Suffer me, then.
I’d never forgotten that instruction, and the spell of it wrapped around me now.
Bending, I wrapped one hand around the back of her thigh. Eva gasped, then palmed the counter behind her and lifted herself onto it, knocking planting cups, seed bags, and photographs onto the concrete below. My heart tripped when I recognized the images as those we’d taken together that summer.
Eva spread her knees and tugged me closer. She met my kiss with a vow of teeth, as though I, too, were something to devour.
“Get this off,” Eva husked, already lifting the hem of my shirt. “I want to touch you.”
I forgot my anxiety about the sprout and shucked the shirt off, already reaching for the neckline of her sundress and tugging it down. Eva’s sigh when I cupped her breast made me lightheaded. Fuck, I’d missed this. Missedus.
“You scared me, back at the meadow.” Eva skimmed a thumb down my side, her eyes glistening. “I don’t want you to hurt for me.”
Tenderly, I took her face in my hands. For so long, I’d lived beneath a cloud of the monster’s protection, turning numb whenever the world became too much. I didn’t want that anymore. I wanted to feel everything, even if it hurt.
“I’ll be all right, Ev.”
A tear slipped down her cheek. “You’ll scar.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time.” I echoed what I’d said to her only days before. Somehow, it didn’t hurt so much anymore.
Scars were for survivors. And while mine used to make me feel weak and ashamed, now I saw only the courage it had taken to keep on fighting.
“Besides,” I murmured. “Now we match.”
She’d always been my opposite, the sun that gave shape to my shadow. So what if now we had twin marks to show for it?
Eva laughed wetly. I tucked a blond strand behind her ear and leaned in. Her lips parted under mine. Strange, how quickly sadness could pour its way into desire. In seconds, the drag of her tongue woke a pleasant shiver over my skin. I took her lower lip in mine, and her answering moan sent a stroke of heat down my body.
Eva’s fingers skated down my stomach, over the center thatch of hair at my navel to the skin at the top of my jeans. Her sundress was bunched down to her waist now. The lovely scrunch of color beckoned me, and I dragged her to the edge of the counter, loving my mouth over every exposed inch of her I could reach.
It wasn’t enough.
I hit my knees, desperately pushing the soft cotton skirt up her thighs. “Please. Let me,” I begged.
Eva nodded, lifting her hips as I adjusted the dress to allow her to better spread her knees. She swayed above me, the sun backlighting her curves and catching in the gold of her hair.
She was everything holy. Everything I wanted. I disappeared beneath her dress, kissing her inner thigh. Heat washed over me. The humid greenhouse. The burn of so much desire. Her body, warm and wet and wonderful.
When I closed my mouth between her legs, Eva gasped, arching against me.
I’d missed this, too.
She knit her fingers into my hair. I lost track of the minutes as the greenhouse frenzied around us, plants overgrowing their pots and tipping off their purchases. The shatter of terra-cotta made Eva jump. I flicked my tongue. She cried out. “Arthur,” she pleaded, rucking up the skirt of her sundress farther. “I… I need—”
“I know what you need, bee girl.” I threw her legs over my shoulders, keeping her steady with one hand braced on the top of her thigh, my other arm curling around her. With my face buried deep, I sucked and kissed her until I couldn’t breathe.
Eva’s thighs pinned tighter against my ears. “Please,” she whimpered. “Don’t stop.”
My jaw ached, but I stayed my course, my fingers digging into her soft, warm skin. She was so obviously close to the edge, and my whole body thrilled to her groans. I’d never been able to make her finish with just this before, and I wanted to, badly.
“Arthur.” The sound of my name on her lips, soft as prayer, nearly undid me. I dragged my tongue up her center.
Eva bucked. She came hard and fast, hips lifting, head tilted back in absolute bliss.
I’d seen a lot of beautiful things. Earth, sky, sea. But no wonder of the world compared to this.
When her body slackened, I snatched the old picnic blanket from its place on the bottom shelf and spread it on the concrete, keeping one hand behind the small of her back as I gently guided her down. Eva’s exhale was almost a laugh, full of relief and shaking emotion. Her hands found my chest, and she buried her facein the crook of my neck as we stretched out together, our chests moving in breathless tandem.
