Chapter Fifty-Five
I open my eyes, head blurred with a dream-like torpor. Want and frustration, the feeling that Kai has gone. My heart beats staccato as a sense of desolation drowns me, bordering on pain. As my body jars upward, I realise he’s here, lying next to me; my dark angel silently sleeping.
An arm flung carelessly above his head, the caramel of his skin is almost luminescent, the muted light dancing in through the drapes. His lips pout as though reluctant to leave the night, one lock of hair caressing his forehead giving him an air of innocence and purity.His virtuous doppelganger.The thought makes me smile. Placing my forefinger against his full bottom lip, I watch the colour drain with pressure, watch the puckering of his brow. Then, leaning over him, I put my lips against his.
‘I love you,’ I whisper softly, wondering how long before he registers my mouth against his.
I place a chaste kiss in the centre, wanting to make out, to pash him, as adolescent as that sounds. I want to kiss him awake, kiss him to consciousness, feel him rouse under my hands.
He makes a low sound from the back of his throat, stirring but not opening his eyes. But then he smiles, and my heart aches impossibly so. I kiss him now, his mouth moving against my own, sweetness and smiles building between us, and all the while his eyes remained closed.
I pull away, sit back and watch his sleeping pretence, but I can’t stay away long. He’s better at this game than I am. Stroking my fingers against the warm skin of his arm, I walk them across his chest in faerie steps, stroking his nipple, bending to cover the nub with my mouth. I swirl my tongue against him before kissing further down, licking and caressing his ribcage and lower. Straddling his legs, I lay my hands against the bones of his hips, the prominent seat of his power.
‘What are you doing down there?’ His voice, peppered with curiosity and thick with sleep, makes him sound happy and tired and sexy all at once.
‘Shush,’ I whisper. ‘You’re not doing this right. You’re supposed to be asleep so I can kiss you awake.’
‘Don’t let me stop you,’ he murmurs throatily, his cock growing hard against my lips.
‘Then stop making metalk.’
I lower my mouth engulfing just the tip, his hips twitching reflexively, his body arching upwards from the bed. I tighten my fingers against his hips in warning, muscles tensing and flexing beneath my fingers as he lowers himself. I move a little more now, licking and sucking and swirling as I go.
Growling with abandon, his fists ball in the sheet by his legs. This is such a heady act, this kissing him awake. In my mouth, he’s warm satin over steel, yet I’m the one with the power. I push down much further, feeling him in the channel of my throat. My hair falls around me like a shield, covering his skin and tangling in my mouth. I moan around him, feeling the sound thrumming through my lips as he twists under me.
‘Ah, Kate,’ he rasps, his hands pushing the hair from my face, knotting it in his fingers. ‘I love it when you talk with your mouth full.’
I groan deliberately, like he’s told a really crappy joke. I want him to speak again, all growly and breathless, want him to keep moving reflexively. His hands hold my head as though he’d like to participate but hasn’t yet been invited, tightening slightly as I continue teasing and tasting him, noting every sigh and shudder, every flex and exhale, logging them away for later reflection.
All at once, I find myself flipped onto my back, Kai looming over me. One hand against the bed at my shoulder supports his weight, the other grasps his hard, wet length. His concentration is absolute as his soft, full mouth falls open, harsh breaths exhaled along with curses and demands that I watch him come. Stripped of his usual façade, he makes primal, almost guttural noises, the kind that make me long to swallow him whole.
Just moments later, I’m coated and pearlised in warm pulsing bursts.
Sticky, shocking. Slick.
Collapsing next to me on his side, his breath is heavy as he rasps, ‘Debauched.’
‘That you are.’ I giggle, touching my wet chest.
‘It’s you. You just bring out the best in me.’ Kissing my forehead, he stretches along the bed.
‘Do you think they did this sort of thing back in the thirteenth century?’
‘What?’ he asks, all languid, still coming down...from coming, I suppose.
‘I was thinking about veils versus pearls...’ Scrunching my nose, I point to my chest.’
‘We’re back to that?’ he asks, no doubt recalling our conversation about dating Middle-Ages style. ‘You’re asking if I think thirteenth-century men wanked over the one they loved?’
Loved. This makes me smile like a loon, and I nod manically. Evenwankedis a close favourite. ‘WhenLayla and Kaiswere around. Do you think they did this kind of thing back then?’
‘While I’m certain poor old Kais never got that close, I’m sure it would’ve been part of our repertoire, had we been around then. Yes, I like to think lovers enjoyed themselves.’ Leaning over the bed, he grabs something from the floor and holding himself on his forearm, he wipes at my neck and chest.I hope it’s not my beautiful dry clean only dress.‘They’d be missing out, if not, because that was the best kind of wake-up call.’ The words are low in his throat, like they’re spoken over gravel. ‘I thought I was dreaming.’ He sighs, content, wrapping his arms around me and gathering a slightly sticky me against his chest. ‘I could get used to this, waking up with you. You could kiss me awake every morning and I could cover you in pearls.’
‘Everymorning?’ I ask, giggling.
‘I’d give you strings and strings of them,’ he says, playing along. ‘Cover you from head to toe.’
‘Someone’s been watching way too much porn. It’s mainly cornflour, you know?’
