Iris’s words went in one ear and out the other as Caspian lost himself in the feeling of her lips pressed against his. He didn’t have the mental capacity to entertain a conversation about painkillers when he was too busy being entranced by her touch. The way she whispered his name sent shivers down his spine, and something between a growl and a sigh escaped his throat as he deepened the kiss. For a moment, he completely forgot about how tired he’d been just a few minutes ago. The way she entangled herself with him was reenergizing, and he pulled her as close as he could with his uninjured arm, injecting a little more passion into the originally tender embrace.

In the back of his head, he knew they were playing with fire. Alone in the equivalent of a hotel room, there was no one else around to interrupt them before they got carried away. The only people who could put the brakes on before they did something stupid was the two of them. However, he couldn’t help himself. He’d never felt toward anyone the way he did about Iris, and he craved to close the distance between them fully. Caught up in the whirlwind of infatuation, he leaned further into her, his heart racing wildly as she traced patterns on his bare skin with her fingers. Everything she did felt so good that he didn’t realize he’d run out of breath until she pulled back from his lips.

Panting to quell the dizziness, he shook his head in response to her question. [color=#b97703]“The worst one is the bruise on my stomach,”[/color] he breathed, indicating the discolored spot with his left hand. [color=#b97703]“The others don’t really hurt anymore.”[/color] He knew he probably looked worse off than he really was. He’d seen the peppering of bruises for himself when he’d stood in front of the mirror at Maisie’s apartment. Even though his skin was painted with purples, blues and greens, most of the spots didn’t pain him unless he pressed down on them hard. The only one that he really had to pay close attention to was the mottled patch on his abdomen, where Regis had punched and kicked him so many times that it was going to take him a while to recover.

While he spoke, he didn’t lift his gaze from her pink lips. He felt like an addict who’d just taken his first hit from a drug after weeks of withdrawal, so it was difficult for him to slow down. He wondered if she was feeling the same way, since he noticed that even when she’d paused to ask if he was hurting, she hadn’t stopped toying with his bare chest. Either way, he wasn’t done drinking his fill of her yet, so he leaned in to kiss her again, opening his mouth just a little wider while he trailed his hand up from her lower back to her shoulders.

[color=#b97703]“God, I can’t stay away from you,”[/color] he murmured against her lips, his fingers curling around her shirt against her back as he clutched her. He was more careful with his left arm, but he still placed his hand on her waist, unable to leave it dangling uninvolved at his side.