Her heaving chest raises and lowers my whole body. Only the sound of intermittent pants. No words.
Slowly, I undo her buttons. Then her laces. Then pull off her undershirt.
Long and deep stretch marks, some the width of my wrist. From her legs to over her torso and only dying out just before her hands and face, where she doesn’t cover up. Almost half her skin is gleaming purple scars which dazzle my eyes, and… it’s such a shame I didn’t get to physically admire her breasts as much as she did mine; I’ll have to make up for it.
She tucks me close, pulling over the blankets. “We can talk in the morning about this.”
Our warm, bare skin meets each other’s, and I’m comfortable. More than I’ve ever been in this bed. The roaring beat of her heart is audible with my head against her chest. “I want to talknow, while we’re so close. I-I didn’t think this could happen. The Ring blessed us!”
“It blessed the whole world when it made your soul, a fiery gift with a passion for necromancy.”
The praise is nice… Ah, shit. I’m also tired. It feels safe here.
“I’ll want to do this again.”
“I have to wear these eyes in front of Piero at our bar no matter what now, so we just might,” she teases, rubbing the back of one hand over my face. It’s intoxicatinglyrelaxing.
“Oh, right. Sorry.”
“Shut up. You felt good—“ Distant cracks stain the air, and Vincenza snickers. “We missed the midnight showing.”
I tense up in a strange stress. “I wanted to see those!” With her. “They won’t be back for a year.”
“It’s fine. This was more fun than some lights anyway.” She closes her eyes, body relaxing, and barely whispers, “I think I’ll try riding your face in the morning…”
Not. A. Fair. Thing. To. Say.
I also wanted to sleep! Now I’m fantasizing.
Ugh.
I love her.
Chapter 26
A Good Morning
No amount of blinking is making this register as real.
She’s in my bed.We slept together.
I got everything I wanted.
Now I want more. So much more. Selfishly. I want to hold her and call her mine. Only mine.
“I’ll be back.” I leave a peck on her lips and run off to the kitchen.
Open the windows. Let the Ring’s light flood. Cook pancakes. Butter them. Douse in syrup.
My heart’s cracking sparks at the thought of future nights, dates. Neither of us will have to be alone anymore.
I drop the plates onto my desk with a can of cherry seltzer, debating over how to wake Vincenza up. Should I even try? It would be cute if she woke up on her own to a nice meal, but the meal might lose its niceness if she takes even ten minutes to.
If I were waking up after her, I’d love it if she was touching my hair. Maybe she’d like it too?
Her voice mumbles and sighs under my touch, but she’s not quite waking.
“Hey, Vincenza. Good morning,” I whisper.
