“Stop it,” I said, eyes squeezed shut, trying to lower my head, but he wouldn’t let me. He was laughing, the bastard, and he was pulling my head up, squeezing me to him tighter so that my body was flush against his.
He still wore his trousers, but his chest was naked. His skin was a million times better than silk.
“Oh, I’m not complaining, Velvet. Just answer the question,” he said.
“What question?!” Yes, I was panicked now.Verypanicked because I remembered how hard I’d pushed his head down between my thighs. I remembered how little control over myself I’d had.
“The question I asked you. Will you let me eat you like that every day?”
Sparetime save me.“No! That…that’s—no!”
He was out of his mind if he thought I could talk about this just like that, no matter what I’d done while he’d been down there.
“Why not? I know you enjoyed it.” Another chuckle. He held up my head and planted kisses all over my face, and it helped because I got to keep my eyes closed. It was easier.
“Because,”I muttered, which wasn’t even an answer, but still.
“Are you a virgin, Velvet?”
He trapped me between his arms like he knew for a fact that I was about to jump to my feet—and potentially jump out the window, too.
When he didn’t let go, I tried to push him off. I really tried, but he had all that muscle. And his skin was so soft. And the hair on his chest was smooth and he was warm and he held me so, so well…
Damn him to all bad hours.
“Get off me,” I muttered halfheartedly.
“I’m not letting go, but you’re welcome to keep trying,” the bastard said, grinning. “You’re cute enough to eat again.”
“Icanfree myself, Heartling!” I warned him—and I could. I knew where to hit him. I knew where it would hurt. It wouldn’t be too hard.
“I know. But you don’t really want to.”
My mouth clamped shut.
Time’s Teeth, Ididn’t.
As mortifying as I thought it was going to be, I stopped struggling. Settled against his chest again. Sighed.
Why in the world did he feel so good?
“I’ll take that as a yes,” he muttered, chuckling that sweetsound, rubbing my back while he pulled me closer. “On both accounts.”
I said nothing, only hid my face under his chin and kept my eyes closed. Because it was most definitely ayeson both accounts. I would absolutely let him do that to me every single day, and I was also a virgin. Not because I’d planned to be, but because I’d only ever kissed a guy before, and it had been so embarrassing for me that I hadn’t even considered going to third base, let alone do something more. Not sure why. I wasn’t a shy person in general, but it had just felt so sloppy and weird and…off.Not likethis. Not close, not for a second.
Thankfully, March didn’t make me say it, didn’t mention it again, only held me to his chest and played with my hair, my skin, muttering under his breath every now and again about how I should be impossible.
In my mind, I was a flower feeling the sun, blooming for the first time. It was the strangest thing to just lay there with my eyes closed, not participate, notdo anything,just let him do whathewanted.
Yes, we were living in a strange world, and we’d woken up at a dinner table somehow, and the Great Clock had stopped, and time was moving backward. March didn’t trust me, and I wasn’t fully myself and didn’t know why—but this was okay. And even if it backfired, this would be worth it.
“How?” I whispered when March’s movements slowed down, and I was possibly seconds away from falling into sleep again. Which sucked because I wanted to stay awake to keep touching him, keep exploring him, take those trousers off, too, feel all of him the way I yearned to.
“How what?” he asked, and I lazily raised my hand to the middle of his chest, right over the soft hair that did its best to mimic a heart shape, to feel the one inside, beating.
The perfect rhythm.
“How do I keep you grounded?” That’s what he’d said when he was sitting outside the door earlier. It still spun in my head.
