Chapter 44
A broad hand gripped his slender ankle bone. The darker hand only made Xie Ning’s foot look even paler and more delicate.
Pei Zhi lowered his eyes and glanced at Xie Ning’s pale foot, then slowly turned to look at Xie Ning’s face. His voice was hoarse. “What do I have to do to make you happy?”
Because he had trained in sports since childhood, Pei Zhi’s hands were not especially smooth. Xie Ning’s skin was delicate, and the skin around his ankle grew a little itchy under Pei Zhi’s grip. He struggled slightly, but could not break free. Instead, that small movement only left a conspicuous red ring around the spot.
Xie Ning gave up altogether. His long lashes fluttered as he said, “You’re the one pursuing me. Shouldn’t the specific method be for you to decide?”
“Anything is fine?” Pei Zhi asked.
Seeing how urgent Pei Zhi looked, yet how hard he was forcing himself to endure it, Xie Ning suddenly found it a little amusing. The urge to tease him rose again, and he deliberately asked, “What do you want to do?”
Pei Zhi really did seem to have been pushed to the brink. He pressed his face against Xie Ning’s again, rubbing against him restlessly, cheek to cheek. His heavy breaths all fell against Xie Ning’s skin. His voice grew even rougher as he asked again, “Does that mean… anything is fine?”
“Whatever I want to do, that’s okay?”
Xie Ning reached out and touched Pei Zhi’s face, giving his answer. “As long as it makes me happy.”
Xie Ning thought that what Pei Zhi could do was nothing more than kiss him again. It was no big deal. He liked kissing too. It felt wonderful, leaving his whole body light and floaty.
At the beginning, because of his skin hunger, Xie Ning would always sink into the aftereffects of kissing, his mind hazy as though he had drunk too much.
As the number of kisses increased, his tolerance gradually rose. Even though his mind still felt dull and his thoughts slow after kissing, he no longer ended up standing there as blankly dazed as he had in the beginning.
Now, as long as he was given a little time, he could gradually recover.
Just as Xie Ning expected, Pei Zhi bent down again and took his lips into his mouth. With his eyes closed, Xie Ning could already guess how Pei Zhi was going to kiss him next.
Pei Zhi easily pried open Xie Ning’s teeth. At first, he was still able to keep a bit of control, and the way he kissed was still rather pleasant to look at—only slowly and lingeringly sucking at Xie Ning’s tongue.
“Mm—”
Xie Ning’s lashes trembled slightly, and the sticky, wet sounds by his ear made the tip of his tongue go a little numb.
A thin layer of sweat formed across his back. The clammy feeling made him uncomfortable, and he unconsciously twisted his waist, wanting to move farther away from Pei Zhi—at the very least, that would make it feel less hot.
The moment Xie Ning could not stop a faint little sound from escaping, he knew that Pei Zhi was about to lose control again.
And as expected, the gentle kiss from moments before had only been an illusion. Xie Ning had merely let out the slightest sound, and Pei Zhi immediately showed his true colors.
Pei Zhi suddenly became wildly excited, like a starving wolf. Both hands locked tightly around Xie Ning’s waist as he pushed his rough, forceful tongue deeper into Xie Ning’s mouth, sealing his lips as he kissed him.
Under such a near-plundering kiss, Xie Ning instinctively tried to avoid it. But the moment he showed the slightest intent to do so, his waist was pinched, and his body was straightened back into place.
Heavy breaths fell across his lips. Pei Zhi rubbed the tip of his teeth against Xie Ning’s lower lip bead and said hoarsely, “…Don’t hide.”
That part of his lip had been sensitive to begin with, and after being kissed over and over like this, Xie Ning—already suffering from skin hunger—would react strongly from the slightest touch.
A fierce current rushed from his lip bead all the way to the top of his head. Xie Ning’s eyes went unfocused for a moment. His slender hand, trembling slightly, braced itself against Pei Zhi’s chest as he frowned and said, “Don’t bite me.”
Liking to kiss him whenever and wherever was bad enough. How had it escalated into biting now too? Absolutely not. He could not indulge this bad habit of Pei Zhi’s.
Pei Zhi gave a vague response, but Xie Ning felt it was perfunctory. So when Pei Zhi rubbed their lips together and tried to pry his mouth open again, Xie Ning firmly kept his lips shut, refusing to let him in.
“Baby, baby…” Pei Zhi kept rubbing against Xie Ning’s lips, but no matter what he did, he still could not kiss his way in. Growing anxious, he began licking messily all around Xie Ning’s mouth. “Open your mouth.”
Xie Ning turned his head away, clearly resisting. “Are you still going to bite?”
“No, no more,” Pei Zhi said, chasing after Xie Ning’s lips to kiss him, but by then Xie Ning had already closed his mouth. Looking pitiful and dejected, Pei Zhi licked softly at him, tracing the shape of his lips with the tip of his tongue. “Baby, open up…”
“I haven’t kissed all the way inside yet.”
Amazingly, he actually sounded a little aggrieved.
Because of the huge difference in size between them, Xie Ning looked as though he had been pounced on by a giant wolfdog and was now being licked all over the face.
Even though Xie Ning had gradually gotten more used to accepting this kind of intimate skin contact, that did not mean he could always stay calm and clear-headed.
The slightest lapse in attention, and Pei Zhi slipped through the seam of his lips and kissed his way back in.
Perhaps because he had held himself back for too long just now, Pei Zhi kissed a little urgently. The force of his sucking was heavy, and his tongue stirred through Xie Ning’s mouth again and again, as if he meant to force out more saliva so it would be easier to kiss deeper.
Xie Ning had already grown used to Pei Zhi’s sudden spells of madness. He let Pei Zhi cup his face and look at his expression however he wanted.
As the kiss deepened, Xie Ning squeezed his eyes shut tightly. He looked miserable, yet thoroughly indulged at the same time—a contradiction so intense it was almost excessive.
That face, usually so cold and indifferent, was now filled with confusion and arousal. The contrast made him look almost indecently beautiful.
Pei Zhi had grown far too hot. Taking advantage of a moment when Xie Ning was catching his breath, he stripped off his own shirt, revealing a broad back like a range of mountains, and firm, tightly muscled arms.
His body was covered in strong, domineering muscle. Through his tear-blurred vision, Xie Ning saw Pei Zhi stretch his arms straight above his head again, pinning them there as he lost himself in another kiss.
Xie Ning was very compliant. He liked kissing. To someone with skin hunger, kissing carried an irresistible magic.
He was so focused, so deeply immersed, that in the haze he suddenly realized something was wrong.
Pei Zhi had been holding him, kissing him, rubbing against him all this time—and then, mixed into the sticky sounds of kissing, came the sound of a zipper.
The kiss abruptly loosened. Xie Ning blinked in confusion. His mouth was still slightly open, saliva slipping down from the corner of his lips, as he looked at Pei Zhi in bewilderment.
Under that gaze—so innocent and dazed it almost seemed unknowing—Pei Zhi’s Adam’s apple rolled. Then, as if afraid he might be too warm, Pei Zhi tugged lightly at the hem of his pants.
The tight jeans slid down naturally and caught just above his knees. The clean white fabric beneath remained bunched nearby. The smooth, pale flesh of his legs had been pressed into faint red marks, which stood out strikingly against his flawless skin.
Then Pei Zhi braced both hands against the bed, moved back a little, lowered his head—and kissed him there.
The moment that kiss landed, Xie Ning’s lashes flew up. He could not even describe the shock of it. His wet, swollen lips parted. “Have you lost your mind?!”
Yet Pei Zhi seemed to have made up his mind completely. He insisted on kissing him. His thin lips brushed him lightly, and Xie Ning began trembling violently, unable to breathe evenly. “Don’t… don’t do this.”
For Xie Ning, this was still far too much, far too soon. It was not that he was especially conservative, and he had known that if he agreed to let Pei Zhi decide, something might happen.
But… but this absolutely was not what he had meant.
Xie Ning had never even imagined this as a possibility.
It was so absurd that he ended up doing something extremely childish—he actually reached down to cover himself, refusing to let Pei Zhi kiss him.
“You said I could decide,” Pei Zhi said. He tried licking lightly at him. The moment he did, Xie Ning’s face filled with panic. He looked pitiful, but beautiful. Something wicked in Pei Zhi was quietly stirred awake, and he said hoarsely, “Baby, be good. Move your hand.”
Xie Ning refused. So Pei Zhi bent to kiss his lips instead, but Xie Ning turned away. Perhaps because of his cleanliness obsession, Pei Zhi did not insist. He merely pecked the corner of Xie Ning’s mouth lightly. “Didn’t you say that if I made you happy, you’d be my wife?”
“Baby, I’ll make you happy.”
Pei Zhi slowly took hold of Xie Ning’s hand. As if soothing him, he rubbed his fingers lightly over the tender skin. His darker hand only made Xie Ning’s skin look even cleaner, almost too delicate.
Xie Ning really was beautiful all over. His whole body was fair and clean, with hardly any pigmentation anywhere, and every part of him was exquisitely shaped. That was why Pei Zhi loved kissing him so much. And right now, he began again.
At first, the kisses were simple. But later, they deepened, as though he were carefully testing Xie Ning’s limits. Xie Ning looked down at him in shock, watching as Pei Zhi kissed him little by little. The way Pei Zhi kissed was clumsy—after all, it was his first time and he had very little experience. His technique was raw, almost immature, but still full of earnest concentration.
Xie Ning liked kissing, but when Pei Zhi kissed him too deeply, it became overwhelming. And now, this was much the same.
Pei Zhi carefully watched Xie Ning’s expression as he kissed him at an unhurried pace. That face which was always so cool and detached gradually flushed red at the corners of the eyes. It was clear he could not quite take this kind of kiss. Even biting down on his lower lip was not enough to suppress the soft hums that slipped out, and the restrained expression on that beautiful face only made him look more vivid and intoxicating.
Pei Zhi suddenly made a gagging sound. It was not disgust—just a natural reflex. The throat was a sensitive, vulnerable place, and rejection was normal.
Xie Ning’s lashes began trembling again. He pushed weakly at Pei Zhi’s shoulder, but for some reason his fingers slipped into Pei Zhi’s hair instead, clutching his hair tightly, his knuckles shaking faintly.
To him, this all felt strange and absurd. He bit his teeth together hard, yet still helplessly opened up, saliva spilling messily—some of it drawn out by the way Pei Zhi had just kissed him. Pei Zhi kissed deep, and hard. Xie Ning felt confused, yet at the same time almost intoxicated. He hovered constantly between clarity and surrender, between pleasure and shame, as though he were about to break apart entirely.
“Baby, bite down.” A piece of fabric was brought to his lips, and Xie Ning opened his mouth almost without hesitation and bit the hem.
His thoughts were simple: if he bit the fabric, then maybe no strange sounds would escape. But Pei Zhi’s kisses came like a violent storm, completely beyond anything Xie Ning could handle.
The ferocity of it left him with the absurd illusion that he really had been kissed senseless. His whole body was numb and weak, and even his mind had gone soft and dazed.
The room was warm. A thin sheen of sweat had formed on Xie Ning’s skin. To make him less hot, Pei Zhi casually tossed the white fabric aside, rubbed lightly at his ankle bone as though soothing him, then lowered his head and kissed him again.
“So cute,” Pei Zhi said. His cheek had gone a little misshapen from kissing, and his voice was muffled. “Pink.”
Xie Ning felt utterly unsafe. He desperately wanted to grab onto something. The moment he lifted his head, the bright light stimulated his eyes, and tears slipped out uncontrollably.
“Mm…”
Xie Ning cried again.
He rarely cried. He was not the type to shed tears easily. Even in childhood, as far as he could remember, he had cried very little. But now he simply could not control it. Kisses that intimate were too seductive to someone with skin hunger.
And whenever Xie Ning cried, it was always silent.
The tears slid slowly from the corners of his eyes. If Pei Zhi had not been paying such close attention to his expression while kissing him, he would have missed them completely.
He looked so pitiful.
And yet so beautiful.
As if soothing him, Pei Zhi kissed him gently. It was not favoritism, exactly—he was just attentive in every way. In this respect, he was especially careful.
A flush had risen over Xie Ning’s skin, warm and pink. The pale pink skin gave off a hot white haze, and the faint sweat on it made it shimmer in the light.
Pei Zhi lowered his head and inhaled lightly. Sweet.
His straight, elegant nose gradually pressed lower, slowly disappearing from view. That face, usually calm to the point of coldness, was now full of obsession. It looked as if he wanted to bury his whole face there and breathe him in properly.
Pei Zhi tentatively stuck out his tongue and licked at Xie Ning’s tightly closed mouth. Xie Ning resisted a little, as though he did not want Pei Zhi kissing him there anymore.
Xie Ning’s pupils widened all at once. To someone with skin hunger, this was simply too much. It frightened him, this kind of kiss—and yet Pei Zhi had already kissed there again.
His mouth, originally dry and tightly shut, was made damp and wet by Pei Zhi’s almost cruel way of kissing. The air was full of Xie Ning’s hurried breathing, and the shamelessly obscene sounds of kissing and sucking went on and on.
The familiar tongue was demanding kisses again, fierce and heavy, and yet somehow different from their usual kisses. Xie Ning had kissed Pei Zhi many times already, so of course he knew what those felt like.
Pei Zhi’s body naturally ran hot. Maybe it was because he had trained in sports his whole life. Even Xie Ning, caught in the kiss with him, felt unbearably hot.
“Mm…” Xie Ning started crying again. One arm was thrown over his eyes, but he was still being kissed and licked until saliva spilled helplessly. He muttered nonsense through it all. “Hot…”
Hot?
Pei Zhi thought that perhaps his own body heat was the problem. The room had the heating on, so it was normal for Xie Ning to feel too warm. He soothed him by rubbing lightly over his mouth and pinching his cheek the way one might comfort a child, then went to the fridge and took out both a room-temperature glass of water and a glass of iced water.
Pei Zhi added extra ice to the cold water.
He brought the room-temperature water to Xie Ning’s lips and fed it to him in small sips. He would have liked to pass it directly mouth to mouth, but he knew Xie Ning had a cleanliness obsession. And now, with Xie Ning acting so fussy and pampered, he probably would not want to kiss him again like that.
Spoiled little thing, Pei Zhi thought silently to himself.
After Xie Ning finished the water, his breathing was still uneven. His long lashes had been dampened into little clumps, sticking up untidily like his hair. His legs were still exposed just like that, the pale skin making the delicate pink even more striking.
What had started as a youthful, tender red had now deepened into something richer, more ripened, gleaming faintly under the light with a wet sheen.
Xie Ning glanced at Pei Zhi—more precisely, at Pei Zhi’s mouth. He pressed his lips together, turned his head away, and fell silent, looking almost as though he were sulking.
At the moment, he had on nothing but an almond-colored wool base layer. Everything else had mysteriously disappeared. Pei Zhi, meanwhile, looked the complete opposite.
The scene was far too strange.
While Xie Ning was still caught in his own confusion, Pei Zhi picked up the now-chilled glass of water, the one he had deliberately packed with ice, and took a mouthful.
His mouth was hot, but the water inside was ice-cold. He did not swallow it. Instead, while Xie Ning was still dazed, he kissed him again.
The water was cold, but the tongue was hot.
That alternation of heat and cold was almost unbearable. The chill made Xie Ning instinctively want to shy away from the kiss that fell on him, but the weakness brought on by his skin hunger made him unable to escape.
His refined, elegant face was full of confusion. In twenty years, this was the first time he had ever found himself in such a situation, and he truly did not know what to do.
Pei Zhi sucked hard at him, dissatisfied by how distracted he seemed. Though he bit only lightly, Xie Ning still gave a startled cry. Tears gathered uncontrollably in his eyes, and although he tried hard to hold them back, soft nasal sounds still slipped free.
The iced water in the glass could not be finished immediately. Most of it ended up spilled across the sofa instead. Water that was no longer truly cold slowly seeped into the cushions.
The black leather sofa, the overturned glass, the water running everywhere—its surface gleamed with a layer of wet shine, little puddles gathering here and there. Pei Zhi had no time to wipe it away and could only let the spilled water dampen Xie Ning’s legs by accident.
There was nowhere for Xie Ning to hide.
His pale legs, set against the black leather sofa, took on an even softer sheen, but at the same time, they could not avoid being streaked with a little glistening moisture.
At a glance, it looked as though Xie Ning had wet himself.
