Page 90 of Ruin Me Gently

She shuddered and heat licked up my spine, curling low, sinking deep.

I’d held her in my arms, stroked my fingers through her hair, but this was the single most intense moment of my life. “Lilith, you are so damn beautiful.”

Her breath hitched.

Oh,cazzo.

Her hand hovered, fingertips a whisper away from the fabric that covered my jaw. “I won’t move your scarf,” she promised on a breath.

Something flickered inside me. Tightened. I should’ve told her no. Told her to get off my lap and just lay there instead so I could comfort her like I had been doing.

But I didn’t move.

So she touched me. Fingertips skimming my brow, smoothing away the tension there like she could take it from me. Her touch was so light it almost didn’t feelreal, but my breath hitched anyway, and my eyes closed. Just for a second. Just long enough for my body to betray me completely, to lean into the contact.

Her fingers traced lower, dragging over my temple, the edge of my cheekbone, ghosting over the rough stubble hidden right beneath the barrier.

She was so soft. Warm. Pressed against me in all the right places, like she was made to fit right there.

And I was losing my goddamn mind over it.

She tilted her head a fraction, leaning closer, her breath brushing over my lips, andfuck,I felt it everywhere. Sharp, liquid heat rolled through me and my grip on her tightened even more. A silent reaction. A warning to myself.

Don’t. Don’t do it.

But I didn’t move away. I let my forehead press against hers, let myself soak in her impossible warmth.

I was hyperaware of every single thing. The way her breath hitched when my knuckles grazed against her jaw. The way her chest moved in shallow, uneven pulls, mirroring mine. The way she wet her lips and her pupils blew as she asked, “Are you going to kiss me?”

My breath caught. My fingers stilled. I wanted to. Ireallywanted to. More than my next breath. More than anything. But I couldn’t. I shouldn’t.

Every rational part screamed ‘Don’t. Don’t push it. Don’t cross that line.’

But she was right there. Her thighs caging me in like she knew exactly what she was doing.

Cazzo.Shedidknow what she was doing. She’d just said she wanted me to touch her.

She was looking at me.Rightat me.Intome. Into every broken, torn apart, unravelling piece. Silver eyes locked on mine, pretty lips parted like she was waiting, like she was daring me.

The air between us thickened. It crackled along my skin, in my blood, in the frantic beat of my heart. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe. All I could see was her. All I could feel was the gravity of this moment, pulling me under.

My restraint snapped like a frayed wire.

“Close your eyes,” I murmured. “Please.”

Hesitation flickered in her expression, but she slowly let them flutter shut.

I didn’t deserve this.

Didn’t deserveher.

But she wanted it, and I wanted to give it to her.

I pulled my hood down slowly, then my scarf.

The moment my lips brushed against hers, the world tilted.

The contact was barely there. A featherlight pressure, a graze of skin against skin.

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