Luna's breath hitched.
He stared at the painting as if it might offer him salvation, but the only salvation he'd find tonight came in the form of damnation, wrapped in the heat of Ryan's hands.
Because Ryan wasn't pretending anymore.
His fingers slid over Luna's waist, possessive, unforgiving, dragging up beneath the hem of his shirt. "You want to build walls now?" Ryan growled, mouth pressed to Luna's throat. "When the world's already locked us out? When this is the only space we have?"
Luna gasped as Ryan pressed harder against him, every inch of tension in his body met with a deliberate, hungry touch.
"Do you know what it's like," Ryan hissed, "to stand across the room from you, to watch you be hers, be his, be no one's? To hold myself back, when all I want is to drag you into a corner and make you remember who you belong to?"
He didn't wait for an answer.
With one swift move, Ryan pulled the wifebeater over his head and, with a heat-blind urgency, tied it around Luna's eyes. The sudden darkness made everything else sharper—the scent of paint, the brush of denim, the hum of Ryan's breath.
"Ryan," Luna whispered, but it was already too late.
He was spun around in the chair like a toy in the hands of someone dangerous and deeply in love. Fingers found buttons and undid them slowly, like a ritual, while Ryan kissed his mouth—deep, devouring, desperate.
Luna moaned.
His hands fluttered to Ryan's arms, then clenched in confusion, in need.
"Stop—" he gasped.
Ryan froze. His chest rose and fell fast, muscles trembling. "Are you sure?"
Luna sat there, blindfolded, lips parted, skin flushed. And in a voice that shattered under its own weight, he broke.
"No," he whispered. "I'm not. I'm not sure about anything—except I don't want you to stop."
Ryan's breath caught.
And then he leaned in again, slower this time, reverent, as if tasting a prayer he'd never thought he'd hear. He captured Luna's lips with his own, biting, nipping, licking, and as Luna moaned again his teasing assault, Ryan took advantage of Luna's defenselessness, and slipped in his tongue, exploring Luna's depth, devouring the sweetness within.