Page 56 of A Ballad of Phantoms and Hope
Lanston flexes his jaw, feathering the light muscle that lines the bone. “I can’t hide the darkness in my gaze any longer. The things I want to do to you are unspeakable.”
My cheeks warm, but I whisper, “What is it you wish to do?”
His brows pull together in thought and a wicked grin lifts the corners of his mouth up. “Do you want me to tell you, or should I show you?” His hands glide down my ribs, sending chills over my skin.
“Show me,” I say meekly over his lips. Our foreheads remain pressed together and our gaze unbroken.
Everything about Lanston aches. His mind, his body, his heart.
He lifts my hand from the ocean and presses a kiss to the back of it, salty and cold, before whispering, “Let’s get back to the boat.”
24
Lanston
Ophelia.
Her body falls against the bed sheets. Our skin dried the moment we stepped back on the boat, and I’m glad for it. The salt is gone from her skin and the cold that the ocean brought to our bones has fled.
She opens herself to me, relaxing and taunting. Her flesh is warm as I spread my fingers across her body, softly tracing every tender curve and dip.
Words seem to escape both of us and I think it’s better that way—we are rather talented at talking ourselves out of moments like this one.
I kiss her collarbone, then the rise of her breast. She curls beneath me, eager for stimulation. A grin spreads across my lips as I lower my mouth to her nipple. I stroke her gently with my tongue, kneading her other breast with my palm. She whimpers beneath me and the groan that rolls up from my throat is oneI’ve never known—a hunger so instinctual I fear I may lose myself to it, to her.
The edges of my teeth coast along her nipple. She breathes in sharply and grips my shoulders harder as I tease her. I smooth my hand down her stomach and lower, quickly finding her clit and stroking it in long, languid movements with my thumb.
Her back arches, pressing her stomach against mine and a throb of desire thrums through my core. I release her tit from my lips and look up at her. She’s staring at me through hooded eyes, drunk with the pleasure and want that simmers between us.
“Don’t fall in love with me, Lanston.” Her tone is remorseful. She breathes in sharply again as I push two fingers inside her. Then, voice filled with lust, she says, “Promise me.”
That’s not an easy thing to promise. We don’t get to choose who we fall in love with. It’d be much too simple if that were the case. And I’m already finding it hard to separate from her side. The year we spent longing for one another was not for naught. Our souls are anchored and tied together, tangled hopelessly by all the gods in old lore. They root for us; something does. I feel it down to the very core of my being.
My eyes hold hers and I murmur, “Only you would ask an impossible thing such as that, my sweet Ophelia. But I don’t make oaths I cannot keep.”
She moans as I pump my fingers into her. I love watching how she moves beneath me. The raise of her shoulder and the tilt of her jaw. I jolt when she fists my cock—she grips my flesh hard, squeezing and stroking me in rhythm.
“Fine, but you are foolish in doing so.”
“I’ll be a fool if it’s you,” I say against her lips. She leans into me and our kiss burns deep into my bones. My entire body feels more alive now than ever before. Our teeth skate over each other’s lips and our tongues chase one another feverishly.
I want you. I know you more than you could ever realize. I hear your cries for someone to understand you.
Her floral scent mixes with my musk and we can’t seem to stop. I don’t want to. She’s an ocean I’ve been swept up in, taken out into the depths where there will be no return. Together, we’ll be lost for eternity, and the sound of that is not unpleasant.
We steal moans from each other until we’re breathing harder. Her strokes on my dick become slow and she starts to give more attention to the tip. I rub her clit, slick with her arousal, and watch her brows pinch together with pleasure as her mouth lolls open.
She comes hard, riding the last of her waves on my hand as she works me and I’m spilling over her fingers a moment later. My entire body convulses, trembling and eager. My jaw flexes and I moan with the last of my release. She’s still reeling, clenching her thighs around my hand and digging her nails into my back.
We unravel. Our breaths are heavy as we roll in the sheets. I pin her beneath me and push her arms over her head. She throws her head back, exposing the soft flesh of her neck to my lips as I press kisses there and tease her entrance with my dick.
Ophelia writhes and wiggles her hips eagerly for me.
“Please,” she begs, and I can’t help the low chuckle that rises from my chest.
“I’ll do anything if you ask me like that,” I whisper, pushing the tip in just enough to make us both take a sharp breath. She bucks her hips and takes more of me in and the cry that leaves her lips sets something off in me.
I wrap my hands around her waist, letting my fingertips dig into her flesh and thrust inside her. Ophelia’s hands find my forearms quickly, squeezing them as tightly as her core is wrapped around my dick.
