Descent (Kissed by Death) - Tara Fuller Page 0,44

me.

“Are these from when you were alive?”

He tensed, but allowed me to keep exploring him. “Yes.”

I looked up. “Why did you keep them?”

His eyes searched mine. A muscle in his jaw flexed. “So I would never forget how I got them, why I’m here…what I lost.”

“They’re beautiful,” I whispered.

He closed his eyes and exhaled harshly. He was struggling, fighting some internal battle to give me this, to accept joy in return.

I resisted the sudden, overwhelming urge to close the space between us, to press my lips to his. Something so simple, and yet it felt bigger than the two of us put together. That should have scared me. If I gave in to such urges, I could be cast out, stripped of everything that made me my father’s daughter. But it didn’t scare me. It exhilarated me. In the back of my mind I could hear Sky’s warning.

Aren’t you tempted? Gwen, what if you fall?

I was. I wanted it with every fiber of this body. Every part of me felt jittery with want and anticipation. The sweet, addictive desire rolling off him told me he wanted it, too. Easton reached up and touched my chin, his fingers like a magnet drawing me in.

“I’m about to kiss you, Red,” he said, voice rough. “You should probably stop me.”

Heart racing, I reached up and traced the curve of his mouth.

“I don’t want to stop you,” I whispered.

Our lips came together like puzzle pieces falling into place. Inside, my blood began to simmer, spark, then all at once I was in flames, consumed by this feeling, this kiss, this boy. He grabbed my wrist, and his fingers slid up my palm and laced with mine. His lips were smooth and hot. Mine were cool and clumsy. I’d never kissed anyone, but somehow Easton coaxed me into knowing exactly what to do. He kissed me like he was starving. He touched me like I was made of paper and his touch might send me up in flames.

Fire and ice sang through my veins. Heaven and Hell waged a war in my heart. I didn’t think about falling. I only thought about Easton. The way his hands, hot and needy, slid over skin that had never been touched. The joy bubbling up inside me became an unstoppable force, and before I could stop it, it was there. Pouring out of my palms pressed against his bare chest. Filling Easton with light and love and all of the things he deserved, but never allowed himself to have. He groaned into my mouth and pulled me onto his lap, wincing, yet never stopping.

His pain hit me like a wall until I gasped at the force of it. My vision blurred and went black, but I held on to him, letting him guide me through the twisted tendrils of pain inside. There was so much, but deep down, under the darkness, an ember of light glowed. The deeper he kissed me, the more he let me in, the closer it got.

His hands slid up my thighs, my ribs, burning me, branding me, ensuring I’d never be the same Gwen after this. I reached for the ember of hope inside him. I wanted him to see it. To feel it. One of his hands slipped out of place and landed back on my hip, gripping me. His other cradled my jaw like he didn’t know whether to lock me in place or push me away.

“Jesus, Gwen…” he groaned against my lips. “What are you doing to me?”

“Don’t stop,” I whispered. “Not yet.”

I slipped my hands down and laid them over his wounds, feeling them heal beneath my touch. A fresh jolt of pain lanced through me, licking at my insides like a flame. I pushed through it, further, further… if I could just…

Easton tore his mouth from mine, breaking the connection. The ember disappeared into the darkness so all I could see was shadows and pain. I sagged against his chest, and heated hands touched my back.

“Gwen?”

Slowly, dim light poked holes through the dark, and my vision came back piece by piece. Inside me, joy and purity waged a quiet war, annihilating the lingering pain. Easton was breathing hard. His hair was disheveled, eyes frantic and worried. I touched his face and smiled weakly.

“Your bruises are gone.”

I’d helped thousands of souls in my existence, but none had ever felt like this. Easton was about so much more. I didn’t just need to take his darkness away. I wanted to.