Free My Darrling by Krystal McLean Page B

and pulled me close to him. I felt so small and so
safe in his arms.
    “I’m going to miss this,” Isaac admitted. “Above all else,
this is what I’ll miss the most; just laying with you as time passes too
quickly; feeling like I could die right here, right now, and that would be all
right.”
    My heart ached so bad that I had to bring a hand to my chest
and massage it. “I hate thinking about it. I don’t want to think about it.”
    “Sophie, why do you spend time with me? Why do you love me?
I can’t comprehend—”
    “Because,” I interrupted, “I am indecisive, I’m uncertain,
erratic, and…I’m not certain of who I am, or why I’m here, but when I’m with
you, Isaac, everything that doesn’t make sense about me, suddenly makes absolutely
perfect sense.”
    “I feel the same way around you.” I could hear the smile in
his voice.
    I kissed the hollow of his neck, then pulled back and met
his eyes. “Do you think, maybe, if you would have met me before”—I squirmed a
little, then bit my lip—“your crimes, that you wouldn’t have become a k—”
    “I would have still, I think,” he admitted, soberly. “The
itch would have still needed scratching. I think it’s all far beyond our
psychological understanding.”
    I sunk into myself, felt deflated. “Oh.”
    We sat in silence for a few moments. I felt so warm in this
confined space with Isaac. I could feel the heat from his body; I could feel
his thumb rubbing soft circles on my ribs; I could hear his heart drumming steadily
in his chest. I was hypersensitive to everything in that moment. Goosebumps
bloomed all over my body, and my palms started to sweat. I was a beautiful
mixture of nervous and floating on a cloud.
    “Can I kiss you, Miss Lenon?” His voice slipped past his
lips in a whisper.
    “You don’t need to ask.”
    And with that, everything turned into a euphoric blur of
sweet, thirsty kisses. I was swept away to a place where only happiness and
bliss existed. Where Isaac’s body belonged to me—and mine to him—to do as we
pleased with. To pleasure. Where his lips, sweet and minty, melded into mine. Where
our clothes were swept off and just our bare bodies so vulnerably remained. It
was a place of vulnerability, and admiration.
    I didn’t cover myself in front of Isaac; I didn’t have to—he
made me feel utterly beautiful. He traced one long finger around the curves of
my naked body, making me shiver with pleasure. Everything I felt was new to me,
and every moment of it was heavenly.
    “God damn, you’re beautiful,” Isaac whispered, his eyes
drinking me in with a passionate thirst. He looked at my body with so much
affection, warmth.
    I leaned into him, kissed his collarbone and then slowly
glided my tongue up his neck until I reached his jawline. “I’m not beautiful,”
I disagreed, “but you make me feel like I am. Thank you for that.”
    “I wish you could see what I see,” he said, a tiny bit of
frustration spilling through his tone. Then the corners of his lips curved up
into a smile and he pulled me onto him. The fort crumbled down on us, and we
laughed. Isaac glowed when he laughed and I felt so lucky to be one of the very
few people in his life to see this side of him: laughing, smiling… happy .
    Most would say he didn’t deserve happiness, and a part of me
agreed, but another part of me saw a person within the monster; a lost and
lonely boy who never felt truly loved or cared about. Sometimes love is all a person needs—but unfortunately for Isaac, it came far too late.
    I skated my hands over nearly every inch of Isaac’s toned body,
kissing him like it was the last time I’d ever see him. I could hardly catch my
breath. “You literally take my breath away,” I said, my chest rising high and
falling low.
    Smiling, he tugged lightly at my lower lip with his teeth
and then he reached down by his feet for his pants. He pulled out a small,
square wrapper. A condom. This was it—it was really