we’d walked in with our bags, the motel would have had to be on fire for me to not stay there. I looked at Fallow for objections when the woman behind the desk told us they only had king beds available, no double rooms.
He just shrugged, like it was no big deal. And I’m at the point where I’ll take any excuse to be close to him that he doesn’t seem to find objectionable. I was careful not to touch him through the whole process leading up to bed, and we fell asleep with our bodies on opposite sides of the mattress but facing each other.
It felt calm, and more normal than I expected. Fallow didn’t say much, but whenever he did, it was in a soft voice that contributed to the peaceful atmosphere. Right now, it’s difficult to remember why we ever have to leave this room.
I don’t mean to stare, but I definitely do, and Fallow catches me when his eyes blink open. He’s hazy for a minute and then focuses on me, eventually curling his lip in that specific smile that says he’s about to tease me for something.
“Is this a Sleeping Beauty/Prince Charming situation? Or are you heartbroken that I didn’t wake you up to fuck this time.”
