Page 28 of Heartless Enemy
Before my mind could catch up with what had just happened, Eve climbed on top of me. Straddling my chest, she leaned down over me and placed her hands on my cheeks.
“Close your eyes,” she said.
Panic still pulsed inside me, and the insanity clawed its way through my soul, demanding to be let out. I stared up into that packed dirt ceiling that was far too close, and the sound of my own screams from years ago once again echoed inside my skull.
“I said, close your eyes!” Eve snapped with such unflinching command that I actually started.
My gaze darted towards her face.
She stared me down.
Dragging in a rattling breath, I followed her order and closed my eyes.
The madness still fought hard to pull me under.
“We are not in a tunnel right now,” Eve said. Her tone was so full of conviction that I almost believed her. “We’re in your bedroom.”
She slid her hands from my cheeks and down my throat before drawing them over my shoulders. I focused all of my attention on that. On the feeling of her hands on my body.
“You just tried to ambush me, but you failed miserably because I’m obviously much more skilled than you.”
Despite myself, I laughed. It was a short and strained sound. But it did ease the panic in my mind just a fraction.
“And since I won,” she continued as she traced her fingers over my chest. “You now have to do what I want.”
She leaned down and brushed her lips over my jaw, kissing her way towards my mouth. I sucked in deep breaths while the panic retreated a little more.
Eve took her hands from my chest and instead wrapped her fingers around my wrists. With a firm grip, she lifted my hands from the ground and placed them on her hips. While holding them there, she leaned down again and kissed me.
“And I want you to just be here,” she breathed against my lips. “With me.”
Releasing my wrists, she drew her hands over my arms and back towards my shoulders while she kissed me again.
“Stay with me,” she whispered. “Don’t disappear into whatever it is that your mind is trying to pull you into. Come back to me. Stay with me.”
I tightened my fingers on her hips, holding on to her as if she was the only thing tethering me to this world. Because at that moment, she was.
With my eyes still closed, I focused everything on her. On the feeling of her hips underneath my hands. On the way her thighs pressed against the sides of my chest. On how her lips felt against mine. On the sound of her voice as she whispered those words over and over again.Stay with me.
Breathing in deeply, I filled my lungs with her intoxicating scent.
The images of thick wooden walls disappeared, the phantom pain of banging my hands against them faded, and the sound of my own screaming stopped echoing inside my skull. With their disappearance, the insanity inside me gradually withdrew as well.
My mind cleared and my breathing evened out.
Eve broke the kiss.
At last, I opened my eyes again.
A gorgeous face met me.
I swallowed against the thickness in my throat.
“Thank you,” I whispered, my voice hoarse.
Those words were so ridiculously inadequate for what I felt right now. But Eve seemed to understand anyway, because she cupped my cheeks and leaned down to kiss me again. I lost myself in the feeling of her body against mine.
Then she drew back and carefully climbed off me. I pushed myself into a sitting position. Twisting my head, I looked into the unending darkness of the tunnel ahead.