Page 113 of The Obedient Lie

I buried my face in his neck and whispered, “Better?”

His answer came after a pause.

Not a word.

Just a kiss to the side of my head—and the softest, quietest sound I’d ever heard from him.

Like a yes he couldn’t say out loud.

He pulled me into the blankets without a word.

Just tugged me down and wrapped his arms around me, burying me against his chest like he couldn’t stand the space between us. Like he didn’t want air unless I was in it too.

We lay like that for a while. Breathing. Resting.

And then something shifted.

His grip changed—tightened. Not out of want, but fear. I felt it in the way his whole body went still, tight beneath mine like something inside him had snapped back into place... too hard.

He was panicking again.

Quietly. Internally.

But I could feel it.

I didn’t say anything. Just reached down and gently unwrapped his fingers where they’d been clenched against myback, prying one knuckle at a time until I had his hand in mine.

Then I pressed it flat against my chest. Against my heart.

Held it there. Let him feel it.

The rhythm. The truth of it.

He didn’t move. Just breathed like he didn’t trust himself to do anything else.

After a moment, I trailed his hand up—slowly, carefully—over my ribs, up my side, until I let it go.

And for a second, I thought he might pull back again.

But he didn’t.

As if the permission had only just clicked. As if he hadn’t believed it was real until right now—his fingers began to move. Tentative at first, brushing the slope of my waist, then higher. Exploring. Learning me like I was something fragile he might break.

“Fuck,” he whispered, barely audible. “You’re so soft.”

I smiled into his chest.

“You can touch me,” I whispered, voice low against his chest. “If it helps.”

His breath caught.

So I leaned up and pressed a kiss just above his heart—soft and slow. And then I sat up slightly, undoing the delicate ties at my shoulders, letting the satin slide down my arms.

His eyes followed the movement.

And when the fabric pooled at my waist, he didn’t look away.

He swallowed hard.