Page 33 of The Silent Night Stalker
Tentative fingers reach for me and gently roll over the puckered skin. “You were burned, too?”
“Yes, but clearly not as much as you.” Leaving my shirt off, I turn back to face him. “Show me.” This sudden protective mode kicks on inside me. Ihaveto see his skin.
Constantine pulls off his sweater first, neatly folds it, and sets it aside before pulling off his white T-shirt. He folds that too and places it on top of his sweater. After he runs fingers through his hair to push back his bangs, he glances at me.
His skin is covered in ink. I mean, I don’t see any unmarked skin except on his face. He also works out, but he’s not as built as I am. He must exercise, but he doesn’t do it daily or use heavy equipment. But it’s his art that has my full attention. It’s fuckingstunning. I saw the flowers and such on his arms before, but I had no idea they traveled across his entire skin. Are his legs painted, too? It’s like he’s got an entire English country garden on his body. Nothing’s in color. It’s all black ink, but whoever the artist is, they did a phenomenal job. There are roses, poppies, and other flowers I can’t name, but it’s all done in a vintage style, like from one of those old gardening books from a hundred years ago. Mingled with the flowers are moths, honeybees, butterflies, cicadas, and more.
“Fuck.” I breathe out the word. It’s all I can do since I’m in damn near awe. It had to have been expensive. “Your body is stunning, Little Bird.”
His face heats again, and he looks away, smiling and gnawing on his bottom lip. The more he does that, the more I’m drawn to him. He’s fucking adorable. “I wanted something pretty to be painted over the ugly.”
I realize that as soon as he says it. Yeah, that makes perfect sense.
“What do you do for a living to afford such a piece?”
He glances back at me and shrugs. “I work at a liquor store. I-I know it’s not much, but… It’s not like I have a ton of expenses. My house is paid for, and I don’t spend my money on much.”
I reach for him again and find all the circular scars tucked away between the flower petals, in the center, or as the bodies of insects. Yeah, I’m fucking floored. He puts my tattoos to shame.
“I did them as soon as I got a job, so I’ve been building this for about eight years now.”
“I can’t stop looking at you,” I admit.
Constantine smiles shyly and chews his bottom lip again. God, I could fucking gobble him up. I pluck his lip out from between his teeth and slip my thumb into his mouth as I’d done before. He instantly suckles it and his eyes flutter closed.
A groan slips out of one of us, but I can’t tell who, with me being so hyper-focused on his mouth. My cock instantly swells, tenting through my sweats.
“Fuck, I want to donaughtythings to you.”
Chapter 13
Constantine
“Fuck,Iwanttodonaughtythings to you.”
Have you ever been hungry for another human? Like starving for them? I don’t mean the eating kind. That’s gross. I mean, this visceralneedto have them in all ways—sexually, intimately, and intellectually. Heck, I’d take Enzo’s thumb if that’s all he ever gave me. His words set something off deep inside my soul. I know right then that I would give him the world if he asked me. I don’t kill unless someone is desperate for me to do it, but I would kill anyone for him.Anyone.
No one has ever wanted me like Enzo. No one has ever talked to me the way he does.
But when he says words like that in his deep, raspy voice, I lose my ability to speak. I can’t find the words. My mind goes blank. All I see are images of him doing all sorts of perverse things to me. He can have my full body and soul. I want to tell him that, but all that comes out after he pulls his thumb from my mouth is a lame, “Yes.”
He brushes his face against mine, breathing warm air into my ear. My body shivers, and I break out in a blanket of goosebumps. “I don’t think you’re ready for what I want to do to you, Little Bird.”
Why does that nickname fill me with so much pleasure? “I am. I want it all.”
Enzo pulls away, but he’s still close to me. He cups my jaw by my throat to make me look at him before he leans forward again and presses his lips to mine. If I die right here and now, it will be with a smile on my face and a full heart.
His lips are so soft and all-consuming. Some weird noise escapes me when he presses his other hand to my cheek. He’s so gentle and tender. My senses are completely heightened as I notice every little thing from the dried sweat on his skin, to the saltiness on his lips, to the heat of his body that’s so close to mine. I hear my heart in my ears and our heavy breathing. My eyes are open, so I don’t miss a thing. But when he forcefully shoves his tongue into my mouth, they slam close.
Yes, this is the very definition of being hungry for someone, like I’ve never been fed before, and I finally have a bite to eat. It makes my emotions swirl violently in my head, making everything hard to process.
I want to cry. I want to laugh. I want to dance. I want to scream happily up to heaven.
When Enzo pulls away, I gasp and chase his lips. My eyes open, and they’re watery. He looks at me with a furrowed brow and a frown. “Fuck… Maybe we shouldn’t do—”
I don’t let him get those last words out. If he says we have to stop, I’ll die. No way I’m stopping this, so I lunge at him. It’s completely unlike me, but I don’t care anymore. Enzo is it for me. His eyes explode as he falls back on the couch, and I straddle his hard, thick thighs. “We’re not stopping. We’reneverstopping.”
He quirks a brow, but instead of getting mad or shoving me off, he smiles crookedly. I like it when he does that, like he’s sharing an inside joke with me.
