Page 24 of Dark Embers

He teased me like this for so long, I lost all concept of time. All I knew was the torturously slow pleasure he gave me, the languid movements of his body on top of me. My core tightened with frantic impatience, demanding release from this intolerable peak at which he kept me captive.

Finally, when my body could take no more, my pleasure erupted over the pinnacle, washing over me in a powerful wave. I moaned into his mouth, and he thrust harder and faster, extending my climax until, reaching his own end, he withdrew, gripping his cock and spilling his warm cum onto my belly.

He rolled onto the bed beside me, and we lay there for a moment panting and trembling in the aftermath of our pleasure.

Then he rose and grabbed his boxers up off the floor, using them to wipe his seed from my skin. Without a word, he set the soiled item aside and crawled back onto the bed, pulling me against his chest.

Now that the pleasure and need has subsided and the reality of what just happened settled on me, I couldn’t help the guilt and anxiety that coiled in my gut.

He must have sensed it because he softly said, “This doesn’t have to mean anything more than you want it to mean.”

I didn’t say anything, letting those words marinate, and instead nestled my head onto his chest.

No more words passed between us. He just held me, and after long moments, my inner turmoil faded, and I allowed myself to just enjoy what he was offering.

I didn’t want to think about what this meant for me and Kendall, or how I felt about Tobias. I didn’t want to hurt Kendall, but I needed him. I had used his affections to attempt to heal the wound Tobias had made.

Was I a horrible, selfish person for not saying no?

Chapter 10

Julian

An early spring breeze sent a chill over my arms, reminding me that winter hadn’t completely given up yet. It was morning—an hour or so after sunrise—which was the perfect time for quiet contemplation.

Taking my pruning shears, I snipped another branch. There was a hidden comfort in helping a tree grow straight and true. I wondered if trees felt pain as rogue limbs were cut or if they were grateful not to have so much to nurture. The tree would be able to focus on growing in therightplaces instead of spreading itself too thinly and weakening its core in the process.

The same applied to life.

Growing up in California, my parents expected too much of me. It hadn’t mattered how much I did to please my father—it was never enough. But the Skye’s had taken me in, and I’d been able to focus on the important things.

Snip. Snip. Snip.

As I clipped branch after branch, I wondered at the irony of creating scars to make perfection. There was probably a lesson in that, too.

The orchard was already starting to blossom, the promise of a great apple harvest whispering in the leaves.

“And here I thought you’d have an aversion to mornings.”

I nearly fell off the ladder I was pruning from. Catching my balance, my shears slipped from my grip and fell to the wet soil below.

I looked at the figure who stood a few feet away from the base of the ladder, momentarily disoriented. “Shea?”

She smiled up at me, her wavy brown hair spilling over her shoulders, which were left exposed by the Victorian-style lavender dress she wore. My heart was still pounding against my chest from the initial surprise of her voice, but her beauty struck me so that my pulse couldn’t regain its normal rhythm.

I climbed down, staring at her all the while. “What are you doing here?”

Though her presence was comfortingly familiar, it somehow felt out of place. I wracked my brain, trying to discern why, but the struggle only confused me.

“I’ve always been here,” she said, giving me an amused frown like I was the one who wasn’t making any sense.

She held up a shiny red apple and flared her eyebrows at me before taking a bite. Watching her savor the juices as she chewed made my heart tug, and warmth filled my chest. I couldn’t help but smile.

She extended it toward me with a flirtatious smirk. “Want a bite?”

The temptation to indulge her was potent, some visceral tug pulling me toward her, making me want to wrap my arms around her.

But as I drew closer, for a terrifying instant, it wasn’t an apple she was holding in her hand but a pumping heart, blood dripping down the length of her arm.

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