Page 65 of Phantom
“You were everything up there, Scarlett. Fuck, the way you camealive.” His lips pepper down my jawline. His mask isn’t hard on my face like I thought it would be, but I’m careful with it still. He obviously doesn’t want to take it off yet, not even to kiss, and my pulsing inner muscles will revolt if I screw this up.
His nose grazes over the sensitive skin on my neck before nipping my collarbone. I yelp but love the little bite of pain.
My fingers are still threaded into his hair so I dare to pull him up and bring him to my lips. He growls with urgency when I do and ravages my mouth with his before I break away.
“I need you, Sol.”
He doesn’t hesitate, not even for me to finish begging him before he gathers me into his arms. I’m vaguely aware of my dress ripping up the slit, but I couldn’t care less as he picks me up. He holds me like a bride being carried over a threshold, like he did when he carried me to his underground home last night.
“Don’t let go, Scarlett.”
“Never,” I whisper back.
I encircle my arms around his neck, and he pushes against a wall beside us, revealing a secret door.
Act 3
Scene 16
CRUSHED VELVET
Scarlett
We enter one of the Prohibition tunnels Sol’s great-grandfather commissioned.
The Edison bulbs provide just enough visibility for me to see. We glide through the hallways as quiet as ghosts, taking turns and stairs. I can’t get my bearings until I hear rushing water and find that we’re somehow already back to his home. He fiddles with his phone and the door hisses open.
Not wasting another second, he barrels through the door and closes it behind us, locking it from his phone. He slams his hand against a switch on the wall and all the dim Edison lights and lamps light up throughout his home. Now that I can see the desire reflected in his face, I need him even more, and I’m attacking him before he can get us any farther than the foyer.
He pulls something from his waistband and itclunksagainst the entryway table. His suit jacket is in my way, so I shove it back, pushing it off so he can shrug it the rest of the way to the floor. I unknot his tie and toss it to the ground, but when I reach for his button-down, he grabs one of my arms and drapes it around his neck. I cling to him while he wraps my legs around his waist.
His hands cup my ass cheeks before traveling up to the ribbon straps laced down my back. He unravels it, and the off-the-shoulder neckline falls between us, catching on his chest before it can reveal my naked breasts.
He captures my lips, and his fingers dig into the muscles of my ass cheeks in a deliciously painful massage. As he marches us down the hall, I’m kissing his mouth, biting his bottom lip, and pecking his left cheek, anything to get closer to him. My heart races and my core floods with need. His hard abs contract against my fluttering clit as he moves.
His footsteps are silent and my back is to the bedroom so I don’t know we’re there until he’s swung the curtains open. The move is so forceful, they fly back from the railing they’re secured to and land on the bed, mixing the velvet curtains with the velvet comforter. Without fixing the pile, he flings me on top of it all onto the bed.
A yelp escapes me before rumbling into a giggle and out of habit, my hands fly to my dress to keep my breasts covered. He prowls onto the bed and pushes my knees apart with his, causing another rip underneath me.
“My dress is going to be ruined,” I pout playfully.
“I’ll buy you another.” He kisses my lips before caging me in on both sides of my head with his forearms. His fingers gently strip me from my masquerade mask before he explores my mouth.
“What if I wantthisdress,” I tease against his lips. “It’s one of a kind.”
“Well then you can always cherish its memory as the night I ripped it apart to make you come on my tongue.”
His fingers curl around my satin neckline and pull it down, unveiling my breasts. A sudden bout of shyness threatens with a lump in my throat until he takes total control. His long piano fingers mold my breasts and push them together as he kisses down my chest and around each areola.
“Do you know how hard I was all night, knowing you weren’t wearing a bra under this thin fabric? The way every man salivated over you made me proud… and murderous.”
“I didn’t see anyone drooling over me, Sol.”
I lift my hips up as his tongue swirls around my nipple. He sucks it into a peak and caresses the other with his finger, so softly the light touch has my core fluttering.
“Are you telling me you only had eyes for me, then,ma belle muse?” His wicked smile makes my cheeks hurt with one of my own.
He licks my other nipple before leaving wet, open mouth kisses down to where my dress still circles my waist. That entrancing midnight eye winks back at me, sparking a thrill down my spine. I bite my lip as he grabs the split hem at the top of my thigh and rips the entire dress up the middle. He doesn’t give me a second to react before he’s dragging my thong down inch by slow inch.
