Chapter 15 #2
I sob and turn my face into Soren’s hand, trying to hide it, but he turns my face so I have to look at him again.
“Then why do I miss him?” I ask, my words barely coherent.
Soren cries in return and strokes my face with his hand. His eyes are blazing with a heat I’ve never seen before. So possessive and protective that it makes me feel…safe. Truly safe for one of the first times in my life.
Except, I didn’t realize I needed to feel safe until now.
“For the same reason I don’t want my uncle to die. Despite how fucked up they are, were, they raised us, made us love them. Made us think they love us,” he huffs.
All I can do is cry. I can’t even speak anymore. I step into Soren, and he leans down, pressing his forehead against mine. I wrap my arms around him and feel him as he envelopes me. Warmth and safety.
“I hate him,” I mumble.
“I know,” Soren whispers in return. “He can’t hurt you anymore.”
He brushes some of my wet hair behind my ear before squeezing me tighter to his chest. “I’ve got you, Carm.”
“Oh, Ren,” I whisper.
All I want is to feel better. Feel the heat of our bodies.
The way that Soren makes me feel so wanted, needed.
Everything is so complicated, and I still don’t know what we’re going to do about it, but I know what I want right now.
I want to feel his mouth against mine. I want to lose myself in him.
Forget the pain. Forget the touch of someone I never wanted.
Do everything I can to replace it with his touch.
I know it doesn’t work that way, but it doesn’t matter.
I stand up taller on my toes and capture Soren’s mouth with mine. The taste of the rain and our tears overwhelms me. I pull even closer to him, so close that I think we’re one. Nothing else matters.
Soren kisses me back eagerly, his tongue brushing into my mouth, but he doesn’t enter until I part my lips more and swirl my tongue around his.
We kiss deeply, as the rain around us starts to let up, and the sound of cars passing below is finally heard.
Every part of me wants the man holding me. I don’t understand it, and I don’t really need to.
The kiss is messy and emotional. We’re both still crying. Tears roll down both of our faces, and soft sobs escape my throat into the kiss every now and then.
“Such a beautiful man,” Soren whispers into the kiss. “So brave. So…mine.”
I moan softly into the kiss. “Yours.” I don’t know what I’m saying, or maybe I do.
“I’ll never let anyone touch you again,” Soren promises me, between panting breaths. “No one. I’ll fucking kill them.”
I want to climb him like a fucking tree. All the blood that was previously in my face is now in my groin.
“I’ll kill anyone who touches you,” I tell him in response. “Gut their entire fucking family.”
Soren groans and pulls his mouth from mine to start kissing alone my jawline.
I tilt my head to the side, feeling the fire that raises up my neck to my ear with each kiss on my cold wet skin.
Just as I’m about to reach down toward his pants, a phone starts vibrating in his pants.
“Son of a bitch,” he growls. He reaches for it, looks at the screen, and then declines the call, but whoever called, immediately calls again. “Fuck.”
“Who is it?” I ask.
“My aunt,” he grumbles.
My heart beat spikes. “She called twice…you should get it.”
He shakes his head. “Not yet.” Soren looks up to me. “Let’s get back to the room. You’re freezing.”
I realize now that my shivering wasn’t just because of him touching me. I’m chattering like I’ve been left out in the cold.
“I’m fine,” I mumble, and try to lean up to kiss him again, but he puts his fingers on my lips softly.
“Carm. You’re trembling. Let’s get out of these soaked clothes, okay?” he tells me, his voice softer, but still deep and commanding. I can’t do anything but listen to him when he talks to me this way.
We head off the rooftop and back into the hotel, leaving a trail of drips and wet footprints all the way to the room.
Once we’re there, I start to strip out of my wet clothing, cringing at the sensation. Everything feels wrong with being so wet. The clothing sticks to me in all the wrong ways.
I look up and see Soren disrobing as well. My eyes follow the contours of his damp body and I swallow saliva in my mouth.
“Is it wrong?” I ask him.
He looks up at me after shaking his wet hair out. It hangs over his forehead.
“God, you’re hot,” I mumble.
He raises a brow. “Well, thank you, baby. But, what?”
I sigh. “Wanting to fuck you after…everything we just talked about?” I stand there completely naked in front of him.
“No,” he says definitively.”
“Really?” I ask, feeling disgusted with myself.
Soren tosses his wet boxers to the side and now he’s naked as well.
“Really, and you’re thinking that there’s something wrong with you…well, there’s something wrong with both of us, and I don’t fucking care,” he growls and leans down to press his lips to mine.
I slide my hands along his wet torso and press up against him so close that I can feel his semi-hard erection against my own. Everything feels so good. Tingling sensations of warmth against my skin as the heat of the room starts to thaw both of us out.
Just as I wrap my arms around him, his phone starts vibrating violently on the bed.
“I’m surprised that damn thing even works still,” I grumble against his mouth.
Soren sighs and pulls away from me. This time, he answers the phone.
All I hear is screaming on the other end. Shrill feminine screaming. He holds the phone further from his ear. Soren’s eyes go wide.
“Wait, wait a minute, no,” he starts, but the voice keeps going off on him. “Hold on a fucking minute who told you—”
I blink. Oh no. This doesn’t seem good.
“No that’s not…goddamnit. I’ll be come in a couple hours, tell him not to do anything until I get there. Got it?” Soren hangs up the phone and then immediately grabs his suitcase and starts tugging on clean clothing. I sit down on the end of the bed, my heart racing. My head fuzzy.
“What’s going on, Ren?” I ask him.
“My uncle…knows something. I don’t know what, but it’s not good. He knows I’ve been lying to him. He’s apparently freaking the fuck out. I gotta get home before he does something stupid,” he explains, his eyes filled with rage.
“Like kill my entire family?” I ask, and immediately reach for my own phone on the bed. I quickly text my brothers to make sure everything is okay. “Fuck. I can’t go home right now. I have a meeting in an hour!”
“Don’t worry about it, Carmine. I’ll get home, talk Eivor down. You deal with business here,” Soren insists.
He’s already fully dressed, but his hair is still dripping wet.
“You sure?” I ask, maybe the question is a little bit for myself.
He shakes his head. “I don’t know. I’ll let you know when I land. If you don’t hear back from me by tonight…you might have to come looking for me.”
I nod. “You better not die on me,” I tell him as I stand up from the bed.
Soren steps over to me, and plants a firm kiss on my lips.
“No promises.”