Hollowland (The Hollows 1)

“Yep.” I smiled thinly back at him.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty beat. And filthy.” He gestured to his clothes stained with food and dirty water. “I’m gonna go change.”

“All right.”

“Excuse me.” He slid past me, brushing up against me in the narrow walkway of the kitchen, and the brief touch sent flutters through me.

He went back to the bedroom, sliding the pocket door shut behind him, and I turned off the water. Drying my hands with a towel, I looked down at my dirt covered clothing. I’d need to shower and change, too. A minute later, Lazlo came out of the bedroom, shirtless, holding a tee shirt in his hands.

“This has grease all over it.” He walked over to me, but he never looked up from his shirt. “My mom always said you have to wash grease stains right away before they set in. Or at least I think that’s what she said. Maybe grease never comes out.” He chewed his lip, thinking, and his hair cascaded across his forehead. Sadly, he sighed. “God. I really should’ve paid more attention to her.”

I don’t know how to explain it any better than it being a perfect storm. The thoughtful expression on his face made him strangely adorable. His bare chest and arms etched in tattoos made my heart skip a beat.

I remembered the way his kisses tasted, and even though he was standing right in front of me, I suddenly missed him terribly. I liked him far more than I had wanted to admit to myself, and it finally occurred to me that I had to give him up.

“It’s so weird the things you remember,” Lazlo continued. He finally looked up at me, his chestnut eyes resting on mine.

Before he could say anymore, I rushed forward and kissed him. Even though I startled him, he didn’t hesitate to kiss me back. His lips met mine with equal fervor, and he dropped the tee shirt on the floor so he could wrap his arms around me.

“Wait,” he breathed, moving away just enough so he could look at me. “What’s this about?”

“I want to be with you,” I said simply. His eyes searched mine, looking for some hidden meaning or trick.

Brushing the hair back from my eyes, he found whatever he was looking for, because he leaned in and kissed me again. It started slow and gentle, but that didn’t last long. His mouth felt hungry and needy, but there was nothing forceful or rough about it.

He kissed me in the same frantic way he had before, and I loved it. Tangling my fingers in his hair, I pushed his mouth more eagerly against mine, kissing him until I couldn’t breathe.

Without untangling myself from him, I pushed us back towards the bedroom. He stumbled over the carpet, freeing his mouth from mine long enough to give a nervous laugh.

Then he was kissing me again, pushing me against the wall. His body pressed tightly against mine, the strong contours of his muscles against the soft curves of mine, and I could feel his heart hammering in his chest.

When we finally made it down the hall to the bedroom, I pushed him back onto the bed. I climbed on top of him, straddling him between my legs. I loved the way his bare skin felt, hot and trembling against me, and I wanted to feel more of it. I sat up and pulled off my shirt, and Lazlo stared up at me with this awestruck wonder.

“God, you are so beautiful,” he whispered, and I bent down, kissing him and pressing my bare flesh to his. He moaned against my lips, and I slid my hands down to start undoing his jeans.

“Wait,” he breathed, gently putting his hand on my arm to stop me. “We don’t have to do that. I mean, I want to. But… we don’t have to.”

“I want to,” I insisted.

I wanted to feel close to him, I needed it. I wrapped my arms around him, pressing him to me, and pushed myself against him eagerly. That was all the encouragement he needed. Never taking his lips from mine, he rolled me over, so I was lying on my back, and he was on top of me.

He still had his jeans on, but I could feel the weight of his body pressing tentatively against mine. Instinctively, my body pushed against his, and I tightened my fingers in his hair, kissing him deeper. Everything inside me trembled with anticipation. Wonderful hot tingles spread through me and my stomach fluttered.

I felt his hand on my hip, and his fingers looped in my panties, sliding them down. They caught on the gauze wrapped around my bite wound, and Lazlo stopped kissing me to look down.

“What’s that?” He looked back up at me. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it’s just a cut. I’m fine,” I tried to reassure him. His eyebrows scrunched with uncertainty, and I smiled at him. “Really. I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

He wasn’t completely convinced, so I slid my hand over the smooth skin of his stomach, and it trembled underneath my touch. I sat up kissing his chest and neck, and I pulled off his pants. His mouth returned to mine, kissing me as he slid down my pants. He propped himself up over me, his skin resting warmly against mine.

Then I felt him, sliding inside of me, and my breath caught in my throat. I buried my fingers in his back and pushed him against me. He kissed my mouth, my neck, my shoulders, everything he could reach, and I moaned against him.

“I think I love you,” he murmured, his breath on my ear.

I wanted to say it back, but I couldn’t. The words were lodged inside, so I held him tighter to me, pressing my lips into his shoulder.

I had never felt closer to anyone than I did with him then, and there was something almost painful about that. The intensity of being so vulnerable and so intimate with him. It would kill me to let him go.

Gasping for breath, he rested his forehead against my shoulder and tried to gain some composure. When he gently kissed my shoulder, my skin quivered underneath his lips. So he wouldn’t put his whole weight of his body on me, he rolled off and lay on his back next to me.

I rolled over with my back to him. It all hit me so suddenly, and I couldn’t contain my emotions anymore. Tears were pooling in my eyes, and I fought to keep them back.

“Remy? Are you okay?” Lazlo sat up, putting one hand on my hip and peering over to see me. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No,” I shook my head. I couldn’t elaborate more, because I would cry if I did.

“Was… was that your first time?” he asked carefully.

“No.” My first time had been with my high school boyfriend. We’d been crazy in love and we thought we’d be together forever. Then a zombie got him, but that was after we’d broken up.

“So what’s going on?” He sat up more and pushed the hair back from my face, so he could really see it. “Remy? What’s the matter?”