Page 64 of Lumi

CHAPTER 12

Wild Hunger

Damian

On the third night of the experiment, I had a hard time falling asleep.

Lumi and I had picked up takeaway food from an Italian place on our way back to her apartment. After dinner, we did another round of questions and watched a movie before going to bed.

All day long, I’d felt a storm raging inside Lumi. As I tossed and turned that third night in her bed, I thought about Lumi’s pattern of leaving instead of talking things through. Today in the pool, she had fled after I complimented her. It was driving me crazy.

I’d given Lumi plenty of compliments in the ten years that we’d been friends, so why had today’s flattering remarks offended her so much?

It felt like I was getting mixed signals from her. Why did she tell everyone that she didn’t like to cuddle with a man, when these past two nights, she had allowed me to spoon with her?

Lumi’s alluring scent was one of the reasons I couldn’t fall asleep tonight. Cuddling felt like a gateway drug that made me want more of her.

When I finally drifted off, I dreamt of all the things that I wished to do with Lumi.

We were standing on the moor with the wind blowing her black hair in all directions. Her laughter as she tried to brush it from her eyes warmed me. She looked carefree and happy.

“Come on. I’ll race ye back.” Lumi laughed and before I could react, she was running away from me, her blue boots and red jacket the only contrast to the brown colors of the landscape around us.

I took up the chase, but as I ran, the scenery changed, and suddenly there was a gate that we walked through, entering a medieval castle.

“Isn’t it grand?” Lumi spun in the entrance that reminded me of somewhere I’d been before. I leaned my head back to look at the paintings on the walls. People from an earlier era stared down at us, and because I wasn’t careful, I bumped into a knight’s armor in the corner and made a ruckus of clattering metal.

“How old is this castle?” Lumi asked me with a smile.

I had no idea, and somehow, it wasn’t that important to me.

“Ye want to explore?” I asked with a playful smile as I took her hand.

We were like cheeky children, running through the castle and peeking into rooms where we had no business.

“Where are all the people?” I asked when we came into a large ballroom with a lit fireplace and food on the table. With the weirdest feeling that I’d been here before, I stopped and leaned my head back to admire the arched windows and the painted ceilings.

Lumi chuckled and rose on her toes to kiss me. “Don’t be silly. The food is for us.”

“Us?” My fingers touched my lips as I stared at her. Lumi hugged me as a friend, but she hadn’t kissed me since our night together nine years ago. Yet it had seemed so natural to her, like she’d done it a thousand times before.

“This way,” she said with a flirtatious smile and led me to a set of double doors made of dark wood. I followed her inside and looked around the room. Like the rest of the castle, it had candles on the walls, but this room also had a bed with white linen and a fur on top.

“Will you untie me?” Lumi turned around and suddenly, she was wearing nothing but a thin white nightdress.

Raising my hands, I pulled the silk ribbon that held the dress together, and like a magic trick, the dress slid down and exposed Lumi’s exquisite shape.

With a seductive smile, she turned around and locked eyes with me as she lowered herself to the bed and wiggled her finger in a come-hither movement.

“God, ye’re so tempting,” I breathed.

“Why would you resist when I’m all yours?”

I didn’t hesitate but crawled onto the bed with her, seeing that like her, I was naked too.

“Oh, fock, Lumi,” I moaned when her hands ran over my chest and stomach. “I love ye so much.”

Her hand intertwined with my hand, and it seemed logical that we were somehow chained to each other again.