Chapter 69: Slow Love

**Warning: This chapter contains scenes that are sexual in nature, which are suitable for readers 18 years old and above.**

JADE:

Liam’s touches were getting more heated by the minute.

“Ah… Liam… Slow down,” I whispered.

I knew what he wanted, but I wasn’t sure if I should give in to it.

“Jade, you do love me, right,” he said. He didn’t stop caressing my thighs all around while his face continued to rest on my neck. “You love me, don’t you?”

I bit my lips. “O-Of course…”

“Then… Why the hesitation?...”

So he knew it. I drew a long breath in. “Alright… I-If you are up to it then…”

I swallowed the lump in my throat as Liam’s face drew closer towards my lips.

I love Liam. This shouldn’t be a problem between us, right? I’m doing the right thing, am I not?...

“You’re doing the right thing,” he said, as he dived in to kiss my lips.

It was a long, sweet kiss. Liam always took his time kissing me, so I already knew how it felt like, but at this moment, it was as if sparks were flying between us.

Was I really doing the right thing? Now too long ago, I had lost my chastity to Kix. Being intimate with Liam like this just felt way too sudden…

“Don’t hesitate, hon,” he said to me as if reading my mind precisely at that moment.

He trailed kisses to my forehead, the side of my cheek, and then into my earlobe, biting at it playfully. “I’ll be really careful, alright?”

I nodded. I didn’t know whether I was right or wrong to allow myself to be intimate with him like this. I was being swept into the throes of passion once again where the fine line between my emotion and reason was starting to blur.

Liam clasped me in his arms, his shoulders enveloping me up to the back. I hugged around his neck, feeling closer.

I frowned. Liam’s body was always just tepid. He was never really warm to the touch… Not like Kix…

Why was I thinking of someone else? My lovely boyfriend is in front of me. I shouldn’t dream of someone else…

He carried me towards the bed and softly laid me down. He climbed on top of me, removing his shirt.

“Did you know, Jade?... I started liking you a long time ago. My feelings for you were something that had been brewing for a long time,” he whispered.

I shook my head. We met as college freshmen in the university three years prior. Did he develop a crush towards me from then on?

“Then, why did you only confess your feelings now,” I asked softly.

“Because it wasn’t the time yet,” he replied with a tight smile on his lip. “It wasn’t the right time for us to be together before…”

I frowned. If we had become lovers before Kix had returned, things wouldn’t have been the this complicated, at least for me. I would have avoided getting entangled with him again.

“I know what you’re thinking, hon… I’m regretting that now too… If only I could have been your first,” he said again before he gave me another deep kiss while his hands began to roam inside the oversized shirt I donned for my nightwear.

His hands were grasping my bare skin with passion. I was getting more heated just with Liam’s touches.

He began to lift my shirt from behind. I lifted my hands up so he could remove it with ease. I had nothing on top now but my lingerie.

“It doesn’t matter if I wasn’t the first though, honey,” Liam said, casually kissing the ends of my hair. “I’ll make sure I’ll be your last.”

He had a serious look in his face. I’ve never seen him look at me this intensely even before.

My skin shivered. Liam’s stare was making me feel… threatened.

“Don’t be afraid, Jade… I will make sure you will love me more than anyone tonight…”

Suddenly, he went towards my chest and bit at the dangling trinket of my lingerie. It was a silver star tied in a red ribbon. He nipped it playfully away with his teeth until it has detached itself from my clothing.

“I’ll keep this as a reminder of this night, hon…”

As soon as he had set that fallen decoration aside on the night stand, Liam sunk his lips into my neck, kissing me into the various places of my body slowly. He unlatched my lingerie from behind and began groping me heatedly all over.

He traveled through my now exposed bosom downwards into my navel, and further down into my legs and toes. He was covering every inch of my skin with his kisses.

Soon, we had fully undressed each other. Under the moonlight, I could barely see Liam’s body as he laid himself on top of me, but I could it was rock solid in all the right places.

Was I really doing the right thing by being with him like this? Somehow, the desire to be with Liam was not as strong as that one moment of passion I had with Kix. It wasn’t a kind of delirious desire seeping through my veins but one that was brought forth by a form of bitter regret.

I was feeling sorry towards Liam… I was sorry that my love for him was not as strong as the love I’ve nurtured for Kix…

As he slowly entered inside of me and we had become one, my guilt had consumed my heart even further.

I was very sure he loved me. He was being very careful, delicate, and nurturing.

He caressed me as if I was the most special thing in the world. He enveloped my body around in his tight embrace. It felt like he was pleasuring me more rather than seeking pleasure for himself.

Why then was I not with Kix? If I still feel more strongly for him, why did I push him away?

I discovered the answer to my questions in the next few moments…

Nearing towards the peak of our pleasure, he languidly closed in on me, leaning as if he was about to kiss me, but he stopped just inches to my face.

“Jade, remember this moment… Remember me this way… Let’s be together forever.”

I nodded. There was always that sureness in Liam’s love. It was a love I came to trust. It was a love that came in towards me a bit slow but had potential to stay, not unlike a burning, strong desire that ebbs away as soon as it came to pass.

After making love, we talked a bit on how we’d spend the semestral break. He had agreed to come visit my parents and spend some time in the suburbs I call home.

I fell into a deep sleep that night in Liam’s arms. Surprisingly, the nightmare that I dreaded did not come.

I woke up at the middle of the night with Liam staring intently at my laptop screen.

“Hon, what’s wrong,” I asked, rubbing my eyes, so I can stay awake a bit more.

“Hon, we got a message,” he said breathlessly. “Marian’s killer – he left a message for us. He wants to meet up.”