The Way He Looked at Me
As I exhale, his weight presses me down, coaxes the breath from my chest, leaving me hollow, empty.
The next inhale is agony and ecstasy intertwined. My lungs expand too fast, my ribcage tightens, a pressure globe lodged behind my sternum. When Carter eases it out, the sound escapes me before I can think. A long, mournful exhale that feels like it carries pieces of me with it.
“Last one,” he whispers, lips grazing the shell of my ear. Heat spreads through my skull. I fill my lungs this time. Deep. Full. Everything stretches, tenses, floods my veins with life I didn’t realize I’d been starving for. My body reels.