Page 21 of Under The Twilight Rainfall
“Your mom wants a picture.”
“Oh?” I’m aware of everywhere our skin touches as I lean towards his screen, and instead of pushing me away he only shakes his head and leans back so he’s pressing into my chest.
“Smile, because I’m tired as hell and want to get out of these wet trunks.”
He brings up the camera on his phone, and I can already tell we’re at a weird angle, so without overthinking it, I grip him around the middle and pull him more firmly against me. He tenses, but as I stroke my thumb along his waist, he slowly loosens.
I’m not even thinking about the picture, just enjoying the feel of his skin on mine, the pleasure of holding him in my arms like I’ve always wanted to—something that has been one of my favorite things since that first night when I was seventeen and he asked me to keep the nightmares away.
Protecting him. Loving him. That’s all I’ve done since I met him ten years ago, and I have no intentions to ever stop.
“Let’s go,mahal ko.” I reluctantly pull away, not wanting to linger and risk my heart getting any wrong ideas about all the casual touches between us.
He frowns as he tucks his phone away and then slings his bag over his shoulder.
“Haven’t heard that one in a while,” he mutters, glancing around at the much more populated beach. “Think it’s time to catch a boat?”
Is this one of those things I should have communicated with him? Probably.
I steer him away from the water, away from the boats coming and going, and that frown only deepens.
“We’re staying here tonight.”
Dex stumbles but my hand on his back steadies him. “Here? But—”
“Weren’t you complaining about not being able to get intimate shots at the house?”
A rosy red spreads across his cheeks, and I’m immediately brought back to the image of him on top of me, back to the feeling of his hands exploring my chest and his hips pumping into mine.
I step away, towards the resort, needing to shake off those kinds of thoughts.
“First one there gets the shower.”
He blinks out of the daze and breaks out into a lazy smile. “You’re on.”
God, I love him.
I’mlosingmymind.I have to be losing my fucking mind.
The day started near perfect, last night’s temporary insanity shoved so far back I could treat it like a fever dream. Then, Valen had to go and touch me and unravel the fantasy. I tried to get lost in my work because this—this is my element. No one can take this from me, and all the shots were working out perfectly.
For the first time since I made it to the Philippines, it had felt like I was doing what I was supposed to, what I came here for.
And then I saw Valen.
Saw him watching me.
Swore I saw a raw desire in his eyes that shook me the fuck up. Everything came flooding back: the way he felt against me, how sweet his moans sounded when I touched him, how tender his own touch was, like I’m something precious and breakable.
It was too damn much.
Seeing the effect I was having on him?
I gave in to the need to hear those sounds again, to see him look at me with want and need. Those were ‘fuck me’ eyes. They were ‘I want to flip you over and eat your ass’ eyes.
Yes, those are a thing.
Even when he was being sweet, when he set up our turtle excursion, I couldn’t stop thinking about how incredible it felt to be wanted.
