Page 145 of Sun-Kissed Fangs
I want you to hold me. Please hold me. And never let me go.
Maya pulled her close, deepening the kiss. Her hands brushed over her hips, a finger following the hem of her underwear.
“Are you sure?” Maya asked.
Harper nodded, her breath trembling now.
She wanted it desperately. Unlike whateverthiswas, sex was a game she was actually confident with. It was what she knew. What she was good at. And even though this didn’t feel like their previous times, oranytime, it still felt safest.
Maya eased her hand into Harper’s underwear. Between her legs. Brushing over her clit, and then circling.
Harper sighed against her mouth. There was barely any pressure behind the touch. As though she would shatter if handled with anything but perfect tenderness. It followed such a slow, careful rhythm that it felt like her body had transformed into an instrument only Maya knew how to play.
Part of Harper wanted to stay just like this. In this safe stage, filled with sighs rather than moans. But as gentle as Maya’s touch was, it was also constant. Building and building, creating a pocket of pressure beneath the one filling her chest.
Tension formed between her legs, but it wasn’t in that sudden, fire-like way she was used to. This pleasure wasn’t the hard, rough kind she had pursued all her life, because it beingfunwas easier to handle than this level of intimacy.
She moaned, and it came out shaking. The tension expanded. It kept growing. Slowly, but stillgrowing.
Her nails dug into Maya’s shoulders. She was about to fall. Could feel it coming. She was so close, even though she shouldn’t be. Such a light touch shouldn’t have that effect.
This wasn’t like any other time before. It was more. Strange, unknown, and thereby terrifying, and it needed to be forceddown. To be hidden deep inside herself where it could be buried before it ruined her from within.
“Relax,” Maya whispered. “Let go. Let it all go. I’ll catch you. I promise.”
She ran her free hand down Harper’s spine. A caress that increased the tension between her legs so much that ithurtto resist.
She couldn’t help it. Not against that voice. That coaxing, sweet touch.
Harper relaxed, and the snapping sensation that went through her body was scarily literal. It hit in a rush, firing through her legs, her stomach, all the way to her fingertips. It sliced through the knot in her chest and the decade of shame that had shaped it, cutting it to scattered pieces. She clung to Maya as the orgasm soared through her, moving with unrelenting intensity.
As her bodybroke.
Her moans came out as sobs. Gasping, heaving sobs that she couldn’t do anything to hide. Even if she could have made them silent, her sudden shaking would have given her away.
“It’s okay. You’re okay.” Maya hugged her close, and Harper buried her face against her neck. “I know this hurts. We don’t need to talk right now. Just rest.”
It was impossible to do that. Not talk or rest. The sobs tearing through her were too violent to allow either.
But as painful as it was, she felt lighter. It was like she’d been dragging this outburst around her whole life, with it growing more immense every day it was ignored, and now that it was let out, she just felt… weightless.
Harper had never understood what the term ‘making love’ really meant. She’d always considered it something reserved for mushy romantics who had a habit of exaggerating things.
In that moment, she understood. In that moment, when nestled in a careful embrace, listening to Maya whisper praise against her hair.
To accurately describe what this was, no other term made sense.
Chapter 34
They stayed quiet until most of the candles burned out. Bundled under the covers, with Harper curled into a ball and her face hidden against Maya’s chest.
Maya would have let it last for days. Nothing could have pulled her from this position, not when Harper’s breathing would start trembling every few minutes as she started weeping again.
Maya ran her hand through Harper’s bright pink hair. Down her back. Traced the curve of her spine, the lines of her ribs. Felt the steady beat of her heart. Even when she’d been sobbing so hard she could barely breathe, her heart had stayed calm. She’d felt safe.
That might be the only reason she had cried at all. The only time Maya had seen tears in Harper’s eyes was when she saw Evie in the Lotus. When something she’d considered fact was proven inaccurate.
She had fought this feeling. Had fought it so much that it looked like it caused physical pain. That she’d even let it occur… Whatever she needed now, Maya would give it without hesitation.
