Swallow Me Whole novel · Chapter 9 of 24
Chapter 9: Power Outage
The storm took out the whole block at 10:40 that night.
I was in his bed when it happened, face down on his pillow with his hand on the small of my back.
The lamp died.
The fan stopped.
The rain came down on the roof, and thunder walked across the lake and rattled the window.
"Power's out," Ashton said, in the dark.
"I noticed."
"Stay there."
I heard him get up, and a drawer open, and the scratch of a match.
A candle flared in his hand.
He stood naked in the yellow glow with the candle held in front of him.
The shadows climbed his chest and slid along the scar on his ribs.
He set the candle on the dresser.
Then he came back to the bed and looked down at me.
"Rule three," he said.
"What about it?"
"Nobody sleeps over."
"It's a storm. I can't go up there. The stairs have no light."
"I have a flashlight."
"Do you want me to use it?"
He did not answer.
He climbed onto the bed, over me, braced on both arms.
His hair hung around his face, and the candle shone in his gray eyes.
"No," he said, very low. "I don't."
I rolled onto my back and looked up at him.
The rain roared.
I lifted my hands and touched his face, his cheekbones and his beard and the corner of his mouth.
He turned his head and kissed my palm.
It was the first time he had kissed me on purpose since the shower.
"Come here," I said.
He came down on me slowly.
His weight settled over me, warm and heavy and all muscle.
I wrapped my legs around his hips and my arms around his neck.
He kissed me.
It was not the starving kiss of the shower.
It was slow, and deep, and unhurried, his tongue stroking mine, his mouth soft, his beard rasping my chin.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of Swallow Me Whole are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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