Page 116 of Fallen Stars
“Enzo, anyone could walk out here.”
“And do you think I’d let them leave with eyes if they saw you naked? You are safe with me—always. Haven’t you learnt that yet?”
She took a deep breath, trying to let her worries leave her as she peeled off the last of her undergarments and threw them to the deck. Enzo snatched her silken underwear from the air. He brought them to his face and inhaled deeply, and the act set Elara ablaze from where she straddled the plank, utterly bare for him. He groaned into the fabric, his other hand grabbing his crotch. “Gods, I’ve missed your scent,” he moaned before discarding the underwear.
He took a moment to observe her, his eyes raking over her body. She could feel it again, a visceral heat that sparked wherever his eyes rested until he reached her sex, and she instantly tried to press her thighs together.
“I wish you could see how you look right now,” he murmured. “You’re breathtaking, El.”
The softness in his voice made her heart pang and coaxed a truth from her. “I used to feel beautiful, confident even. But at the moment, I just…” She shrugged, hunching a little.
“Well then, we need to fix that. Move back.”
Elara looked around at the safety of the part of the plank she was on and the thin air that surrounded the plank behind her if she moved another inch back.
She manoeuvred her legs until she was straddling the wood and felt the cool smoothness of the polished wood pressing against her sex.
She inhaled a breath and saw Enzo’s eyes darken as he saw her push herself back, the friction of the wood against her a tormenting kind of pleasure.
“Keep going,” Enzo said, his smile curving even more as he pulled his shirt off. Elara’s mouth went dry, seeing his beautiful, chiselled torso, each muscle rippling as he moved.
She felt the plank swaying, the solid safety of the deck nearly out of grasp.
“Now lie back,” he ordered.
She almost laughed.
“Enzo, I’m not going tolieon the gangplank. It’s a forty-foot drop into the ocean.”
“Coward.” He smirked.
Elara’s eyes glinted at the challenge. “I’m tired of that word, Lorenzo.”
“And I’m tired of not having my tongue inside of you,Elara.”
Oh gods. His tone sent butterflies fluttering through her, low and commanding. She certainly wasn’t thinking about her powers anymore.
“Now, I don’t believe this is an argument. I haven’t been able to touch you for a month. I have not been able to taste you. Or be inside you.”
He came closer to where her lower half rested.
“You say you trust me. Solie back.”
Elara gave a soft laugh. With a nervous glance around she shuffled herself a little further onto the plank.
It creaked under her weight, the plank bouncing. Her heart began to pound, a thrill racing through her, as well as fear.
“All the way,” he murmured.
Her hands were white knuckled as they gripped either side of the board. She slid herself down carefully until her back was flush to the board, panting as her head draped over the end.
She was upside down, and the sight nearly took her breath away. From here, she could see the luminescent water, a sea of stars beneath her, twinkling gently. The ocean merged with the sky, so she felt like she was floating in starlight, like she was hanging off the edge of the world. The soft lap of waves against the anchored ship was the only sound save for the creaking wood as she breathed in the scent of brine and oceanflower. And there, its reflection shimmering, was the moon. The silver orb shone over her, bathing her in moonlight, and she felt the same light within her veins open a curious eye, waking for the second time that night.
Panic gripped her, and she tried to sit up but cursed as the plank lurched again. She stilled, having to force calm back into her being.
“See, El. I’m not just a pretty face,” Enzo said softly, his voice floating over to her in the blue-soaked midnight. “Here in the middle of the ocean, suspended, you have no choice but to look at yourself, to look at the entity tied to you.”
Her chest heaved as she tried to remain still, knowing that one move could tip her over the edge.