Page 58 of Creatures Like Us

The residual lube on his hand eases the glide, and somehow, it turns out to be all I need—that touch. He’s not even jerking me off; he’s just holding me, and as his sticky thumb slides up the underside, I feel the beginnings of it: a surge of pleasure, making me feel like I’m about to explode.

“Fuck, Noah, please, I’m?…” I’m coming. Holy fucking shit, I’m coming. My back arches, my toes curl, and my mouth garbles some mangled string of curses as the most intense orgasm of my life blasts through my body, so intense it’s painful. My asshole clenches around Noah’s shaft as an endless string of “oh my god, oh my god, oh my god” loops in my head and spills out of my mouth.

Noah thrusts into me a final time, coming with a grunt. Afterward, he lies by my side, and he kisses me deeply, coaxing breathless noises out of my mouth.

“You’re mine, Ash,” he says, eyes fixed on me. “I’m in your blood now. I’ll always be with you.”

“Oh god,” I groan, feeling like none of this is real and at the same time like it’s realer than I can handle.

“Until you take your last breath, I’ll be with you.”

Hm, that’s a weird thing to say, but my brain isn’t online enough yet to think of a reply.

“Asher?”

“Yeah?”

“I wasn’t disappointed.”

It takes a while until I realize what he means. I suppose I told him that his first time having sex would be a disappointment. I want to laugh in reply, but it comes out as more of a sob.

“Is it always like this?” he asks after a while.

“No. No, it’s not always like this.” The chemicals flooding my body right now are almost enough that I’d call it a high. Almost. I shift my gaze toward him, trying to smile. “You know what this means? I just took your virginity.”

“And I took yours.”

I snort, but when I look into his dark eyes and see his rare, smug expression, my snort teeters dangerously close to a whimper. Our chests are heaving as we stare at each other, rib cages pulsating in and out.

“I want you to do me too,” Noah says.

“Okay. Just?…?give me a minute.”

He chuckles, dark and delighted. Fuck, I can’t stand it if he’s going to become some sort of sex fiend now that he’s lost his virginity. I won’t be able to keep up with him, though if he means what he’s saying, I guess it won’t bemyass taking damage next time.

“It’s okay,” he says. “We have time, don’t we?”

Yes. If I’m going to stay with him and shut out the outside world, we have time, and we have each other—nothingbuteach other. No one cares about me, but Noah does, and I still don’t know what to think about that.

“Yeah,” I mumble. “We have time.”

Chapter 16

Noah

Iliesleeplessinbed, smiling. I hardly ever smile, so something must be wrong, but if so, it’s wrong in a good way.

Asher is asleep beside me, and I’m with him,inside him. He let me enter him, which I never dared hope I deserved. I still don’t feel like I deserved it, but right now, it doesn’t matter. Amazingly enough, Asher seemed to like it too. I pleasured us both; I made him come, and I transferred my bodily fluids inside him, and he let me.

I roll toward him, spooning him this time instead of the other way around. I nuzzle into his hair, hugging him close, smiling into his neck.

What a strange feeling—the one that’s coursing through me right now. I feel like I want to give him everything. My life, my body, all he’d accept, and he doesn’t even have to give me anything in return, as long as he’s here beside me, our nakedbodies pressed together, the air thick and still scented with what we’ve experienced.

Even the smell of his hair is enough to make heat stir between my legs again. I press myself closer, unthinking, just letting my body lead my actions, allowing it to crave what it craves, and it craves Asher. It craves him so much.

He’s still slick between his legs, where I entered him, and I guide myself there, not trying to enter him again, but just wanting to feel the ghost of how it felt to be inside him—how warm it was, how tight, how inviting?…

“What are you doing?” Asher mumbles sleepily, but he doesn’t move, doesn’t pull away.