“Oh?” said Pip, with a coyness she did not usually expect from him, “and what else have I permission to do?”
He let out a slow, gentle breath that curled against her insides, stirring her like embers in a fire and splitting her thoughts like starlight.
“Anything,” she said, “anything you want to do.”
“No,” he whispered. “What doyouwant to do?”
Her mouth turned dry, her thoughts spiralling.I do not know. I do not know what I want. Just you, you, you.
But his breath was still spiralling inside her, soft and tempted. She loved his lips on hers. What about putting them in other places?
“Kiss me,” she demanded. “Kiss me—right there.”
“Here?” said Pip, deliberately miss-aiming and pressing her lips to her inner thigh, “orhere?”
He raised his lips to her soft, delicate centre, his tongue licking the underside, slow and steady at first, and then faster and faster as she cried out, her hands balling into the bedsheets, her thoughts fracturing—
She was overloaded with sensation, splitting and dividing and crashing into pieces, there on the bed beneath the cosmic pressure of Pip’s touch. She cried out again, rushing senseless words, unable to piece together a single syllable although his name raptured inside her.
When it was over, he slipped back on top of her, grinning.
“And you worry you have no talent,” she gasped.
“I don’t exactly go around advertisingthatone.”
“I can’t see why not. It might make you very popular.”
Pip laughed, his gaze catching hers and lingering there as softly as a kiss. Elena stared up at him.
“I want you inside me,” she told him.
Pip’s grin only widened. He grabbed her thighs and positioned himself at her entrance, asking her once more if she was ready, and Elena could only gasp—yes, yes, of course she was—and with one swift thrust, Pip was inside her. She let out a cry. More out of shock than anything else, and Pip looked down at her, checking she was all right, but she urged him on, begging him to continue.
A hand tangled in hers. The other braced at her hip, gathering her next to him as he moved in and out in ragged strokes. His hair flopped over his forehead in damp, sweaty curls. Heat spread inside her once more, and Pip drew back his fingers to work at her apex again, thumb rubbing in tight, tiny circles. Stars blistered on the ceiling, and Elena found herself floating and falling all at once as Pip came inside her and collapsed into her arms, grinning against her neck.
ElenalayinPip’sarms; one of his hands stroking her hair, the other slung around her waist. Their knees knocked together, the sheets tangled up around them. She pressed her head against his chest and tried to count his heartbeats rather than the clock. For years, she had found joy and comfort in the cold rhythm of gears and cogs, but nothing—truly nothing—beat the feeling of his warm and beating heart.
She tried to memorise the sound, making silly thoughts about recreating it with metal long after he was gone from her, knowing that it would not be the same.
The ticking of the clock grew louder.
“I want to ask you something,” said Pip, his fingers still in her hair, “but I’m worried about it coming out wrong.”
“I am not easily upset.”
“Was that your first time?”
Elena squeaked, pulling back and covering her face with her hands. “Was it that obvious?”
“No!” Pip’s hands hovered around her, brushing her head, her arms. “No, you just… you seemed a bit nervous and surprised but… gears and garters, this is coming out all wrong.” He took her hands, squeezing them tightly. He took a deep, steadying breath. “It was wonderful. And I think you enjoyed it too?”
“Yes, very much so.”
He shook his head. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Honestly, I was afraid you wouldn’t do it if you knew it was my first time. That you’d…”
“That I’d what?”