Page 36 of Kindred Spirits

Part of me wanted to move my hands lower, to see how far he’d let me go. Maybe I could tease out some of those tentacles andsee how he liked to be touched. But he’d seemed shy about his body before, and I didn’t want to push him into discomfort, so I reached to touch his face instead. I let my fingers trace lightly over the taut skin of his bottom jaw, wondering what it would be like to kiss him. With his jaw the way it was, he probably couldn’t kiss in the normal way, but maybe we could make it work.

Ghost pulled away and shook his head with a snort. “Sharp. Hurt.”

“I’m hurting you?” I asked with a frown. “Or are you afraid you’ll hurt me?”

“Hurt Axel,” Ghost said, staring at the floor between us.

I took his face in my hands and lifted his chin gently so he was looking at me again. “Don’t you trust me, Ghost?”

The brightly colored bulb hanging from his forehead changed colors, washing our makeshift blanket fort in a deep crimson light. “Yes.”

“Then trust me to tell you if you do something I don’t like. I don’t know if that’s possible, honestly. I really like you, you know?”

Ghost snorted and tried to pull his head away, but I held firm.

“I mean it,” I said. “I’m still a little iffy about the whole mated because of pizza rolls bit, but you know what? I’ll deal. I don’t want you to hold back because you’re afraid of hurting me, Ghost, and I don’t want you to feel like you have to hide from me because you think I won’t like you. I do. I like all of you, even the parts I haven’t met yet.”

He tilted his head quizzically.

I smiled and shifted onto my knees so I could touch more of him. “I’ve always been odd. Always tried hard to find the good in people, always drawn to people and things everybody else would stay away from. So it’s not hard for me to believe we were meant to be here together, that I was meant to find you, and you were meant to find me. I mean, if people are willing to believein stars without ever having seen one up close, or that volcanoes are real without ever having been in one… Why can’t I believe in whatever this is?”

I wasn’t willing to call it love. Love took time, which we hadn’t had enough of yet, but we sure as hell had a connection, one that stretched back months. Maybe it’d all gotten started with stolen food and turning off the generator, and random encounters that I thought were with a ghost. Our connection could become more with a little effort, and some time, and I was willing to put that in to see where it went if he was.

I guided his face down and planted a gentle kiss on his jaw. “There. Was that so bad?”

Ghost tilted his head to one side and then the other, considering me. His tongue darted out, smoothing over the spot I’d just kissed. After a moment, he lifted his fingers and let them glide over my lips, making me shiver. My cock had already started to take notice of the direction things were going, and was, of course, overly optimistic about the whole thing.

“What is it?” Ghost asked, petting my lips again. He pointed to where I had kissed him.

I laughed. “It’s called a kiss. It’s a gesture of affection and sometimes romantic interest. A way for two people who like each other to be closer.”

Ghost’s lips started twitching, but it took him letting out a frustrated growl before I realized he was trying to mimic what I’d done.

“It’s okay if you don’t return it,” I said, brushing my hands over his chest.

Ghost let out another frustrated snarl and curled his long, webbed fingers around my shoulders. My heart started pounding as he leaned in. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little afraid, but that fear was also laced with a particular sort of excitement I’d never felt before that left my blood poundingand my cock throbbing. Ghost opened his mouth and his tongue darted out from between rows of razor-sharp teeth. At first, I wasn’t sure what he was going for.

And then he slowly licked over the seam of my lips, and I groaned. My knees went all wobbly and I would’ve melted into a puddle if he hadn’t been holding me up. I parted my lips on instinct and Ghost took full advantage, thrusting his tongue into my mouth. The taste of him on my tongue was like the most powerful aphrodisiac I’d ever experienced. All I could think about was how I wanted more of him in more of me. I threw my arms around his neck and closed the gap between us, climbing into his lap to straddle his hips.

A deep rumble tore its way out of Ghost’s chest and tentacles slithered out from beneath his skin at his wrists, curling around my arms. More slid free from their hiding spots along his ribs, wrapping around my torso and binding me to him like soft ropes. I probably should’ve been terrified. Maybe I would’ve been if I were a normal person, but being normal was overrated. There had always been something comforting to me about restraints, and being allowed to completely give up control, putting my faith in my partner. I didn’t get to do it often, but maybe with Ghost, things would be different.

Ghost’s tongue shot to the back of my mouth, filling my throat until I gagged and then retreated so he could give me a concerned look.

I grinned, my cheeks warming. “Gag reflex. I’ll be fine.”

He huffed, seeming unsure.

I didn’t want him backing off because of a stupid gag reflex, especially since I was getting desperate to choke onotherparts of him. I leaned into Ghost, grinding my painfully hard cock against his body through my pants. “If I wasn’t clear, I think it’s hot and I’ll gladly gag on any part of you that you want to put down my throat.”

Ghost snorted.

I pulled free of the tentacles holding my hands, stroking one palm down over his lean chest. I watched him carefully for any signs of discomfort as I let my hand go lower, brushing over the space between his legs. “Or any other part of me you want to fill with part of you.”

His body went stiff and the grip his tentacles had on me loosened. I pulled my hands away from him immediately. Dammit, I’d pushed him too far. I had to say something to fix it, but what?

“Hey, you don’t have to,” I said, frantically trying to recover from my obvious fumble. “I wasn’t trying to push you. I know it’s a sensitive topic. I just wanted to let you know I’m down for whatever, whenever.”

When Ghost didn’t answer me, I sighed and slid away from him, easily pulling free from his hold. He didn’t even try to keep me in contact with him. I slid onto a floor pillow, my face burning. I knew I should say something to put him more at ease, to fix things between us, but I didn’t know what the right thing to say was.

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