Chapter 67

JUNE.

My eyes go wide, but I make a move to close them immediately. The towel hanging off Seven’s hips is so delicate that I feel like one movement can cause it to fall at his feet and reveal….

Well, I would be lying if I said that it’s something I never wanted to see. In fact, right now I just want to open my eyes and take him all in, just appreciate his beauty and not worry about a single thing. But I came here for a reason, and that reason doesn’t include staring at him like an idiot and willing his towel to fall.

“June,” he’s whispering, and I can feel his hands on my shoulders. I feel like I’m going to expire. “June, what the hell are you doing here?”

“You took me in here,” I mutter, opening my eyes and slowly meeting his gaze. “Look, if you just let me out, it’s going to be fine.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that will be the case,” he says, and I don’t think he’s being sarcastic. “But I need to know why you’re in here in the first place.”

I sigh. There’s no going back from this. There’s no way to lie to him either. I just take a deep breath and meet his gaze, trying to act normal but my heart is already in my throat.

“I was guilty,” I start to say. “How I acted earlier was not acceptable and I feel bad. I don’t even know why I acted like that in the first place. I didn’t mean to say anything bad to you. I didn’t mean to treat you like shit. I’m so sorry, Seven. I was just—”

“Sleep deprived and tired, I know,” he says gently, touching my face. “You didn’t need to apologize. I admit that I was hurt, but I also understand. The things that happened still bother me too and I completely understand. I’m not mad at you, June.”

It’s a relief to hear all those things from him. It’s a relief to finally feel his touch on me. I close my eyes, but this time it’s to feel his warmth. To take in his scent. But I feel his hand traveling lower on my face until he’s cupping my chin, making me look up at him.

“I love you,” he whispers as I open my eyes. “I accept your apology, but really… you didn’t have anything to say sorry for.”

Seven smiles, and I can’t help but smile too. There’s no hint of resentment or any bad feelings in his eyes either. “I love you too.”

He stares into my eyes, and now the tension hanging over us comes back tenfold. I feel like if I reach up, I would be able to touch it. He’s cupping my face with both hands now, his thumbs tracing my cheek gently.

He has held me like this many times before, but only now does it feel a little… heavier. There’s something in his touch that wasn’t there before. It feels like if I name it, it would disappear, so I just keep breathing in and out, letting it flow between us until it makes itself known.

Desire.

Seven slowly leans in, brushing my lip with his thumb before pressing his lips on mine. Again, we kissed many times before. More than I can count. It always felt calm and familiar, with the noticeable absence of the butterflies and flutters that many people describe. But now, it feels different. I can feel something fluttering inside my belly, traveling all over my body until it feels like my skin is singing.

He lets his hands trail down to my waist. I put my hands on his chest. Skin to skin. He’s burning with warmth. His heart is beating fast, mirroring how mine is racing right now. He presses his lips harder on mine and I gasp, and he takes that chance to slide his tongue in my mouth and explore.

And the heat building inside my body shoots down to a place I never really explored before.

Between my legs.

Suddenly I know what I want. I wanted it for a long time but I never really allowed myself to admit that. Now, it feels like the night is full of promise and there’s nothing out there stopping us. I let my touch travel down to the towel, touching the hardness there that’s been pressing against me while we’re kissing.

He inhales against my lips. Slowly, he pulls away, but not far enough to tell me that he wants to stop. “Are you sure?”

That tells me he wants it too.

As an answer, I wrap my hand around his hardness and kiss him again.

This time, there’s no hesitation. It’s all just warmth and scent and sensation, all amplified by love. It’s in the air. It’s red. It’s hazy. It’s us, and it’s real.

I always thought that my first time would be a mess, something that I would look back on with embarrassment and be quick to move on from. But this is different. Our bodies are speaking now, all touch and kiss and softness. I don’t know how he got me naked. I don’t know how I got him naked. All I know is that we’re pressed together on a bed that’s already filled with his scent.

It feels new, as it should be. But at the same time, it also feels familiar, like we connected this way before and we just didn’t know it.

He’s on top of me. I’m under him. I’m looking into his eyes and my body is nothing but pure heat. There’s a hint of pain when he slides himself inside me, a feeling of fullness that seems to reach something deep inside me that I never felt before. Tears well my eyes. I don’t know if it’s from the pain or from the relief of knowing that it’s happening now.

He moves, and I move with him, clutching him close to me as he kisses me again. His lips are soft, his movements gentle. Pleasure is slowly starting to build between us and something primal rises inside me. It almost feels like greed. I want more and more of him. More of the pleasure he’s bringing me.

Then we both reach our peak.

And during that peak, Seven leans in, so close to me as his body stiffens up on top of mine. I thought he would seal it with a kiss, but to my utter surprise, he finds a spot on my neck and sinks his teeth into my skin.

“Seven,” I gasp, the shock from the bite nearly making me sit up.

I expect pain to come. But it doesn’t. Instead, what comes over me is this strange glow. A surge of energy dilating my blood vessels and filling me with happiness and love for him.

Seven pulls away from me, switching our positions so that I’m lying on top of him. There’s a hint of blood on his lips, which scares me, but when I feel up my neck, there’s nothing there. Just smooth skin. It almost makes me feel like the last bit didn’t happen and I’m untouched.

“I love you,” he whispers to me, his eyes fluttering close. “Stay with me for the night.”

“I can’t,” I say, slowly coming back to my senses. “I have to go back. And you need to get dressed.”

As though on cue, someone starts to knock on the door. I quickly jump away from him, laughing at the way he rises like a zombie and hastily gets dressed. Somehow the weirdness of that last thing he did starts to bother me less and less. I don’t know why, but I feel like that was supposed to happen.

Seven and I both get dressed, opening the door and letting Vlad come inside. He’s frowning at Seven, but when his gaze falls on me, his eyes go wide.

“Seven,” he mutters. “We need to talk. In private.”