I had never known passion until that moment. I had never known love. But now I knew it with my whole body.
Every inch of my soul and self was his, to do with as he pleased.
Lord, I prayed, please, let him.
Bors
I will never kiss another woman as long as I live.
As our lips met, those words were seared into my brain.
My heart.
My soul.
She was the one. I was her first kiss and she would be my last.
Her body responded like a forest on fire. She inhaled long and slow as I kissed her, and I felt her breasts soft against my chest. What I wouldn’t give to rip her dress right off her and roll her nipple between my teeth. She was a fucking dream, knowing no other man had done what I was doing, knowing I was her first.
Fuck, I wanted to be her first in everything.
But no matter what I wanted, it didn’t make her mine. I had no right to defile her innocence, no claim on her skin. I wasn’t entitled to either her or her body. But the longer I kissed her, the more danger I was in of losing control. With each deep exploration of her mouth with my tongue, the more I wanted to spin her around, lift up her dress, and breed her, hard and deep, right here over the garden wall.
But years of warring had given me the strength of will. Sacrifice takes strength. Discipline is agony. I pulled away from her knowing it was the right thing.
For her.
Her heated, flushed cheeks made the brilliance of her green eyes glow brighter yet. Arousal looked damned good on her.
I broke her gaze and ran my hand over my stubble as I looked away, remembering all the brutality of my life. The things I’d done. How I’d lived. I would never be a man for a girl like her. She was just beginning her life.
I felt I was running down the end of mine.
In a sudden burst of anger and realization, I did the unthinkable, gritting out the words that pierced my heart like rusty daggers. “Get the fuck out of here. You need to get away from me, Sara. I’m the last thing you need.”
She didn’t flinch. Instead, she reached up, soft, warm hands on my cheeks making me look at her again. There was a wisdom…an understanding in her too young eyes, and it wounded me deeper than any blade I’d taken. I’d give her anything that would make her life better.
Unfortunately, I knew that wasn’t me.
But her sweet, full lips opened and my knees shook as she asked, “Walk me home? Please? It’s the least you could do after that kiss.”
Angry red blushes had crept down her throat and onto her chest. The heaping soft flesh of her breasts seeming to be fuller than just moments ago and I wanted to sink my teeth into her, leaving her marked for the world to see.
I was losing this fucking battle. “Your home is by the old forge, yes?”
She nodded and swept her hair aside in the breeze. “Yes.”
Yes, I’ll walk you home. Of course, I will.
The words I wanted to say remained silent and what I knew I should say replaced them before I could talk myself out of them. “It’s hardly a mile off. You can make it without me.” Tightness banded around my chest. The war of my own desire and the truth of who I could never be to her fought to the death around my heart.
I could see her thinking, almost like a child trying to figure out how to get what they want. “I need your protection, Bors. What if that man comes back? What will I do?” She batted her lashes, her manipulation clear, but my nerve held firm.
I could handle a lot of things from her, but lies weren’t one of them. “Don’t play games with me, little one,” I growled.
Her eyes widened. She was so new to the world. She didn’t know anything yet, and she was too young to know even that. “It’s true!” The blush rose on her cheeks. “Well, I’m not especially afraid of him. But I do want you with me. Please.” Her smile pulled her full lips upward and my resolve weakened. “Pretty please? You like when I beg, don’t you?”
The pleases and begging hit me deep in my soul, in a place I’d not known before I met her.
It took all my strength not to have my way with her right there in the garden, and my defenses were too weak to deny her a simple walk home. My cock ached, seeping cum as my balls pulsed with the need to give all they held.
A man could only resist so much. And if I was honest with myself, I didn’t want to say goodbye to her. Ever. “Come on, then,” I grunted, and picked up her basket.