Page 56 of The Lies We Believe

“Oh, angel.” Bane launched himself at me and buried his head in my stomach, his arms wrapping around my waist as he wept. “I want you like I’ve never wanted anyone in my life. I…I don’t really know how to explain it.” He stuttered a breath. “With you, everything is different for me. The way I want you. The way I crave you.” He snorted. “I’ve never wanted anyone the way I do you, River. You set my blood on fire and make my soul burn for you. I just…”

“You what?” I whispered into our bubble.

“I know what you’ve been through, what you have been subjected to, and I don’t want to be the same. I want you to want me too. I need you to feel pleasure as my every touch sinks beneath your skin. That it resonates with your soul. You are it for me, angel, and even if we never have sex, calling you mine would be enough.”

“Oh, Bane.”

“I don’t want you to feel forced to do anything with me. I don’t want to be likethem.”

Tears welled in my eyes, making him shimmer before me in the light of the morning sun as it streamed through the blinds. “You could never be anything like them.”

“I wake up every day wanting to be worthy of your love. To be good enough to show you what you mean to me. I want to show you love and pleasure.”

That word hung in the air between us as I turned it over in my mind because it was one I didn’t understand, having never felt it. “C-could you teach me?” I asked timidly.

“Teach you?”

“I-I’ve…I d-don’t…” I cocked my head to the side as he drew back and knelt in front of me like he was at confession. “I… t-the only times I’ve come was because I was forced to as a p-punishment. It was used as a way to humiliate me. T-they used my body against me. I don’t know…” I cleared my throat. “I’ve n-never experienced pleasure.”

“Do you trust me to show you?” Heat filled his glassy eyes and licked across my skin. We were like magnets drawn together. His lips moved closer to mine until every exhale filled my lungs, and when I spoke, they brushed mine.

“I trust you with every part of m-me. I trust you to guard and cherish my heart. I trust you to keep my body safe, and I trust you to show me things I’ve never experienced.”

A blinding smile lit his face. The sun’s rays created a halo around his head, and I felt reborn. This man, this titan, wanted to show me the wonders of the world, and I found every one of them in his eyes—all the promises he made, all the sunrises that stretched before us, all the moments we’d share where we’d learn each other better than we knew ourselves. All I had to do was believe.

Bane kissed the lingering fear from my skin, one sweet touch at a time, until his lips finally melded with mine. The first swipe of his tongue against the seal of my mouth felt like amatch thrown into kerosene, heating the blood in my veins and bringing my body to life in a way it never had before. When I opened for him, he kissed me with an intensity that altered my perception of reality. He broke me apart, took my pieces, and healed me with the golden goodness in his heart.

Every tantalizing brush of his tongue brought us closer, like we were trying to fuse our bodies together. He removed every layer that separated us until his hot skin touched mine, and goosebumps prickled across my body everywhere we touched.

We kissed until our lungs screamed, and fireworks danced behind my eyelids. Gasping for air, he wrenched his mouth from mine and laid me face down on the bed, gently removing the sleep pants that hung off my hips with a tenderness that had my heart skipping a beat as it started to freefall.

“Such a good boy,” he cooed.

Bane left a trail of wet opened-mouthed kisses from my ankle to my knee before nudging my legs apart. I gasped as the cool air met my entrance. A shock of fear ran up my spine that made my muscles tense. The automatic response had me gritting my teeth hard enough to crack them.

“Shh,” he murmured into my skin before he kissed and teased his way up my thigh with his lips and tongue.

Thick fingers dug into the flesh of my ass, kneading the lingering unease away as he followed every burning touch with a soothing kiss. I shuddered as he parted my cheeks, the heat of his exhale coasting over the sensitive skin. I waited with bated breath for his next move. The bed dipped, and unable to take not knowing what he was doing any longer, I pushed up into my elbows and looked over my shoulder to be met with a sight that didn’t seem real.

Bane was lying between my spread legs, staring at the most intimate part of me with a look of wonder on his face. I watched, mesmerized, as he parted my cheeks and buried his face in mycleft. His hot breath so close to my entrance had me clenching reflexivity as need and fear warred inside me. The unknown made my heart pound hard enough to tattoo itself on my ribs.

“So beautiful.” Bane’s voice was muffled by his position, but I felt it like he’d whispered it in my ear. “I bet you taste as good as you look.”

With that, he kissed my hole and ran his nose along the length of my crease and groaned. My neck heated at the intimate act. I’d been fucked by a million different men, but not one of them had ever put their faces there, let alone kissed me. I didn’t know if I wanted to pull him closer or push him away, but I knew if I asked him to stop, he would.

“Have you ever been rimmed, angel?”

“N-no?”

Bane chuckled. “Let me show you.” The smile in his voice was unmistakable. “I want you to only feel pleasure with me, but if it gets too much or you want to stop, let me know.”

“A-are you psychic?”

“No, baby, but I can feel the tension radiating off you. You’re safe with me.”

Before I could answer, the wet heat of his tongue seared against my skin from my taint up to the base of my spine. “Oh god,” I groaned. “T-that’s so good.”

Bane hummed into my skin as he kissed my hole with slick lips and tongue, like he wanted to devour me. He ate my ass with the same fever he kissed me. He moaned and groaned like he loved the musky taste of me and slowly, with each pass of his tongue, I melted into the mattress. Bane stiffened his tongue and teased it around my rim, taunting the tight ring of muscle until it softened enough for him to push inside me.

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