Ashleykuz

“Would you prefer to wait?”
In answer, he kissed me—much more slowly than the kiss I had given him, and more skillfully too, I’m afraid. Afterwards he didn’t lean back as I expected, but trailed his lips down my neck, sending a shiver skittering through me.
“You can begin by removing your clothes,” I said. “If you would like to. To clarify, this is a suggestion, not a demand.”
“Oh, Em,” he said, laughing softly against my neck. I had my hands in his hair, which was now quite mussed, something that made me absurdly happy.
“I’m sorry,” I said, self-conscious now. “Perhaps I shouldn’t talk.”
“Whyever not?” He drew back, examining me with a perplexed smile. “I like the way you talk. And everything else about you, in fact. Is that not clear by now?”
I felt laughter bubble up inside me, but I hid it behind a mock-serious expression. “I’m not sure.”
His smile changed, and he trailed his hand down the side of my neck. “Let me show you.”
― Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands

“Em, I must confess—I am in awe of you. I believe I am also a little frightened.”
― Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands

“We used to send the insane to the mountains while we stayed in the cities. Now the cities drive us insane and we try to escape to the mountains.”
― Benjamin Stevenson, Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret

“Dear Emily,” he said as I sat down, not troubling to lift his head from his hand but smiling at me slantwise. “You look as if you’ve come from a wrestling match with one of your books. May I ask who won?”
― Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands