>>528363274
Maria angles her head to kiss Shadow better, her tongue gently and almost shyly slipping between his lips. His quiet gasp is muted by her, and he slowly attempts to follow her lead. She brushes her tongue over his sharp fangs, and Shadow shudders. Maria's mouth tastes sweet, but somehow better than any candy he had been given, snuck to him by Maria or the occasional generous researcher after a particularly strenuous day of testing.
A small string of saliva connects the two the next time she pulls back.
"...Maria..." His voice is quiet, broken, and above all filled with needy desperation that he again cannot properly find a word for. Why did such a weird action have this effect on him? What was the point of pressing their lips together like that? He'd seen a "kiss" before, an illustration in a book Maria had read to him. But this... intensity to it, that was new.
What rattled Shadow most, though, was just how much he liked it and just how much he wanted more. Somehow, some way, he needed Maria. It was too much and not enough all at once.
The way she looked at him like she was starving and like he was a five-course meal sends a sudden wave of heat down his body. And when she brushes her soft pale hand over his thigh, when her breath ghosts over his sensitive ear as she whispers "I love you," he can't control the strangled little moan that forces its way out of his throat.