☑ THE SHADOW | Peter Maximoff

t w e n t y - s e v e n

He furrowed his eyebrows, but she kept her gaze on his face to watch his reaction. Gently, Amara tugged her sweater off her body and set it on the floor, then reached her fingers down to pull her shirt over her head and set it down, too.

Goosebumps ran across her skin, but it wasn't from the chill from the room she was suddenly exposed to. It was the way Peter's eyes danced across her frame, almost with adoration and care. He didn't laugh at her. He didn't call her names. And he didn't take advantage of the situation, either.

Instead, he leaned in and kissed her just as gently as before, coaxing her to lay back down. The brocade comforter was rough against the bare skin of her back as Peter began to trail his kisses from her lips to her jaw, down the hollow of her neck and to her chest.

Amara's fingers carded through his hair when he started kissing the swell of her breasts, which were poking out of the top of her bra. She gulped.

"Y-you-" She cleared her throat to try to stop her voice from shaking. "You can take it off."

She bit her lip a little harder than she meant to, nervously waiting for Peter to look up at her.

He paused and tilted his head up to look at her. "Are you sure?"

She nodded.

Peter sat up and pulled his own shirt over his head in one swift motion, then crawled back over Amara to kiss her fully. She hummed, letting his tongue explore her mouth while his fingers tickled along her spine.

Her back arched up to give him better access, but he was quick, since it seemed that only a second passed before he helped her pull the straps off and discard the unwanted clothing into the growing pile.

The warmth between both of their chests was comforting, especially when Peter pressed them together and pulled back from the kiss to travel back down. He kissed down the valley between her breasts before moving to the underside, where he nipped softly, making her gasp.

Her hands moved back to his hair when he traced the long gash that crossed her chest with his lips, which was almost healed, but not completely. When Peter started nipping at one of her buds, she leaned into his touch.

This was a very new feeling for Amara - one that she was quickly finding herself enjoying more and more. There was a certain heat that was beginning to grow in her lower belly, and she wanted it to keep going.

She pulled Peter up from her chest after a few minutes to kiss him, her fingers dipping down his chest to his belt, where she slowly pulled the loop out of the buckle. Amara tossed it off to the side and trailed her fingers up his back, eliciting a small hum from his throat before he pulled back.

Her eyes slowly opened when she didn't feel him come back down. She was met with Peter's dark eyes and a small smile gracing his lips, but before she could ask what was going on, he beat her to the chase.

"I think you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen," he whispered, his thumb grazing the skin of her cheek.

Her cheeks immediately grew hot. That was unexpected, and certainly didn't help with the mantra she was supposed to be (and also failing to) remind herself of. She wasn't doing this because she liked him, because she didn't like him. She didn't like him at all.

But the comment had her flustered. There was no way he was being serious, right? He was just trying to help her get into the mood. There were many prettier girls he had been with before her. That just made this one of his moves, didn't it?

Amara frowned, looking down and shook her head. "Peter, I- I know that's not true-"

"What?" he interrupted. "Why wouldn't it be?"