Chapter 540: Does Kissing the Corner of the Mouth Count as a First Kiss? (2)
He could clearly feel her body trembling subtly from their kiss, a helpless little shiver that plucked at his heartstrings like a feather.
Shen Yuan greedily drank in the sweet fragrance of her neck, where the faint warmth and moisture from his lips seemed to linger.
Forcibly suppressing the intense urge to bury his face in her neck once more, he angled his head away slightly. With a hint of reluctance, his warm lips slowly, bit by bit, peeled away from her delicate skin.
He only moved an inch, his breath still ghosting hotly over the sensitive skin on Li Zhi’s neck, sending another shiver through her.
“Li Bao…”
Shen Yuan’s voice was impossibly low and husky, as if sanded rough. It was thick with a nasal quality, filled with a lingering intimacy he couldn’t hold back.
He lowered his gaze, his deep eyes locking onto the girl in his arms. He watched her eyelashes, trembling slightly from shyness and nerves, and her cheeks, flushed like ripe peaches.
The arm around her waist shifted. It was no longer just holding her in place; it was seeking a tighter, firmer embrace, as if he never wanted to let go.
“It’s still so early… Don’t go, okay?”
He nuzzled the top of her soft hair with his chin, a playful, pleading weight. His arms tightened suggestively—a clumsy yet stubborn refusal to let her leave.
“Stay a little longer… Just a little while longer…”
Li Zhi looked at Shen Yuan.
The young man’s gaze held an almost pleading yearning.
His voice was laden with the clingy desperation that follows a first taste of intimacy, a stark contrast to the confident swagger of his earlier bold declarations. All that remained now was a profound softness and a refusal to let her go.
His body heat and scalding breath enveloped her. The lingering touch on her waist and neck was a stark reminder of what had just happened.
Shen Yuan’s petulant refusal to let go, combined with his soft, incessant whispers, felt like an invisible net. It radiated a startling heat and strength, threatening to melt away the last of her will to break free.
Li Zhi didn’t answer right away. Instead, she slowly relaxed her hands, which had been clutching his sweater, and her fingertips hesitantly traveled up to his firm back.
She nuzzled her cheek against Shen Yuan’s chest, as if searching for a more comfortable place to rest.
The thundering of his heart vibrated through his chest and into her ear.
“Mmm…”
A soft hum escaped her throat, muffled against his chest. It carried the last vestiges of her shyness, along with a hint of helpless indulgence.
It was quiet and indistinct, almost a nasal hum, like a puff of warm air in winter. Yet, to Shen Yuan, the sound was perfectly clear.
Shen Yuan, his face buried in her hair, felt his breath catch.
“Li Bao…”
“Hm?”
“I like you!”
His arms around her suddenly constricted, tightening as if to etch her assent into his very bones.
Li Zhi didn’t push him away. She only buried her face deeper into his warmth, into the familiar, clean scent of him.
“I like you, too.”
Without warning, the muscles in Shen Yuan’s arms tensed. With a sudden surge of strength, he lifted her by the waist.
In that same instant, Li Zhi felt her feet leave the ground as her body was abruptly lifted into the air!
“Ah!” she let out a low cry, her hands instinctively flying from the hem of his sweater to clutch his shoulders. Her fingertips dug frantically into the fabric over his shoulder blades.
A dizzying sensation of weightlessness and the sudden change in height assaulted her senses all at once.
Shen Yuan’s strong arms held her steady at the waist, lifting her with undeniable force until she was compelled to raise the face she had hidden against him.
In an instant, their gazes finally met on the same level.
Her eyes, glistening with shyness, crashed into Shen Yuan’s gaze.
They were so close. Close enough for her to see the tiny reflection of herself in his eyes, close enough to count his eyelashes as they fluttered with his quickened breath.
Their warm breaths mingled freely, tangling in the inches between them.
The soft intimacy whispered at her ear was now elevated to a face-to-face pinnacle.
Suspended at this dizzying height, she could hear her own heart thundering in her ears.
This proximity, this complete lack of distance, felt more aggressive. It trapped them in a tiny world woven from their mingled breath and intersecting gazes.
Shen Yuan gazed deeply at her face, now just inches away. He tightened his arms, pulling her tense, suspended body more securely into his own.
Then, without the slightest warning, Shen Yuan put a little force into his core, took a sudden step, and began to spin in place, taking the suspended girl with him!
“Ahhh—!”
The sudden spin made Li Zhi cry out in surprise.
The world spun around her. For a terrifying instant, the edge of a nearby cabinet brushed against her clothes, followed by the wall and the doorframe flashing past in a blur.
Even the two kittens nearby were startled, leaping up, completely baffled by what the two humans were doing.
The initial feeling of weightlessness made her instinctively tighten her grip on Shen Yuan’s shoulders, her heart threatening to leap from her throat.
But a second later, the boy’s strong, steady arms supported her like the most reliable anchor, instantly banishing her panicked fear.
Through the dizzying blur, she could clearly see the smile in Shen Yuan’s eyes.
The wave of shyness was replaced by a strange dizziness. Her body felt light and weightless as she spun with him, rising and falling back into his arms.
The rustle of their clothes and his slightly heavier breathing filled her ears. The sweet scent of her own hair swirled around them, scattering and regathering with every turn.