Page 65 of House of Ruin
Getting Blaze to fall for her required more than simply giving him her body. That would be too easy, too boring for a boy like Blaze Leveau. Alecto needed to be smarter about every word that came out of her mouth, every touch.
She let her fingers trail down his face, lingering over his dark brows, his closed eyes that were often too intense for her to look at, lower to his cheekbones, making a path to his sharp jaw, which surprisingly didn’t cut her, all the way to his defined chin.
All this time, Alecto carefully watched Blaze’s face, the way his lips parted with every single touch, his muscles relaxing as she explored and caressed his skin as if trying to get to know him.
One thing was clear: even boys with dark hearts couldn’t resist soft touches.
When Blaze opened his eyes, Alecto caught the same look he’d had the night she’d almost died by the Tigers’ hands.
Alecto straddled his lap, and Blaze’s hands immediately found her waist, his thumbs moving in lazy circles. She wished there weren’t clothes separating his fingers from her skin.
And somedays, she wished there weren’t all that armor separating their hearts.
Blaze’s eyes roamed her face; he seemed to like doing that a lot. What was the purpose of it? Alecto couldn’t understand. Was he looking for something written in her features? Was there supposed to be something hidden, a confession or a secret of some sort?
Slowly, she brought her lips to his. She let him decide what he was going to do, how this kiss was going to go.
Blaze kissed Alecto back, his mouth slow and teasing. He wasn’t giving her the intensity of a full kiss. Instead, he came in only enough to make her want more. And surely, soon enough, Alecto’s fingers were in his hair, her back arching as needy whimpers escaped her of their own accord.
“I like you like this.” Blaze breathed over her mouth once they managed to peel off each other for a moment. His eyes flickered between her eyes and mouth. “You’re so…” He stopped himself before the next words came out, seemingly catching himself as he blinked.
“So what?”
When he didn’t answer, Alecto pushed his chest, willing him to fall on his back. He didn’t resist, falling onto the soft sheets of her bed, his hands settling on her hips.
Slowly, Alecto lowered her mouth to his, weaving their lips together. His body was hot underneath her. The rough material of the black jeans Blaze always liked to wear was rough against her thighs. Their shared breaths were ragged, uneven. And soon Alecto’s head was swimming.
Blaze flipped them over, settling himself in the cradle between her thighs. When he peeled his lips away, Alecto arched her back, digging her fingers into the lapels of his silk shirt.
Smirking, Blaze murmured a chant, “Mufello.”
Right. Alecto almost forgot about the spell. She joined him in chanting while keeping his gaze, and soon enough their magic had awakened.
This time, it whooshed through Alecto like a gust of wind, the electric current left in its wake making her muscles tremble. Blaze kissed her again, and in that moment, she could have melted into one with him.
Slowly, Blaze’s kisses turned deeper. Devouring. He impatiently tugged on her skirt, hiking it higher on her hips. Alecto was burning with the need, her whole body flushed.
She didn’t want to put distance between them. But she forced herself, still.
“I’m fairly certain the spell worked,” Alecto whispered, her voice rough.
When they turned their heads to the side, there was a whole fire ivy now growing from the planter. Its red leaves with edges dipped in gold fell over the side of the planter, the long branches weaving all the way to the floor.
“Damn. Look at that.” Blaze’s eyes widened with surprise.
He inched away from Alecto, closer to the desk, and she used the moment to try and wiggle away from him. But Blaze immediately wrapped his hands around her waist, not letting her slip away from the heat of his body.
“Not tonight, Blaze.”
For a moment, her whole body went taut, waiting for his response. Alecto had learned early on that not every boy was willing to stop.
But Blaze just rolled off, falling on the bed next to her. And then he pulled her by her waist to his chest, burrowing his face in her hair.
Alecto stopped breathing for a moment.
Men don’t fall in love the same way women do. They fall before sex, while we fall after. What an unfortunate sense of humor do the Gods have. Alecto had highlighted this passage from Galliano’s book with three different pens. Marked it with two different color tabs.
They lay like that for a long moment. Blaze’s hand rested on her back, lazily moving up and down her spine. Alecto toyed with the ivory mother-of-pearl buttons on his shirt.
