My eyes fly open, meeting his in the dark. There’s a sprinkle of color across his face. Is he…blushing? And then it dawns on me. Has he never done this before? Maybe just not with someone who isn’t like him. Do the Shadow People have sex with each other? They must, right? Suddenly, I’m not so sure.
I nod and smile up at him, trying to encourage him. “Go faster,” I tell him. “Harder.”
A wave of black smoke comes off of him, and then his other hand settles on my stomach. He presses into me. He’sholding me down. The hand between my legs starts to pump furiously, hard and fast, and I scream. I wrap my hand around the wrist holding me down. I don’t want to lose the upper hand here. And I don’t think he wants me to lose it either.
“You’re doing so good,” I manage to choke out. “Keep going. Don’t stop. Be a good boy and make me come.”
His eyes spark, and then, to my surprise, something warm and wet splashes across my stomach. My eyes shoot to the gray liquid on my skin. Did he just…?
Seeing his release on me, watching his hand hold me down while the other pumps between my legs. It’s too much. I come,fighting against his hold so I can writhe against his hand. Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, it’s so good.
My body goes limp, and as I lay there, Gabriel slowly takes his hands away from me. I turn my head quickly, wanting to catch a glimpse of his cock, now that I know he definitely has one and is definitely using it, but all I can see are swirling shadows.
I think about asking him to show me, but I’m feeling exhausted and boneless, so instead, I curl into my blankets and close my eyes.
And from somewhere in the depths of my mind, I hear him say,Sleep. I’ll watch over you.
Chapter 5
The sun is bright and high when I wake. My mind plays back the events of last night, and I smile into my pillow. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking, but I certainly did enjoy myself. Gabriel stands in the corner of the room, holding my book open in his hands, the one I brought with me, doing his best to blend in with the shadows. But he stands out like a splash of black paint on a fresh canvas.
For a moment, I just watch him, his head bowed over the page. Everything I’ve been taught is telling me not to trust him. He’s a monster. A stranger. A man who sat outside the cabin where I’m staying and watched me without me knowing, touched me without me knowing, even if it was with his mind.
But when I’m close to him like this, I don’t feel fear. I just feel…safe.
I shift on the bed, and his head comes up, his pitch-black eyes meeting mine.
Do you…write books like this?he asks, and I see that slight hue on his face again, like he’s blushing. I assume he's referring to the very graphic sex scenes in that book. The book that got me so worked up at the kitchen table the first night I got here. It’sanything but mild. It just makes me wonder again what Gabriel’s sexual experience looks like.
“Yes,” I say, even though I haven’t gotten to the point of my book where the couple actually has sex. They will, though, and when they do, it’ll be very explicit. Maybe it’ll even be inspired by what happened last night with Gabriel.
He puts the book down on the little table beside the reading chair and looks at me.Did you sleep well?
I nod. I did sleep well. I usually toss and turn, waking up several times in the night, but last night, I slept hard, like my whole body was exhausted. “You don’t sleep?”
A slight smile curls up the corners of his mouth.No. But I enjoyed watching you. I enjoyed…being here with you.
Now that I know he’s here, I wonder how I didn’t notice him hanging around before he made himself known. “I think I’m going to go into town today,” I tell him.
His shimmer dims, turning him into the color of coal, and I sit up, immediately feeling guilty that I took away his joy. The blanket falls to my waist, and his dark eyes drop to where my breasts are pushing against my tight shirt. “I’ll be back. I just want to see if there’s anyone in town who can help me figure out how to get you severed from this place.”
He does that thing where he moves so quickly that he’s just a gust of wind. And then he’s sitting beside me on the bed, his eyes running over my face.You would do that?he asks, his voice nervous. I think about last night, about how much he needed to be praised and guided. He’s made himself so vulnerable to me.
“Of course, I would. You’re stuck here. You deserve better than that.”
I gasp when he reaches out to take my hand in his. It’s still strange to me that he feels so solid against my skin when he just looks like smoke. His hand caresses mine, his long fingers running over mine gently.
I’m glad I met you, Calista, he says, and I’m about to answer, to tell him that I’m glad I met him too, but before I can, he leans forward and kisses me.
His mouth is so careful against mine, and in the back of my mind, I’m reminded of my first kiss in high school at the winter formal, the way the boy who kissed me wasn’t sure of himself. I smile against Gabriel’s mouth and reach up to wrap a hand around the back of his neck. The feeling of plunging my hand into the mist that surrounds him is strange, leaving tingles along my skin.
I open my mouth against his and feel him do the same, following my lead. When I let my tongue run along his bottom lip, he groans, the sound nothing but a loud vibration in my head. It’s so shocking that I falter, losing my place in the act for a second, but Gabriel doesn’t miss a beat. He lifts both of his hands to my face, opens his mouth, and kisses me so deep that all I can do is melt against him.
I don’t know how long we stay like that, just kissing and kissing, until eventually, I’m aware of the light around us changing and the ache in my body. I pull away, trying to catch my breath, and Gabriel uses the opportunity to kiss along my jaw, down my neck, until his lips find my collarbone.
I smile. “I should go. The sooner I get moving, the sooner we can get this all figured out. Plus, I still have work to do.”
Gabriel pulls away from me, nodding adorably, like a soldier to their commanding officer.I will miss you while you’re gone.
