Shen Changyin froze.
Xie Yu added, "Or should I say make love? Share a night of passion? Which term is more appropriate?"
"In short, I want to go to bed with you."
"I want to take off our clothes and—mmph—"
She didn't finish.
Shen Changyin covered her mouth with one hand and pushed her slightly toward the inside of the bed with the other.
Then she withdrew her hand and began undoing her own clothing.
Kneeling on either side of Xie Yu's right thigh, slightly looming over her, her dark lashes thick as a fan, she asked calmly, "You've been unconscious for so long. Shouldn't you eat something first to regain your strength?"
Xie Yu answered by bending her knee.
Her knee lifted, sliding beneath the folds of fabric.
Even through layers of cloth, the slow friction made Shen Changyin's thigh tremble slightly. Xie Yu lay on the bed, eyes wide, smiling at her.
Shen Changyin's expression did not change. She maintained the posture until every piece of clothing on her body had been removed and tossed beyond the pearl-white gauze curtains.
Now she was fully exposed.
Only one thin layer of fabric remained over Xie Yu's knee.
Shen Changyin moved slowly, circling her hips twice.
Moisture gradually soaked through the fabric against Xie Yu's knee.
A silent provocation.
Xie Yu laughed softly and kept her position, beginning to undo her own clothes.
The long skirt was drawn down and away. The fabric brushed across her knee, brushed across where their knees pressed together.
Even though it was the finest brocade, embroidered with raised gold-thread patterns, how could it compare to tender skin?
Shen Changyin's legs trembled harder. She closed her eyes and bit her lower lip, waiting.
Now there was no fabric left.
Skin met skin.
Xie Yu's knee, Xie Yu's fingers—bones covered by a thin layer of flesh—met softness without bone.
In the heat of summer, they embraced without barrier, bare bodies pressed tightly together, black hair damp with sweat, mingling.
As if each wanted to knead the other into her very bones and blood.
As if they wished to melt into one person.
The sturdy redwood bedframe trembled faintly when someone's head tilted back against it. It did not creak, but the pearl-white curtains swayed continuously.
At one moment, Xie Yu instinctively opened her mouth and let her teeth press into Shen Changyin's shoulder, then hesitated, about to withdraw.
The next second, pain flared at her own shoulder—Shen Changyin's teeth breaking skin.
Blood slowly seeped outward, only to be drawn away.
A vast sense of reassurance rose within Xie Yu's chest, and she bit down as well.
Pain made Shen Changyin shudder. Xie Yu stroked her back soothingly, yet did not release her bite or her hold, keeping her firmly within her embrace.
Summer days were long.
—
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