Page 11 of Sapphires and Snakes
I press kisses to the arches of her feet and try not to think about the warmth pouring from my chest and down my body like it can’t be contained anymore. I try not to let my brain process the realization that I would let this woman walk all over me, physically and figuratively. I don’t have time to think about it, to scrutinize it. Not with Zarina’s supple skin smooth beneath my calloused palms. Not with her body lying open before me, entrusted to me to cherish for the night. My hands glide up her calves, her thighs, over her hips to the round of her ass as I settle between her legs.
“Tamayo.” She breathes my name in a way that makes me feel like a god kneeling before her. “Please.”
Jesus fucking Christ.
I can’t hold back anymore. I lift her hips to my mouth, as if her pussy is a goblet of the sweetest wine I get to drink directly from the source. Her back arches as her hands search for something to hold on to. I don’t have it in me to go slow, not when Zarina asked so nicely. I lick up the seam of her lips to her clit, taking the bud into my mouth and sucking. She groans inher throat, and I make a silent promise to force the sound out of her before I’m done.
I don’t relent the pressure. My tongue flicks around her clit as my hands squeeze the globes of her ass. She hooks her legs over my shoulders, and I might be the one giving her pleasure, might be the one half-dressed in a towel hanging on by a thread around my waist, but in this moment, I feel more powerful than when I pull the trigger of a gun. Zarina’s seeking my touch, allowing me to take her apart piece by piece, and trusting that I will tape her back together again.
It’s exactly what I need after tonight.
Zarina’s thighs tighten around my head. I hum, welcoming their grip and redoubling my efforts between her legs. At this angle, I can see her perfectly. Her shoulders lie on the bed, and her hair curls around her head. Her mouth hangs open with unspoken moans as her chest rises and falls with heavy breaths. One hand grabs the edge of the mattress as the other finds her breast and tugs her nipple tight.
I almost drop her at the sight.
But instead, I band one arm across her hips and thread the other between us to sink two fingers inside her wet pussy. And finally, finally, she releases a long moan. I grin around her clit, sucking harder as I stroke until I find her spot. Her walls clench around my fingers, her thighs around my ears.
I don’t stop.
Her hands grapple at her hair, at the sheets, at the mattress. But the only thing anchoring her to this moment is my hand tight around her hips, my fingers in her cunt, my mouth on her clit. The only way she escapes this is through blinding pleasure provided byme.
Her chest flushes redder and her moans pitch higher, and I know she’s close. I keep steady, watching as she fists the sheets so hard she yanks them off the corners of the mattress. Watchingas her face scrunches before a wail-like moan falls from her lips. Watching as her body twitches over and over with the force of her orgasm as she finally releases every pent-up moment of terror and helplessness from this evening.
And when the tears rush out of the corners of her eyes, I don’t question it. I simply lower her to the mattress and gather her into my chest as I pull the comforter over us. She tucks her face into my neck, and I pet her damp hair until her breathing evens out into sleep. And the words still echo in my ears as I follow after her.
I make you feel safe.
TAMAYO
Aknock crashes through my sleep-addled brain, and I squeeze my eyes shut. The sun is streaming through the southern windows, its position telling me it’s well past my usual rising time. I scrub my face with one hand, the other stuck under Zarina’s pillow. She rolls over, pulling the duvet up around her ears like she can hide from the day. My hand twitches with the urge to stroke from her chin to her ear, tucking wild hair behind it.
But the knock comes again, louder and more insistent. I slip my hand out from under Zarina’s pillow, and she mutters a complaint I can’t quite make out. Her lips are pulled in a pout, and fuck, I want to kiss her. But I don’t. Things are murky in the bright light of tomorrow, and I don’t know if last night was a one-off moment of need or an opened door.
“Tamayo,” Darius calls through the door.
Goddamnit. I roll out of bed naked. My towel lies bunched up on the floor, thrown aside before I pulled Zarina under the covers. I grab her robe piled beside it and yank it on, tying the belt loosely as I open the door a crack.
Darius takes in my state and narrows his eyes. He’s holding a tray full of breakfast for two, and behind him, Pat’s craning their neck to see past me into the room.
I lean against the closed second door and arch a brow. “What?”
“It’s ten in the morning,” he says.
I blink at him. “And?”
“And you haven’t slept past eight in years.”
“Who said I was sleeping?”
Darius snorts. “I should’ve bet more money.”
I smack his chest.
“What, so you can lose harder?” Pat jests. “You already owe me a hundred.”
“For what?” I ask.
Pat smirks. “He bet that you two would fuck during the engagement party.”
