Page 13 of Now You See Me
“Then kissing me is forbidden.”For now.I shiver as he trails his fingers down my neck. It doesn’t matter that it’s not skin-to-skin. He’s touching me. He wants me. “And I promise not to kiss you, either,” I say, giving his hard cock a gentle squeeze. “Because you’re not the only one who’s struggling with their self-control, you know.”
“I don’t know how I got lucky enough to find you.” He takes a deep breath, releasing it slowly as he captures my hands. “Even if I could never touch you at all, having you here is the happiest time of my life.”
“Mine, too.”
Holding my hand, he leads me down a short hallway to a room with an open door. “I don’t have a vinyl bed, so this room is going to look strange,” he says, reaching inside to turn on the light.
I point at what appears to be a wrought-iron frame and rows of mattress pocket coils seeming to float in midair. “There’s an actual bed there, right?”
Standing behind me, his deep chuckle slides into my ear like a delicious promise. “Yeah. A king-size mattress with cream-colored sheets and a dark-green duvet, even though neither of us can see them.”
This is definitely going to take some getting used to. I move to the bed, then pat around on what appears to be nothingness, but is actually buttery soft bedding. “I guess you don’t have to separate your lights from darks on laundry day.”
“No,” he says, chuckling. “Stains aren’t a problem, either.”
“So thereareperks to invisibility.” I shrug out of my heavy cardigan and toss it onto a hardback chair. “Okay, here goes!” Arms in front of me, I dive onto the bed I can’t see. “Oh my God!” I squeal into the fluffy duvet, looking through the mattress while moving my arms and legs as if I’m making snow angels. “This is so wild.”
Roan’s full laughter booms from across the room. “Will you be angry if I call you cute?”
“Never,” I say, switching to a seated position, then to a kneel. Heart pounding in my chest, I pull off my knit top and toss it onto the floor. “But I wouldn’t mind if you use other adjectives, too.”
He whistles under his breath when I unhook my bra and send it to join my top. “You’re fucking gorgeous. How’s that adjective?”
“Very good.” The scarring on my right shoulder and arm is much less than my face, but it’s still noticeable. I have no way to know if he’s looking at any of it, but the tingly feeling spreading through my body makes me think he’s watching me with desire. “I haven’t been naked in front of anyone except medical professionals since my accident.”
“I hate that people haven’t appreciated you the way you deserve, but I’m not going to lie, I’m glad their stupidity worked in my favor.”
“So am I. Even before the scars, I wasn’t this comfortable with anyone.” Is it because I can’t see him? That may be part of it, but not the whole reason. There’s something special between us. I’ve known it since the first day we exchanged messages. I shimmy to the edge of the bed, then off. “I’ve never been drawn to another person like I am to you.”
He makes a rumbling, growly noise as I undo the button and zipper on my jeans, then push the denim down to my hips. “Stop.”
I freeze instantly, the heat of embarrassment threatening to burn me to the ground.
“Wait for me to grab those gloves. I want to do the rest.”
Relief rushes in, putting out one fire as a different flame ignites between my legs. “Then hurry and get them, and don’t forget a pair for me, too.”
“Be right back,” he says, turning and disappearing from the room.
Physically, I see his gloves and apron moving. But I’ve been watching him all week, and as crazy as it sounds, I swear I’m starting to really see him. Not colors or features, and not an outline, exactly, but the shape of him. He’s invisible, yes, but his body’s mass changes how the air looks. Distorts it somehow.
Or maybe I’m so desperate to visually see him that my mind is playing tricks on me.
My hearing isn’t working overtime, though. Once he’s out of the room, he sounds like any man might, dropping his shoes in the hall, banging a cabinet door, treading the floor with lead-footed steps. A man in a hurry.
“I heard you giggling in here,” he says, returning to the bedroom minus the silver gloves and apron. It explains some of the thudding—that metal-mesh apron must weigh a few pounds.
“You were making a lot of noise. Invisible or not, you’d be a terrible spy.”
“I was very motivated to get back in here.”
My attention is glued to the pair of latex gloves he’s pulling on as he closes the distance between us.
He hands me a second pair, waits for me to put them on, then takes my hands in his. “You’re everything to me, Elise. Maybe that seems like too much, too soon, but it’s true.”
“It’s true for me, too.”
He releases my hands, then cups my face in his palms. “Say the word at any point and I’ll stop.”
