Page 172 of Serpent In White

My throat dips with a swallow, and her eyes fall to it. I shift, my lips parting as if to say something,anything, but before I can, she leans forward and presses her mouth to my clavicle. A soft kiss that could be mistaken it’s so small, but her warm breath gives it away as her lips drag up, kissing a line on my flesh, which feels clammy. That never happens to me.

It’s the girl. She’s burning me up, and I suddenly realize that I’m sitting with her in my arms, her breasts pressing into me, ass resting on my erection.

I really shouldn’t be hard. Call it morning wood, I guess, but it’s still inconvenient all the same, because it could give the girl the green light to keep kissing me, or scare the shit out of her. Either way, it’s bad.

I attempt to say her name, tell her to stop, produce really any words that could help, but all that comes out is a rumble, like a hum. And then she purrs.

She fuckingpurrs, like a kitten.

My balls are suddenly aching, and I recognize how bad this is. I do… But that doesn’t make it feel any less good.

She writhes into me while kissing and sucking all over my neck, moving up to my ear.

Oh no… No no no. Not that spot.

“You have to stop.” My voice comes out exactly like the groan of someone whose words mean jack shit. “We can’t…” And then it trails off when I feel nipples… on my chest. Through two separate outfits…

I’m dying.

I haven’t been with a woman in so long. For as much as Darian thinks I sleep around, it’s been maybe a quarter of that. Most of my sexual exploits are with him, and lately, Abdiel, too. The last woman I was with was almost a year ago…

And I can’t think about that right now.

“Wecan, though,” Rhiannon murmurs, her voice all breathy with arousal. It sounds like the wetness I justknowis seeping into her panties, and I’m going out of my mind. My fingers twist into the fabric of her shirt. “You said it yourself, I have to take back control. This is how I do it…”

“Not with me.” I force myself to pry away, though it just gives her the opportunity to shove me onto my back, straddling my waist. “This can’t happen…”

“Because of Darian?” She asks over my lips, and I feel her falter.

Something in her mind stands out… A memory of her and Abdiel, alone in a tent. Doing basically the exact same thing.

“Because of Darian,” I whisper, though she already knows.

“What is this connection I have with you two? You and him…” Wonder lines her tone. “Something is holding us all together, and it makes no sense.”

“Nothing makes sense,” I rumble, inching up closer to her face, my hand sliding until it’s resting on the nape of her neck. “And the thing that’s holding us all together… is him.”

She gives me a look of reticence, biting her lip for a moment in thought.But he hates me.

My finger twirls a strand of her long, strawberry blonde hair.Don’t be so sure, kitten. My brother doesn’t have a hateful bone in his body.

She still looks skeptical, but this time she forces it away and nods, accepting my words. It makes me smile. She wants to be one of us, I can feel it.

I don’t know where this girl came from, how or why she would ever fit into our plan, but something about her settles me inside. I’d love to know what it is… To pluck it out and put it in a jar, study it in the lab.

Her mind races with questions, all sorts of wonderings, about me and Darian, me and Abdiel, the things we’ve done together. Me, up in that clearing.

My chest caves.

Before either of us can speak again, footsteps turn our heads. And we’re met with green eyes, wide like that of a cartoon character.

We’re shuffling apart, but it’s too late. Abdiel already saw us, as evident from the way he’s gaping, stunned like he just caught cousins fooling around.

He blinks a few times while I brush my hair back with my fingers, wanting to stand but knowing my hard-on will be totally visible right now.

“Uh…” he croaks, then clears his throat. “I’m um…”

“Yea, the feeling’s mutual,” I mutter, the awkwardness of it all working to kill my erection enough for me to rise to me feet. I brush off my pants, my body stiff from sleeping for hours sitting on a cement floor, with the girl on top of me.