Page 386 of Eternal
“I feel like I’m floating,” I whisper, voice ragged. “Like I could pass out.”
“Say the word,” he says, “Blue. Say blue if you want me to stop.”
My heart’s a wild thing I can’t tame. “I don’t think I’ll be able to speak.”
He smiles that fucking smile, the one that knows exactly what I want before I do. “Exactly what I was hoping for.”
I don’t say the word.
Because with him, falling isn’t falling.
It’s flying. And I trust him enough to dive.
“You trust me?” He asks again.
“I do.”
He loosens the belt merely enough.
My knees wobble, and he catches me, like I’m glass. He lays me across his lap, the belt still around my neck like a fragile promise.
He cradles me. “Whenever you feel too far gone,” he whispers, “I’ll bring you back.”
The belt tightens again, not suddenly. Slowly. Precisely. Enough so that I could feel it.
Not enough to pass out, but enough towant to. Enough that my lungs start to ache but in a relaxing way. His hand slides lower, across my hip, down my thigh.
And then back up, between my legs, knuckles brushing heat.
Not teasing. Not even trying to get me off.
Claiming.
My mouth falls open. I can’t make a sound.
Because there’s no air. Onlyhim.
His fingers press gently into the soft skin of my inner thigh, holding me open, owning the way I tremble. The way I trust him. The way Iwantthis.
“Look at you,” he murmurs against my neck. His lips graze my pulse point, or where it would be, if I had one right now. “You’re perfect like this.”
I whimper, or try to. But no breath means no voice. And I love that.
Love that I can’t say a word. Love that I’m giving him everything simply by staying still, by letting him guide me deeper into this place where pain doesn’t live, only quiet, and heat, and safety.
His hand strokes higher.
“You shouldn’t be thankful for me,” he whispers, voice rough now, cracking a little with how much he’s holding back. “I’m thankful foryou.”
The belt shifts in his hand. Not loosening. simply moving. “I’m so fucking thankful for you,” he goes on, kissing the corner of my jaw. “For trusting me. For being here. For looking so pretty with your neck in my hand. Letting me choke you like this.”
He tightens it again, and the world gets hazy.Warm.
No panic. No fear. Purestillness.
Like I could stay here forever, right between our heartbeats.
I sink into the pressure, into his hands, into the way he holds me like I’m a gift he can barely believe he gets to unwrap.
