Page 115 of Silent Shadows

A few thrusts later, and she’s clinging to me, her hands clawing into me to be closer. Her pussy pulsing around me, gripping me in the same way. Like it’s not enough. I follow her, spilling into her as I cry out her name. It’s wild, and raw, and everything both of us have been depriving ourselves of for so long.

The whole world suddenly feels smaller and sharper at once. The woods around us dim until it’s just moonlight, cold air, and the impossible gravity of her.

I brush my nose lightly against hers, feeling overwhelmed, a little wrecked, and embarrassingly sincere.

I didn’t know I had this in me.

I used to think attraction was something you could reason through. You met someone, weighed the pros and cons, and decided whether it was worth pursuing. It began and ended with thought. But maybe that's just how I'd been protecting myself, because whatever's happening with Daisy doesn't consult the rational parts of my brain.

There’s something intoxicating about letting instinct take the wheel instead of intellect.

As if she’s reading my mind, Daisy smiles at me like we’re sharing a secret. Something low and wordless answers before my brain even catches up.

A pull. Instinctive. Protective in a way I don’t fully understand.

I want to stand closer. Touch more. Memorize the sound she makes when she laughs for real, not for show.

I want to keep this—whatever this thing is between us—close to my chest for a while. Hidden. Safe.

Selfishly mine for a minute.

And maybe that should scare me.

But more than anything, it feels like waking up.

chapter

sixteen

DAISY

I’m laughing. A big, full laugh that I can’t stop.

Which feels inappropriate given the fact that approximately twenty seconds ago I was pressed against a tree in the dark with Miles Adler’s dick inside me and his mouth on my throat.

But I do.

It started as a small, breathless sound that slipped out of me, well, as he slipped out of me. He sets me down, and I lean against the tree and just lose it. He looks at me, dark eyes wide—in awe or disbelief, I can’t tell. His hair is mussed, glasses slightly crooked and fogged up, face still flushed in a way that shouldn’t make my stomach dip as violently as it does. He doesn’t laugh with me at first, but then a corner of his mouth turns up, spreading across his face. And then we’re both laughing.

Miles’s pants are still around his ankles, and my leggings are nowhere to be found at the moment. He finds them behind the tree. Still laughing, we both get dressed. I’m pulling my leggings up when I notice Miles staring at me, not laughing anymore. His stare is deep, like he wants to say something. My eyes meet his and he smiles again.

“What?” I ask.

“Nothing.”

My eyes narrow. “That was not nothing.” I bite my lip, which is a terrible idea because his gaze drops there like he can’t help himself.

His mouth opens. Closes.

Then he laughs too, soft and disbelieving, dragging one hand down his face. “Okay, that was kind of….”

“Earth shattering? Life altering? Something you didn’t think would actually happen?” I finish for him.

He cocks his head at me, like he didn’t expect me to say that. “Um, yes, exactly that.”

“Great, so we’re in agreement?” I pick my recorder up off the ground and start walking back along the path.

He laughs again, louder this time, and the sound moves through me with a startling little tug. Like my body has already memorized its wavelength. Like it wants to lean closer every time he gives me something real.