Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81375 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81375 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
She frowns. “Is that a bad thing?”
“No, it’s a wondrous thing.”
She slips down to look me in the eyes. “Then why are you saying it in that tone?”
My inhale scalds my insides, but they’ve already been shot full of holes. “I just don’t want you to throw your life away.”
She visibly recoils. “Luca.” My name in that devastated voice kills me. “Unless you think it’s a great thing to smash my heart into dust, don’t say that again.”
“In a few years, you might want kids.” I have to say this now. Because I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t. “It’s fine if you do, but one day, they’ll ask questions about my face. Unless we hide away like hermits together, we’ll have to go out. And there will always be questions and stares and mean things said.”
She nods solemnly. “That’s true. We’ll just have to figure out a way to deal with it. People might ask questions, and they might even stare, but it’s not always cruel. If you think I’d ever be embarrassed or that I wouldn’t want to have children with you because they’d have you as a father, then that’s… ugh.” She throws her arms around my neck and wraps herself around me until there’s no air and no room for my self-doubt and pity. “I think teaching our children about people who might look different, think differently, or who are differently abled, and helping them learn how to spread love and awareness is something I’d be honored to do. Even if we never have a family, I’d want to do that by your side.”
She holds me tightly and just lets me breathe her in as we stand together. She’s not going to pull apart or away. She’s here. She crashed into my world and shifted it on its axis. She’s the brightest light, the kindest soul, and the sort of woman who would inspire poetry and artists all over the world. I’ve fought so hard for my life to remain the same, but she won’t let it.
I need to surrender the last of my resistance to her. What comes, comes. I am who I am, and she is who she is. We’re two imperfect people finding joy in that.
Emotion rattles through me, screaming like rusted hinges and rattling the cage of bones. I knew I was lonely before, but I didn’t realize just how crushingly and achingly empty it was.
I have no resistance left. I’m not a machine. I’m not stone. I’m a person, a human, a beating heart who needs her. “I’d like to do that by your side too.”
She smiles at me, one of those sunshine smiles that pierce straight into the lingering darkness in whatever shadowy corners I have left hiding in my soul.
She kisses her way over my scars to my lips. She means it to be light and playful, but the second our mouths meet, there’s no controlling the fire. I want her too badly to hold back, and she kisses me just as fiercely, hanging onto my shoulders for balance.
I was tempted to lose myself in her before, but now, this time, I allow it. The world can fall away, but it’s alright. We’ll make it through. All the pressures, stresses, and the last twenty-some years of my life fall away. It’s just us. Two hearts. With Dulcie’s hands in my hair and her leg curling over mine while we’re still standing because she can’t get close enough.
Her nails scrape against my scalp, and my teeth sink into her lip. She pants and whimpers while I groan. She strokes my tongue with hers, growing more frantic. Our kisses are wild, our lips mashing together so hard that our teeth almost knock against each other.
She drops her hands from my hair and frantically searches for the bottom of my hoodie. She burrows her way under the T-shirt below, then lifts it all up and over my head together.
“I want to bite you,” she growls, baring her teeth.
On her, it’s sweet and sexy, but my mouth still goes bone dry. “Where?”
“All over.”
“And what degree of biting are we talking about?” I ask.
“Ones you’ll enjoy immensely,” she answers coquettishly.
She kisses the juncture of my shoulder and neck, finds the perfect spot, and lightly sinks her teeth in. It’s not hard enough to even sting, but the way her tongue caresses the spot and her soft lips follow has me so fucking hard that my dick drills into my zipper painfully. It’s such that the barrier of my boxers barely counts for anything.
She does the same to my shoulder and my pecs, then trails little bites over the stacked ladder of my abs.
“Fuck,” she breathes. “You’re so jacked, and your abs are insane. Insanely delicious. Look down and do that thing where you wink at me, so I can die happily.”