Page 90 of Travis
Everyone I had ever loved had left or died or been destroyed by proximity to me. That was the math that had started the Ghost. The equation that made exile logical and penance necessary and wanting someone a form of endangering them.
Sera knew the math. She'd seen every variable. And she was pressing closer, not pulling away.
The shame that had been sitting in the center of my chest for years loosened its grip. Not gone. Not fixed. But the seal that had kept it compressed and airless broke, and something warm flooded into the space it left.
The pleasure built slowly. Not the sharp urgency of the first time but something that moved through my body in long waves, starting where we were connected and radiating outward. She was trembling against me. I was trembling against her. Neither of us trying to stop it.
Her breathing changed. I felt it against my mouth, the shift from steady to fractured, and I stayed exactly where I was, thesame rhythm, the same depth, because her body was telling me this was right, and I was listening.
"Travis." My name in her throat. Not a request.
She pressed her forehead against mine and came with her eyes open, and I held her and felt every second of it move through both of us. The way her lips parted. The way her hand tightened on my neck. The way her whole body pulled tight against me and then released.
I followed her. The orgasm broke through me, and I buried my face against her neck and for the first time I let myself want something without reaching for the punishment that was supposed to follow.
It didn't follow.
There was just Sera.
I pulled back enough to see her face. She looked at me and what I saw wasn't pity or forgiveness or any of the things I'd braced for. It was recognition. One person seeing another, all the way through, all the way down, and staying.
I pressed my mouth to her forehead and closed my eyes and held her and let the silence be enough.
