Sleeves by Chanse Lowell, K. I. Lynn, Shenani Whatagans Read Free Book Online Page A

me I’m normal, that I can take this.” He stared in her eyes, and he could feel the sympathy piling into her like bricks of guilt, weighing her down. He shook his head.
    Don’t want this. Don’t pity me!
    Her eyes crinkled at the corners, and they were definitely brimming with tears.
    “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, so sorry.” She sniffed a little.
    “Stop looking at me like that,” he said, his voice cracking.
    “I can’t.” She dropped her head and closed her eyes for a moment as if she was trying to clear her head. “I want the pain to dissipate, but I can’t hurt you by being rough. It’s pretty clear you’ve had nothing but harsh, cruel treatment. Let me just . . .” She opened her watery eyes. Her hands slipped out of his with a gentle tug and then they roamed like burning silk over his chest, down to his abs, then back up again over his nipples.
    They went erect, tightened immediately as hard as they could go and throbbed.
    She leaned over, and for a second he thought she might lick one.
    “Does it burn like heat, or like ice?” she asked so quietly, he could barely hear her over the rushing blood in his ears from his hammering heart.
    “Like a white hot iron. It feels like my skin’s burning so badly, it’s almost numb. It’s this high pitched throb that never stops. Even for a few minutes after you touch me, it remains.” His stomach flipped at his admission. He’d never told anyone this before.
    “I want it to go away. I want to help, so while I do something to change the feel of it, I want you to imagine instead of being burned with a white hot flame, picture yourself as an iceberg, floating in the ocean.”
    “How big?” he asked, and his voice was even shakier.
    He wanted to believe her that this would work—that she could help him and that he wouldn’t scare her away.
    “Bigger than you are. So massive, boats in the ocean have to change course, but it’s a warmer day than usual. I’m the sun, shining on you, and I’m your friend. I’m helping you to reshape yourself so you fit more comfortably in your spot in the ocean, no longer hitting other icebergs.” She lightened her touch even more to a tiny feathering one. “Can you imagine it? Floating and cold, but being gently coaxed to join some of the water by melting under my influence?”
    “Yessss . . .”
    “Can you feel how I kiss your skin?”
    Lips touched his shoulder, and his entire body convulsed, then he folded in on himself, rolling away from her. “Don’t do that, Casey.”
    “Why?” Her small, delicate hands that were soft and still hotter than hell itself, drifted across his back. “Has no one ever been affectionate with you?”
    “I . . . Why should . . . You need to leave.”
    “I would never leave you alone while you’re in pain,” she said, her damned hands still on him.
    “You need to go!”
    “ No , Kel. I’m here for you, and I’ll make it better. Tell me how I can fix this.”
    He rounded on her, sitting up and getting in her face. “I. Don’t. Fucking. Know!”
    “Neither do I—so we’ll work on this together until we do.” She moved her lips so close to his, they almost touched.
    “I don’t do that,” he said, staring at her mouth.
    “You do, sweet man, you just don’t realize it yet.” She ran her hands up his arms, this time with a firmer pressure, but still so light it ached right down to the bone.
    “All I know how to do is hurt.”
    “No, that’s not true. You haven’t hurt me yet. Try it. I won’t tell anyone.”
    She blew across his lips, and the oddest thing happened.
    The burn he was already experiencing from her simple body heat on that one spot faded. It was still hot, but more manageable.
    “Now, lick your lips. Let’s try that again, and when you’re settled, you lean in. I’ll kiss you at that point because I’ll know you’re ready.” She gave him a look that was full of trust and some other emotion he couldn’t pinpoint.
    “Why are you doing this for