Page 96 of Shadows in Bloom

Sounds escape from both of us—growls and whimpers and moans—as we writhe together, curves melding with curves. The hot heat of her bare slick core glides over my thigh, and instinct has me dropping my hands to her ass, adjusting the angle, so that I can grind my thigh deep against her sweltering sex.

A deep shuddery moan crawls up into my mouth, and the hand clutching my jaw shifts, a bloodied finger dragging between our panting lips—while the one still gripping my hair tightens—like it’s her very own leash, keeping me tethered to her as I suck on her salty, coppery tasting digit.

I moan, rocking into her, taking as much as I give.

And then the world goes sideways, and I’m on my back. My eyes fly open to find that, save for the beautifully wild, vicious looking girl chasing me to the ground, darkness has devoured our surroundings.

And it moves.

Fingers trail from my throat to my belly button, carving out a tingly path that has me arching up, thighs squeezing together, my nipples aching, they’re so hard. Her finger skims lower so she can drag the rounded tip of her nail back and forth along the elastic band of my cotton briefs.

“Ophelia,” I whisper in a sigh, grabbing her head between my palms, guiding her to my heaving chest. “Ophelia. Please.”

“Please what?” she says in a constricted voice, muffled against the top of my breast.

I spread my legs for her as much as I can, and in a keening voice that I’ll probably be embarrassed about later, say, “Touch me.”

With a groan, she drops her mouth to an aching nipple, sucking it between her lips. At the same time, her hand dips under my panties, sliding down to cup me. Circling my swollen clit with her thumb, eliciting a gasp from my lips.

Curving a single, slim finger, she adds just enough pressure to drag the tip up through my wet slit in a come hither motion. I clench and whimper and shake.

It’s so gentle…

So maddeningly teasing I could cry.

And then it’s gone. Her touch. Her hand. Her mouth from my nipple. And I want to scream.

Pulling back to hover over me, inches from my face, she lifts her fingers to her mouth—the ones she just glided through my wetness. And she pauses just long enough to ensure I get a good look at my arousal clinging to her fingers, mingling with our blood, before sucking them between her lips.

Groaning, she rolls her eyes back. Lashes fluttering. Slipping her fingers free, she lowers her head, and something in me sharpens to attention at the glittering blackness of her eyes that nearly drowns them out completely. “You taste sweet, little bunny. Just like I knew you always would.”

The shadows around her ripple, but just before I can latch onto that growing sense of alarm, Ophelia lowers back into my space, sealing her lips to mine. Thrusting her tongue into my mouth, she forces me to taste myself, once again pulling me under her spell.

“It’s okay to want it,” she rasps in between kisses. “What do they have that I can’t give you? What do any of them have that could ever satisfy you the way I could?”

Her words are slow to register, my thoughts becoming sluggish, slow to form. What is she talking about?

A blood-slick hand splays over my sternum, fingertips grazing the dip in my throat, the heel rising and falling with my chest. Dragging it over my thundering heart, she hums. “Your body isn’t the only thing starved for attention.”

A keening sound squeezes from my throat, and I’m vaguely aware I’m nodding.

“You crave to be loved,” she goes on, nuzzling her nose into my cheek. “Cherished and protected.” A tongue flicks out, swiping over my cheek, and I shiver. “Owned.”

My chin trembles, emotion squeezing my throat.

“It drives you mad sometimes, doesn’t it?” she taunts. “Fighting this. Shoving it all down.”

Eyes blazing, I bare my teeth at her when she pulls back. It’s as if her words summon forth all the resentment I’ve buried—all the bitterness and unfairness and rage that has been lurking deep under the surface since that night.

I had her, I had her…

And then I lost her.

“Yeah,” she whispers, nodding, lip tilting. “There it is.” She cocks her head, roaming her eyes over my face, my strained neck, my heaving chest.

My nails find her back, scoring scratches down her skin as I arch into her.

Chuckling, she reaches up to grab my hair and yank my head back as she puts her mouth right over mine and hums deeply. “Hell hath no fury like a girl fiending for what she won’t let herself have….” she taunts in a murmur, before slanting her lips over mine.

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