𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒍𝒇 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 ➪ «𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑦𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑥𝑜𝑛»

ch. XV pt. II

oOo

Daryl looked at her with equal parts interest and suspicion, but slid off the rock and sat in front of her. He mimicked her by crossing his legs.

"Okay, so this I'm gonna do, we call it cóceguinhas, which literally means 'little tickles', just 'cause we don't know what else to call it. Gimme your arm." She shimmied forward until their knees almost touched and grabbed him gently by the offered hand. She rested them on her knee, palm facing up.

His blue eyes squinted at her, which made her more nervous than she normally would be. Her hand subconsciously twitched under his and she became painfully aware of the touch.

She thought it was fun, what they were doing. A moment sealed in a bubble, away from everything else. It made sense to her. Even risking acting like children hiding away from the world made up for the fact that this was genuinely enjoyable to her. She didn't know if Daryl thought the same, for all she knew, he just thought this was foolish and saw her as a burden. That just about brought her mood down a bit, but she ignored it and carried on.

He had nice arms, Diana observed, they had scars here and there, the tanned skin was soft if not slightly clammy with sweat and the fine blonde hairs glistened in the sunlight. Not to mention how toned they were, but she was not going to even venture into those thoughts. She might be innocent, but she wasn't all that innocent, know what I mean?

She glanced from his concentrated blue gaze down to his wrist. She put her fingernails at the ready, over the lines of his veins, feeling the deep pulse rise up against her tips. Then, agonizingly slow, she raked her nails up his arm, softly. She applied only the slightest amount of pressure to leave very faint red lines on his skin.

At the same time, she leaned forward against her legs to reach him better. The bow on her lap touched the skin of her stomach when her top rode up. The thrilling sensation right under the surface of her skin only heightened with it.

Diana heard the smallest intake of breath from Daryl and felt his hand twitch in hers. She smiled in satisfaction and looked up. "Feels nice, right?"

She saw his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed and nodded minutely. She raked her nails back down towards his wrist, adding a bit more stroke from the pads of her fingers to ease the pressure and add that tingle from skin on skin contact. When she reached the root of his hand, she kept going and used the tip of her forefinger to draw a spiral on his palm, going inward and inward until she stopped at the center.

She didn't know how he felt about it, but to her, it was almost electrifying. Something about the innocence of the act made it so alluring. To touch and be touched, however harmlessly, always left her wanting more.

Another glance at Daryl, and his half-closed eyes proved that he was enjoying it as well.

Diana stroked up and down the length of each of his fingers, her touch always delicate and made for longing. When she was done with the hand, she returned to the line of his pulse and used her fingernails once again to graze up the sensitive skin of his inner forearm. Instead of stopping at the elbow, she rotated his arm and continued upwards, over the swell of the bicep and then back down over tanned skin and protruding veins until she reached the back of his hand.

She repeated it once more, even slower than before. Then she returned his hand to his lap and rested her own hands on her knees. Her actions made her slightly self-conscious now that the daze was over.

Gone was the electricity under her skin and anxiety bubbled up inside her in its stead. Why wasn't he saying anything?

Daryl was looking at her, but his eyes were completely unfocused. When Diana called out his name, he startled, cleared his throat and stood up.