Page 71 of Going Viral for Christmas
“We’re doing this?”
“Hey, this is only fair,” he says. “I’m meeting my fake-future-in-laws.”
“Right, because being paraded around by my family isequalto helping you construct your Romantasy sex scene.”
“Dark fantasy,” he corrects, handing it over. “Chapter nineteen. The part in the cave.”
“Oh for the love of—ofcoursethere’s a cave.” I settle back on the bed and adjust the screen, ignoring the way my palms suddenly turn clammy.
“Read it.”
“Okay, fine,” I huff. “Elira’s breath hitched as Daxion knelt between her thighs, the heat of his mouth dragging lower. He knew every inch of her better than she did. The silky glide of his tongue–”
Pause.
Soren coughs. “Too much?”
“No, so far…it’s fine,” I say, even though it’s verynot finethat this man is sitting three feet from me while I read the phrase‘the silky glide of his tongue’without exploding into a million fragmented pieces.
Soren focuses on my mouth before meeting my eyes.
I keep going. “Daxion murmured spiritual words, as if her body were scripture and he was willing to worship it until the gods themselves begged him to stop.”
My mouth drops open slightly. I peek up.
Soren’s not smiling anymore. He’swatchingme. Carefully. Anxiously. My reaction matters to him. I soften.
“Not good?”
“That was… poetic, Soren.”
“Too poetic?”
“Maybe a little. It’s still good. Almost as if a sonnet and a thirst trap had a baby.” I clear my throat. “But, uh, maybe we dial down the divine imagery? Unless Daxion’s literally summoning orgasms with sacred incantations.”
“I mean… heisa high priest of the Shadow Order?—”
I hold up a hand. “Nope. Not unpacking that.”
A beat of silence.
“What if instead of scripture, helistensto her body. Responds to the way she squirms. The little catches in her breath. Stuff like that.”
Nodding appreciatively, Soren jots it all down on a notepad, acting like we’re in some unholy writer’s room from hell.
“And the kissing?”
“What about it?”
“Am I overdoing it? Would you…” He scratches his eyebrow. “Would you mind reading the next paragraph out loud? To hear how it flows.”
The next paragraph. Right.
I take a breath. “Daxion kissed Elira’s lips, desperate and seeking, then pressed his forehead to hers as his fingers sank inside her. She was sanctuary itself, the one place he no longer had to be strong.”
A pulse flares in my stomach. Heat rushes through me so fast it feels akin to a betrayal—my body’s officially joined the Dagger Daddy’s without looping me in.
I struggle to finish the line and shut the laptop so hard, Soren jumps.“I’m not reading any more of that unless you want me to explode into dust and shame,” I announce, standing up and fanning my face.
