Crash and Burn (1)

you make me strong too, lace

I gasped when Soren suddenly dove for my stomach again. Running his lips along the heated skin, he laid those light, careful kisses so precisely that it lit every nerve in my body on fire. Everything seemed to stand at attention, completely at his mercy.

In the few months that Soren and I had known each other, he'd somehow learned all the hotspots that even I didn't know about.

"Soren." I arched my back to push against him. "Soren."

With a muffled chuckle, he pressed another torturous kiss right outside of my belly button. "Besos para la bebé."

I was going to die. My heart sputtered violently, taken aback by such a sweet gesture, but then Soren gave me a warm smile—a reckless, beautiful smile I knew I'd never win against.

So I sighed in defeat as he crawled up my body to give me a long, lazy kiss.

"Besos para ti."

Releasing my wrists, both of his hands cupped my cheeks gently. Dazed, I let out a low moan, immediately wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Besos para ambos. Siempre." Soren mumbled softly.

A choked cry came flying up my throat and then I was grabbing his curls haphazardly to twist us messily through the sheets. As I straddled his hips, I barely managed to gasp past the warmth blooming in my chest. "You are driving me crazy."

Detaching gingerly, I ran my nails down his chest, only slowing at the gauze. When I glanced up at him, he was assessing me strongly, as if he was trying to place what was wrong.

"I know you want to get up, Soren."

Bed rest had been challenging for a man that had been running and fighting and chasing for years. He insisted that he was fine, but that did nothing to quell that everlasting feeling that had haunted me the past few days.

"I'm scared that if you get up, you're going to run off and get yourself killed," I admitted wearily, holding his gaze.

When his eyes dimmed slightly, my heart sank. Combined with a long, ragged sigh and the fierce flash of images, a wave of nausea hit me before I could push it back.

Blood. So much blood. Tan and red and black. Even now, as my shaky vision sharpened to catch his healthier complexion, I couldn't forget the washed out hue that had faced me in the garage.

A deadly, desaturated tint. Devoid of life.

My mind conjured up the palette without permission, and suddenly, everything in front of me smeared together in a distant, dystopian color theory. A color theory that existed without the shade of green that I loved.

That was almost a reality. A life without that fucking color. A life without Soren.

"¿Estás bien?"

Blinking rapidly, I found myself face to face with it. An unmistakable, sparkling ocean that made it easier to breathe instantly.

In. Out.

Soren's lips quirked up playfully. "Remembering to breathe?"

My heart skipped. "Sometimes."

Breathe.

His cheeky grin widened. "I'll always remind you."

Flooded with devotion, the simple promise brought a bittersweet smile to my face. In those moments when he was completely unresponsive, it hadn't mattered if I breathed. It had only mattered if he did.