Page 73 of A Lick of Flame

I swallow thickly. I can’t believe this. “Why, then? Why did you…?”

“Touch myself?” His voice is a deep rasp.

“Yes,” I whisper, and it sounds all breathy, like I can’t form proper words.

“Why did you keep watching?” he throws back at me.

“You first,” I snap.

“The thought of you watching had me burning up inside. I probably shouldn’t have done…what I did, but…it happened. You stayed, and you watched…and I could sense you there in the shadows, your eyes on me. Perhaps you were curious. Perhaps you were burning up, too. There is no shame in any of it. Men and women are supposed to find each other attractive. We’re supposed to want sex.”

“We can’t have sex!” I practically yell at him.

“No, we can’t,” he says gently.

Disappointment courses through me.

Why am I feeling this way? I don’t want to have sex with Orion. I haven’t really thought very much about the subject until the last few days. Since meeting him. And now all I can do is think about what it would feel like to kiss…to touch, and be touched in return.

“It’s your turn to answer my question. Why did you keep watching me?” he asks; his voice is deep. “Why didn’t you walk away? Or look away, at the very least.”

“I…I…couldn’t look away, even though I wanted to.”

“You wanted to look away? Are you sure about that?” He narrows his eyes, and there is a glint in them that tells me he doesn’t believe me. I don’t care what he thinks.

I swallow again. “Very sure. I felt nothing save morbid curiosity,” I lie through my teeth. Although, it isn’t an outright lie. I was curious.

“Morbid curiosity.” He raises a brow. “Interesting. Nothing else?”

“Like what?” My face feels hot, and just like that, I am feeling things I shouldn’t be feeling.

“I don’t know…need. Heat. Desire.”

I shake my head each time he says a word.

“Like you wanted to be stroked and kissed… Like you wanted, no needed to be touched.”

“No.” My voice is breathless and slightly high-pitched. “Not at all.” I clear my throat.

Orion tosses me a casual half-smile. Just like everything about him, it’s beautiful. His vivid green eyes light up. His full lips quirk up to the side. A dimple appears beneath the dark stubble. “I think you might be lying, Maya. Morbid curiosity had you watch me take my pleasure from beginning to end?”

“Yes, because it isn’t like it lasted very long.” I shrug. “You were done in no time.”

He barks out a laugh. I find I like the sound of it. Although, I have no idea why he is laughing at all.

“Why is that so funny?”

“The innocence of your remark. It’s a bad thing if a man can’t last. A terrible thing…that is all.”

“Why?” I ask before I can stop myself.

“Because it can take much longer for a woman to find completion, and a man must have the stamina to…take her there.”

“What is completion? I mean, I understand the meaning of the word. To end. To be done, but I don’t…understand. Although…” I turn and start brushing Midnight again, careful to go easy this time. “I’m not sure that this is an appropriate topic for us to be discussing,” I say, even though I am desperate to know. To understand. I want to hear more about it.

“No, you are right. It is not appropriate at all, but perhaps not for the reasons you may think.”

I want him to say more. To explain those reasons to me, but he doesn’t. I hear him walk away. What reasons could he mean?

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