[Warning: light snu snu in the beginning. Progress at the end. *wink wink*]

  She couldn't even respond as her toes curled along with the tips of her fingers. She was close. So damn close.

  She tried to say something, but a jumble of incoherent sounds escaped her throat.

  She was a moaning mess as Mo Qingchen started to finger her harder. She could only rock back and forth steadily with the force of his fingers as he worked them.

  "Hey," he called as he pulled back from her neck to look into her eyes. "Look at me?"

  He was asking, not demanding. So unlike him.

  She looked into his beaming black eyes. Her chest rose and fell rapidly and she was glad to see him panting with lust, as well.

  "Mo Qingchen…" she whimpered.

  He lowered himself closer to her until his forehead rested against her. Time seemed to slow down. It was just the two of them in the whole wide world and they weren't aware of anything else.

  "You are the most beautiful woman in the world," he whispered, eyes blazing. And when he looked at her like that, she felt beautiful.

  "I'm… so close," she stammered, gripping onto his forearm.

  "Yes, baby," he encouraged so quietly that she could barely hear it. The endearment shot through her mind, completely dazing her for a moment. "Come for me. I want to watch you come undone for me. Because of me."

  She gasped as the pleasure mounted. The higher she climbed, the farther she wanted to rise. She was intoxicated as he played her. In return, she sang for him with her moans and whimpers.

  "I've been coming undone for you for months now."

  His fingers slowed just a little, enough to keep her on the edge without letting her explode.

  "You are safe with me." Another reassurance. He would tell her until she believed it completely.

  "Safe from what?" she breathed back, trying to keep her composure.

  "Yourself."

  'And the demons that haunt you,' he thought. He didn't say it out loud.

  She didn't know how he always knew the right thing to say. His words and the pleasure he was giving her did things to her. In fact, in these vulnerable moments, neither of them held back.

  Despite the confusion during the day, in the darkness of the night, they seemed to feel safer. They took comfort from each other's bodies in the privacy of their room. It was the time they shared their most shameful feelings with one another. In moments like these, they somehow brought down their walls.

  "Now come for me," he coaxed, quickening his pace once again. "Let yourself go."

  She did.

  She would later realize that when one starts to let their walls down and truly trust their partner, they are able to achieve a whole new level of pleasure during orgasm. She would know this was true because the closer she got to Mo Qingchen, the more intense her orgasms became.

  This one brought tears to her eyes.

  When it was over, he didn't pull away. Instead, she lay there basking in the aftermath of her powerful release and he kissed a slow trail from her collar bone to her shoulder, up her neck and across her jaw until he found her lips.

  She couldn't help but smile widely against his lips. He smiled too as he gently slipped his fingers out from inside her.

  "That was…" she began, her chest rising harshly as she tried to catch her breath.

  "Good?" he prompted.

  "More than that."

  He pressed his lips against her cheek. "That's good to know," he answered with a chuckle.

  "When I can move again, I'll return the favor."

  She saw him shaking his head before he kissed her forehead. "Another time."

  She gave him a questioning look. "Rejecting me?" she half-joked.

  "No. You have had a long day and I didn't do anything so that you returned the favor. I just wanted to watch you."

  "You did?" she asked, dumbfounded.

  He nodded eagerly. "Watching you orgasm when I am not distracted is a sight to behold."

  She was not sure how to respond.

  "I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere," he said before he slipped out of the bed and disappeared into the bathroom.

  He was gone for a short time. When he returned, they talked for a while. But it was hard for Qian Meng to keep her eyes open after a long day. She could tell Mo Qingchen was tired too.

  She settled into sleep after making him promise he would go to sleep early. She stirred awake when she heard a loud noise.

  Mo Qingchen looked guiltily at her, hoping he hadn't completely woken her up.

  "Qingchen?" she called.

  "Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up."

  "It's okay," she mumbled, half-asleep. "What was that noise?"

  Mo Qingchen patted her hair. "I just knocked something over. Go back to sleep, baby."

  She made a small noise at the back of her throat. "Why did you wake up?"

  "I haven't fallen asleep," he told her truthfully.

  "You're still awake? What? Why?" She turned a little more, now more awake.

  "I had to do something," he said softly. He had knocked over the alarm clock as he tried to keep his laptop aside. The sound was so loud that he froze. He didn't even place the laptop completely and set it back on his lap.

  "Oh, I thought you finished work when I came home. Did I disturb you throughout the evening?" she asked, worried.

  "Not at all. I remembered something and did it before the deadline," he explained.

  She sat up slowly. "Do you want to talk about it?" Seeing his confused expression, she explained further. "You have something on your mind. Do you want to talk about it?"

  "There's nothing on my mind. Don't worry. I am already done with work. Let's go to sleep, okay?" he coaxed.

  "Okay. Just wake me up if you want to talk," she slowly told him. She could see he didn't want to talk, so she didn't force him. She waited until he slid under the covers completely before turning the lamp off. They both lay back down and she drew small designs on his forearm, hoping it would soothe him to sleep.