Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
Erin
I’m still catching my breath when he lifts me and carries me to his bedroom. Slowly, he undresses me, taking in every inch of me as if he’s missed me as much as I’ve missed him.
He doesn’t ask questions. Not yet. Those will come.
He’ll ask me again why I’ve stayed away. This time, he will want an answer. My body trembles with anticipation of the lengths he will go to get his answers.
I’ve only stayed away because I want to find a way to get out of this mess without hurting him. The days began to tick by because I couldn’t come up with any plan that would save us without putting him in danger.
And I’m not willing to do that.
And now, I only have five days left until the Morettis unleash Caleb on us.
I’ve come here tonight to tell him.
Everything.
Come clean.
And ask—no—beg—for his help.
I’m just waiting to find the right time.
For now, we shower together, with his arms wrapped around me, his kisses as warm as the water running down our bare backs.
I put my dress back on, wearing nothing underneath. Not because I’m following his rules, but because there’s no need.
I’ll be taking them back off soon enough.
I dry my hair with a towel. He puts on a clean shirt and the same pants, also with nothing underneath.
The kitchen is dim, with only the city light spilling in through the windows as he sets me down on the edge of the marble counter like I weigh nothing.
For a moment, we face each other, his hands on my thighs, mine on his shoulder. There’s a held breath between us.
Now. This is the moment. I feel it in my gut.
I’m going to tell him everything; about how the Morettis arranged our meeting, how they monitored the sale of my virginity through their contact at the agency, cut off the bidding with Lucian’s bid, and how the key fob in the pocket of my coat, resting in his foyer, is what I owe the Morettis for their protection of me and my family.
And how giving that fob to them was supposed to seal his fate.
Then I met the man behind the highest bid, and I knew I could never do that to him.
I’ll come clean about all this, and then I’ll hand him the key and beg for his help.
The rest is up to him.
Lucian drops to his knees between my legs.
Not like before, a man at the altar, ready to worship, but like he's about to ruin me, make me confess my sins.
“I haven’t tasted you in too long,” he murmurs, as he spreads my thighs. His hands are warm and reverent, but his eyes—they're full of hunger and laced with an anger I know I’ve put there.
“Lucian,” I whisper, wanting to explain everything, but already breathless from the heat of his breath against me.
“Shh.” His hands grip my hips, holding me steady. “Later. I need to taste you.”
Then his mouth is on me.
One long lick has my head falling back. Another, and I’m gripping the counter so hard my knuckles go white. A third, and every thought of confession is erased from my mind.
He eats me like I’m his last meal. Slow. Deep. Obsessive.
His tongue teases, flicks, presses—drawing sounds from me I didn’t know I could make. My thighs tremble, his name spills from my lips again and again, and my hands are back in his hair, clinging as if I think I can hold onto him and make everything work out between us.
Instead, I’m falling apart with his mouth against me, never stopping, and he doesn’t end it even when I’m coming undone, legs locking around his shoulders, worried I’m choking him as I try to pull him closer, even as my body loses all control.
I want to push him away because the feeling is so intense as he drags me over that cliff with his hot, lashing tongue—
“Oh my god! Lucian! Lucian!”
I collapse, the back of my head hitting the cabinet door, my chest heaving as I try to breathe, and my vision blurs. I throw an arm over my eyes in a failed attempt to regain control of my body.
He stands, pulling my arm from my face as he wipes his mouth with the back of his other hand. “Look at me, Erin.”
I meet his eyes. Dark. Wild. Possessive. “Hey.”
“Hey.” He leans in, kissing me breathless.
He pulls back, cupping my cheek with a rough hand.
“You’ll never forget how I make you feel.
” His hand drops to his waist, and I glance down, watching him unbuckle his belt with his perfect fingers as he talks.
“No matter how you avoid me. Not even if you try and run.”
Then he’s inside me again, and I’m lost all over.
And the moment to confess my sins is gone.