The evil laughter of the three masked men whirled around the boy’s head, almost visible—black swirls of smoke morphing into devilish images.
“What are you waiting for, boy? We’ve left the door open for you. Can’t you see the light up there? How long has it been since you’ve seen light, boy?”
The boy stood at the bottom of the stairs in the cold dark cellar where he was kept. They had finished with him and then led him, his legs wobbly like jelly, over to the landing, where the open door pointed the way to daylight.
To salvation.
His legs itched to run, to scramble up the stairs and never look back.
But they would never let him go. This was a tease, just like all the other teases that amused the three monsters. He’d tried it once before. He’d gotten to this top of the stairs and then been grabbed and forced back down. His punishment had been taking the big one, the one with the tattoo of the flaming bird, into his mouth.
“Go on, boy. You can go. We’re done with you.”
How he longed to escape. How he wanted to keep running until his legs could carry him no farther.
But his feet were stuck in blocks of concrete.
I couldn’t leave. I wanted to leave for her sake, but I couldn’t. I was too weak. Too weak to climb the stairs away from her. She had a hold on me. I didn’t understand it, but it was there. As sure as the sun would rise tomorrow, it was there.
I turned to face her, her hands again on her hips, her red lips swollen from our brief kiss. I walked toward her slowly, taking in all of her sweetness, her goodness, her pure heart. When I was close enough to touch her arm, I looked into her steely blue gaze and muttered only one word.
“Please.”
The beautiful lines of her face softened. “That might be the first time I’ve ever heard you say that word, Talon. Outside the heat of passion, that is.”
The fact that she was right hit my gut like a brick. Had I become so hardened by my life that I was incapable of common courtesy?
I had.
I touched one of her cheeks, thumbing the apple. Her skin was soft as silk under my fingertips. She closed her eyes, turning into my hand. She softly grazed my palm with her lips.
I lowered my head and touched my mouth to hers. She opened, as she always did, but this kiss was different. Then it dawned on me why.
I was giving her a kiss.
Such simple words. So simple and so apparent, but something that had eluded me for so long.
Instead of taking a kiss from her, I was giving a kiss to her.
And it was a sweet kiss indeed.
She slid her soft tongue against mine, infusing me with her strawberry-champagne essence. She melded her body into me, her soft breasts pressing against my chest. Though my dick was hard, as it always was in her presence, my first thought wasn’t getting into her pants as it usually was. My first thought was showing her that I could give too.
I had wanted to solely give to her for a while now. Perhaps I had begun that journey, but with this kiss, I gave with all my heart and soul. Everything that I was, broken as it might be, I gave to her with that kiss. I gave it to her without any idea of getting anything in return.
And in all the giving, I received something so much sweeter. The kiss she gave me back was more beautiful and more profound than any kiss we’d shared. It wasn’t our most passionate kiss, it wasn’t our most ferocious kiss, but it meant so much more than all of those kisses put together.
I love you, Jade. I love—
She broke the kiss, stumbled backward, and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Please,” I said again. I pushed her farther back until her legs hit the bed and she sat down. I sat next to her and kissed her again, softly, slowly, sliding my hand down, cupping one of her soft mounds. I pressed
my lips to her beautiful mouth, and then I pulled back and simply looked at her for a few scant seconds. Then I kissed her again. I pulled her tank top up and unclasped her bra. God, such beauty. Jade was a goddess. She didn’t resist as I licked her nipples. They were hard, but I tamped down the urge to pinch and bite them. I tongued them gently, and then I returned to her face, kissing those full cherry lips once more.
I slid my lips over her neck. She reached up and cupped my cheek, her fingers warm and satiny. I lifted my head and looked into her eyes, her blue gaze melting me. With her thumb, she tugged on my lower lip.
“Take off your shirt,” she said.