Time fades. My stress eases off my shoulders. My anger retreats.
There’s only Elena. Us kissing, exploring, and devouring each other’s mouths.
My hips keep moving, searching for any friction I can find, and the temptation of the heat between her legs drives me wild.
I slip my hand under her shirt, and then my fingers feast on her soft skin. I explore the curve of her waist, her ribs, and then the lace covering her breast.
Wanting to see her face, I break the kiss. Breathless and with swollen lips, our eyes lock. I move the lace out of my way, and my palm takes the weight of her breast. My thumb brushes over her nipple, hunger ripping a growl from me as her lips part on a gasp from my touch.
“Christ, Elena.”
I’ve never wanted anything so badly. I need to be buried deep inside her heat. I have to claim her.
Chapter 23
ELENA
There are none of the nerves I felt on our wedding day. Not after today. Not after almost losing Lucian.
Hunger. Unadulterated lust. Love. It’s all I see on Lucian’s face.
There’s no cruelty. No depravity. No hatred.
My mind is clouded with my desire for Lucian. His kisses have left me feeling lightheaded, breathless, and filled with need for more of him. His touch sets my skin alight, making tingles spread through my body. My abdomen aches at the feel of his erection rubbing against me.
God. God. God.
I’ve never experienced something so all-consuming.
“Lucian, your phone keeps ringing,” Aunt Ursula calls from outside the room, and it shatters the intimate moment.
Still, Lucian doesn’t let go of me. “I’ll be out in a couple of minutes. Let it go to voicemail,” he calls back.
The corner of his mouth lifts as he stares at me, his desire not diminishing at all from the interruption.
Again his thumb brushes over my nipple, making my abdomen tighten with a sweet ache.
The things he makes me feel – it’s indescribable. I’m intoxicated and greedy for more.
Another brush of his thumb and my back arches, pressing my breast harder into his palm and stealing a moan from me.
“Fuck.” Lucian steps back.
My feet drop to the floor, and I have to lean against the closet because there’s no strength in my legs.
“You need to leave, or I’m going to fuck you right now,” he says, his voice low and rough with the passion we just shared.
“Give me a second. My legs are numb,” I reply, still breathless from his touch and kisses.
“Christ.” He fists his hands, his eyes boring into mine.
It looks like he’s going to lose control any second, and then my eyes lower to his erection, tenting the fabric of his sweatpants.
Holy mother.
“Go, Elena. Now,” he grinds out through clenched teeth.
Rushing out of the room, I straighten my bra, shirt, and hair. At the top of the stairs, I pause to breathe through the desire I still feel.
My God, that was intense.
And it was only foreplay.
What’s it going to be like making love to Lucian?
I place a hand on my flushed cheek, trying to cool my skin.
Then my lips curve up because instead of fearing the moment we have sex, the thought only fills me with anticipation.
I take the stairs down and walk to the kitchen. Aunt Ursula glances at me, her hands not stopping from kneading the dough. “Is Lucian okay?”
I nod. “Yes, he just needed a moment.” I stop next to her. “What can I do?”
“You can beat the eggs. We need two.”
I get them from the fridge and crack them open in a bowl. Movement from the stairs catches my eye, and I watch as Lucian walks to the living room. He looks calm and collected as if he didn’t just set my body on fire.
My hands move automatically, unable to tear my eyes away from Lucian as he drops down on the couch, checking his messages.
I begin to beat the eggs, my attention not at all on what I’m doing.
I remember the first time I saw Lucian. The dark expression on his face as he adjusted his cuffs. When he demanded to know what I was doing at St. Monarch’s. The shooting lesson.
My eyes rake over Lucian’s attractive face, the scruff on his jaw, his broad shoulders, the veins snaking down his arms. His hands.
God, his hands felt so good on my body.
I draw my bottom lip between my teeth as our first kiss flashes through my mind. Him coming for me when he was attacked. When he climbed out of the car, and I witnessed him killing for the first time. The night I shared my darkest secret with him. The promise he made and kept.
Has it only been six weeks?
It feels longer.
Lucian glances at me as he presses dial on his phone, then he places the device against his ear. Our eyes lock, and there’s instant desire sparking between us.