Orphic (#1 in the Hajar series)

thirty-two

chapter thirty two - first impressions

song of the chapter ; floating - alina baraz ft khalid

--

THE KISS WAS slow and tantalizing, passion dripped from the very action. The smell of fresh linen mixed with the salty ocean breeze slipped into Farah's senses, somehow numbing and warming them all at once. She could feel the rough skin of his palms cupped around her cheeks, effectively holding her in place, in captivity.  

It was too good to be true, she knew it was. But Farah didn't want to think about that, she didn't want to worry about the repercussions or how this might just complicate everything they had going between them. She just wanted to bask in the softness of his lips, guiding her patiently, waiting for her to move in sync; and so she did. 

She was lost in him, lost in his warmness drowned her, he still tasted like the dessert they had just indulged in, making her lip sting slightly. The feeling of rough bronze skin was addicting in itself. When she began to feel as if she'd overheat from desire, a zephyr wind that carried particles of the ocean's brackish water cooled her down all over again. 

After what felt like minutes, she needed to pull away to inhale the saline air sharply. Her lips prickled and she could feel the skin of her face flush with fervor and her teeth caught onto the inside of her cheek as she bit it. Farah didn't want to look at his face, she was too embarrassed to. Her long lashes fanned across her face, her mouth feeling swollen and stimulated from what had just happened. Her heart almost ached by the way it was pounding, blood racing through her throat to her brain to the point where it almost throbbed.

When she felt a hand brush her own and that's when she met his eyes. White silver irises scanned her face while the ghost of a smile graced his own. It felt like she was holding her breath, that she'd explode at any given moment if she didn't contain her attraction at this exact moment. And then Farah forced herself to look away from him so she could finally breathe again. 

Israfil's throat felt as if it'd close up and constrict oxygen if he said anything. He couldn't- he didn't want to- ruin the moment like that, not when this had been the most she had ever let him in, in the almost two months that they had met. He was scared that he'd blink his eyes and she'd be gone- like it was all a figment of his imagination. There was something about Farah that made him feel as if she were only temporary, a dream that he had conjured up in his own head to cure himself of the loneliness he didn't know he was feeling.

So he didn't utter a word, he just clasped her hand in his own and turned back to look at the ocean. It wasn't awkward- it was peaceful, he could sense it. Her worries were at bay for now, and for that he was happy. It felt like nothing could spoil any of it, and that was all he needed at the moment.