“Should have known your tongue is velvet-smooth, too,” he whispered, so low I barely heard him, and Ineededto hear him, so I was instinctively leaning closer and closer as he spoke. “Like your lips. And your nightgown.”
Impossible not to look at him now, but he was focused onmy lips and on the side of my neck. His eyes were red like he had embers burning in them, and my anger evaporated so fast, leaving way only for arousal.
Fuck, my mouth was so dry.
“Exactly like the taste of your skin.” His tongue came out and he licked his bottom lip, and if he did that again, I was going to come. A miracle I managed to pull my lips inside my mouth before I moaned.
“Admit it, Velvet. Admit you liked it.”
But I didn’t justlikeit—I loved every second like I never knew I could love anything in my life, before or after, then or now.
“When you don’t talk? I did—I already told—argh!”
I was doing perfectly fine with the lie. I would have pulled it off, I thought, except a piece of glass hidden in the piles of timesand got me right on my index finger, and it went deep, deeper than the others. The pain was instant and it took over my mind. Impossible to contain the little scream.
“Tsk-tsk-tsk,” March said with a chuckle as I shook my finger, as if that was somehow going to stop the pain. But it was bleeding, and it stung, and now I was even more pissed off than before, when…. “So distracted, it’s a shame.”
He grabbed my wrist, secured his other hand around my cut finger, then brought it to his lips.
“What are you?—”
He took my finger into his mouth and sucked.
My jaw touched the floor.
Everyonewas here, even if they were all working on their hourglasses. They could stillseeus.
But March didn’t seem to care at all. Instead, he sucked on the blood and held my eyes and didn’t hesitate a single second, even when he could tell that I’d frozen with my lips parted and my eyes wide, unsure whether to believe this was really happening. His tongue was so soft but firmagainst my finger. The way he pressed it with just the right pressure left me breathless. No wonder I was soturnedon by him licking myfinger—the way he moved that tongue was absolutely criminal.Sexual. And he, of course, did it on purpose.
Seriously, Ora.Was I really soeasy?
Yes. With him I was, apparently.
“There. All better now. I think you’ll survive.”
“Butyoumight not,” I muttered despite my better judgment.
And I meantbecause I’d kill him,but of course, he pretended he didn’t get it, and he winked at me again.
“Oh, but I wouldn’t miss this for the world. Just keep that soft skin of yours away from these sharp objects, Velvet. I’ll pick up the glass.”
Stunned.That’s what I was. Perfectly stunned.
“I can…”be more careful,I was going to say, but thank Time I stopped myself because I’d have proven him right—Iwasdistracted. More than distracted by his proximity and his words.
“Sit there and watch me. I’ll fix the glass. You can take care of the timesand,” he said with that grin, and continued to pile up the pieces near his feet.
“I’ll fix both. You lost too many minutes at the tea party,” I said through gritted teeth and made to start picking up pieces again, but he grabbed my wrist a second time. Gently.
“Smooth,Velvet. If the others heard you, they’d think you care,” he said.
“Idon’tcare, but it’s the logical thing to do.” And I didn’t. I really didn’t. As much as it confused me, or as much as some part of me thought Ishould,that was the simple truth: Ididn’t.Whether that made me a bad person or not didn’t matter—this really was the logical thing to do. He’d lost ten minutes at the tea party when he aged, and though he’d gotten hisyouth back, the minutes in his Life Clock had remained the same.
“And besides—the others canseeyou, too.” I turned, looked back, and the others were all hunched over piles of timesand and broken glass, but Levana was throwing looks our way every few seconds. She most definitely saw.
March shrugged, pulling up a larger piece of glass cut almost into a perfect triangle and brushing the timesand off the surface with his fingertips.
“I’m not trying to hide anything.”
