“Or it was just another stunt—”
“No.” He turned to me again, his stare angry. “It wasn’t. Maybe my intentions were sinister, but all those feelings…they were real. I never lied to you. I meant every word I said to you.”
“If that were true, you wouldn’t have given him my notes. You wouldn’t have read them in the first place. You would have destroyed that video and pretended it never happened. You didn’t do any of those things, Cauldron. And at the end of the day, that proves how you really feel.”
Days passed, and we didn’t speak.
He stuck to his study, sometimes left the house, and spent his evenings in his bedroom. We didn’t share meals. We didn’t share conversation. He seemed as frustrated with me as I was angry with him.
That evening, he made his move, entering my bedroom shortly before nine.
I sat on the couch, my mother’s necklace around my throat, a book in my lap with the TV on. My evening tray was on the coffee table with the leftovers I couldn’t finish. My dinner always had a chamomile tea, something to help me sleep.
The intensity in his eyes suggested he came for a fight. He took a seat beside me, the black sweatpants low on his hips, his chiseled body tight and strong. His forearms moved to his knees, and he stared at the dining tray for a minute or two before he looked at me again. “I’m a man with needs.”
“And that’s my problem because…?”
“We made a deal. I’ve been patient, but no longer.” He looked at me like I was one of his men, like any disobedience would be met with cruelty. He ditched the romantics and came at me like someone who owed him money. “Don’t pretend your body doesn’t miss mine.”
Every fiber of my being missed him. It was like losing an arm or a leg. My heart was in shambles, and every time I walked around, I felt the shattered glass shift and move in my chest. “And if I say no?”
His expression hardened just slightly, showing every ounce of frustration with little effort. “Then we don’t have a deal. I’ll throw you out on your ass and let Grave make you his wife.”
“I don’t play poker, but I’m calling your bluff.”
He really looked pissed off, but he didn’t say anything.
After everything that had happened, I still wanted him. But actually allowing it to happen felt like a weakness. Being with him, enjoying him, felt like an insult to myself. I shouldn’t want someone who had such little regard for me. I shouldn’t care about someone who could betray me like that.
His next movements were so quick, it took me a second to process what happened, and by the time I did, the damage had been done. He yanked my pajama shorts and panties down my legs as he dragged me down the couch.
I was ready to throw him off me and onto the coffee table once his chest was above mine, but instead, he scooped up my legs in his powerful arms and kissed me at my center, his warm lips taking me so hard that my first reaction was to suck a deep breath between my clenched teeth. His powerful tongue swirled around my nub with such grand execution I went stiff at his touch. My body went limp, in the grip of paralysis. My eyes closed as his lips kissed me and his tongue delved deep inside me and tasted me.
Now the weeks of solitude suddenly felt unbearable once I remembered what I was missing. This man could fuck like it was what he did for a living. He could go down on me as if he’d gone to university for it. Unaware of my own actions, I dug my fingers into his hair, and I tilted my head back as I writhed. My hips started to thrust gently on their own, pushing against his face as his tongue supplied more friction. Minutes later, I was there, right at the edge, my shirt yanked up to my chin with my nipples hard in the cold air. Quiet moans that almost sounded like whines came from my parted lips because it felt so good to be there, so close to euphoria.
His sexy mouth pulled away.
My hips went still, my skin turned ice-cold, my breath was stolen from my lungs.
With his bottoms pushed to his knees, he climbed on top of me, his narrow hips sliding between my soft thighs. He guided himself inside me, and with a loud groan, he pushed all the way in. “Fuck.” His handsome face was directly above mine, sexy in its intensity, visibly overwhelmed by how good I felt.
My hands immediately latched on to his arms as I felt the explosive fullness between my legs. I’d forgotten how he felt, how he stretched me so completely. A shaky breath left my lungs because I’d forgotten how good it felt, how natural it felt to be with him.