Dropping my head into my hands, I pressed my hands to my ears trying to block everything out.
“Magnus is right. I am useless. Creed’s going to die, and I’m just sitting here.”
Arms wrapped around me. I didn’t register the sensation at first, and when I did, I was too overwhelmed to question it. The arms held me just tight enough to help me feel grounded without smothering me, and I instinctively leaned into the embrace.
“It’s okay,” Ellis said over and over. “It’s okay. It’s going to be fine.”
I barely heard him.
My chest hurt.
I couldn’t breathe.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that I was hyperventilating, but I couldn’t think straight enough to realize what it meant or what I should do about it.
A tug on the front of my shirt pulled me forward, and before I knew what was happening, lips pressed against mine. It wasn’t the first time I’d been kissed, and I reacted to the sensation instinctively. Our mouths molded together, moving slowly, and soon, the pleasant friction and wet slide of a tongue against my lips was all I could think about.
The kiss didn’t last long. After only a few moments, Ellis pulled back and looked at me with a sheepish expression.
“Sorry. You were hyperventilating and I… I didn’t know how to make you stop.”
I merely blinked a few times, my thoughts as sluggish as if I’d gone days without sleep.
“You didn’t know… So, you chose to kiss me?”
“I know, it was dumb,” Ellis babbled, rocking back on his heels as he retreated from me even more. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I just?—”
I cut him off and grabbed his shirt to keep him from getting any farther away.
“It was a good choice.”
Then, I pulled him forward and kissed him again, this time putting more force behind the action. His previous kiss had been chaste. A virgin on their first date could have stirred up more heat.
I aimed to show him what a kiss should really be like.
He gasped when I pressed against him, giving me the perfect opportunity to slip my tongue between his lips and deepen the kiss. I paused for a moment, waiting to see if he would protest, but after he got over his shock, he grabbed onto my shoulders and pulled us closer together.
In a move so smooth it was as if we’d practiced it, we moved together so Ellis was lying on the floor of the workshop, and I was kneeling over him. The kiss never broke, never even paused, and once I had him under me, I took full advantage of my new position.
I found his wrists with my hands, pinning them to the floor as I ravaged his mouth. He made the most wonderful sounds, gasping and moaning in response to everything I did. I slipped one of my legs between his, making him writhe when I rubbed my thigh against the prominent bulge of his arousal.
“Stop, stop,” Ellis gasped when he turned his head to wrench himself away from the kiss.
I froze.
“What’s wrong?”
“I… I…” He was panting so hard he could barely get the words out, and his former olive complexion was bright red. “I’m about to… um, you know.”
Glancing down, I saw the way his whole body trembled like a rubber band stretched to its limit. His arousal strained against his pants so desperately, I feared the zipper would burst.
Dipping my head down, I let my lips trail against his neck. “Sensitive?”
He whined deep in his throat and nodded.
Laughing under my breath, I nipped the skin right over his pulse point and watched him squirm.
Curiosity gripped me.