26. Levi #2
“What are you doing here?” Her eyes roam over me to assess the situation. “Why are you naked?” She pauses, seeming to finally come to terms with the fact that her body is pressed against mine. “Why am I naked?”
I cock a brow at her, holding her in place when she attempts to wriggle away. Behind her, the fire crackles, though it’s died to a warm smolder now.
“Problem, little ghost?” I’m surprised by how rough my voice is. It could be the raging hard on nestled against her thigh, but I’m doing my best to ignore it. This was, after all, about getting her warm. Not fucking her. There will be plenty of time for that later.
“Oh, no.” Her voice takes on that air of cynicism that I can’t wait to fuck out of her. “I often wake up stark naked, cuddled up with strange men.”
“You said it, not me.”
She shoves away from me, and this time, I let her, watching as she settles to the back corner of the mattress and wraps a blanket around herself.
Not like it matters, I’ve already seen everything anyway.
Sliding from the bed, my legs are sore, and my back is tired, but I ignore it. We’re both filthy and caked in mud. Stooping down, I slip my arms under her and hoist her up, blanket and all. I carry her toward the bathroom, ignoring her startled gasp and squirming.
“You said it, not me.”
“Put me down!” she snaps when I kick open the bathroom door. I’ve never used the tub in this cabin, but tonight, we will. I want to make sure she’s warm.
“What are you doing? Where are we?”
I grit my teeth, turn the water on, and wash the dust out before stopping up the tub.
“You don’t recognize the place?” I ask without looking at her.
“Why are we here?” she demands, tugging the blanket tighter around herself.
“Because you were a dumbass and decided to hike through the forest in a storm,” I retort, my patience wearing thin.
“Well, forgive my lowliness, my lord. I have but a maid’s mind and cannot understand such difficult concepts as the weather.”
Little brat.
She turns around to look at herself, wincing when she sees the bandage over the cut on her forehead. Her gaze is shattered, the broken mirror reflecting her image back in a dozen fragments.
“Why is the mirror broken?” she asks, turning back around.
I ignore her question and motion toward the tub.
“Get in the tub, Ava.”
“No,” she snaps back, her cheeks flaming hot while my blood boils. It feels like an epic wild west showdown, only she’s the only one with a gun. I’m just the stupid fuck that decided to mess with her.
Stalking toward her, I don’t miss the way her gaze trails down my body, lingering on my still semi-hard cock for only a split second before flicking back up.
So that’s what it takes to get her to look me in the eye . . .
“Get in the tub, or I will put you in the tub,” I say darkly, stepping right in front of her. “Blanket and all.”
She glowers at me, a tremor moving through her when I slip my hand over the smooth skin of her upper thigh, where it peeks out of the blanket.
“Fine,” she grumbles. “But only because I’m filthy. I’m not doing this for you.”
“Noted,” I murmur dryly, stepping away from her to put some distance between us. I cross back to the tub and throw some soap in the water.
She hops down from the counter, but keeps the blanket wrapped tightly around herself while she shuffles to the edge.
I take a breath to calm myself. It’s like wrangling a damned toddler.
“I’ve made you come in every position possible, Ava. It’s not like I haven’t seen it already.”
Her cheeks flame, and she glares my way. In a rush of defiance, she drops the blanket, and my dick twitches at the sight of her standing naked in front of me.
Fucking hell.
I don’t bother hiding that I’m staring when she shoves past me and climbs in the tub, sinking into the bubbles.
“Scoot forward,” I grunt, and she stares up at me with wide green eyes.
“Why?”
I don’t give her an explanation and step in behind her.
In a flash, she slips to the other side, sinking back against the old porcelain and shooting daggers at me.
“Isn’t this romantic?” she muses, her arms over her chest. “The lowly maid and the high lord of Cross Palace. I can’t wait to tell the other commoners.”
I’m this fucking close to dragging her back out to the bed and fucking that little attitude right out of her.
“Anything else?”
I can’t tell if she wants to fuck me or hit me. Probably a bit of both, judging by the way her thighs rub together when I place mine on either side of hers and sink down into the water.
When I cut the faucet off, silence rings out in the cabin, the only sound the rain falling on the tin roof outside.
I want to be pissed off at her for going off by herself after I told her not to.
You know what? Scratch that. I am pissed. She could have died tonight.
“What the fuck were you thinking coming out here by yourself?”
She looks at me like I have some kind of nerve, asking her why she put herself in danger.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I needed to check in if I wasn’t leaving the property.”
“You could have died.”
“You’re being dramatic,” she grumbles, leaning her head back against the side of the tub.
“ I’m being dramatic?” My temper flares. How the fuck can she not see I’m losing my goddamned mind over her while she barely registers I exist unless I’m making her come? “You’re the one who went on a hike and got yourself lost to prove a point.”
Instantly, she shoots up in the bath. Bubbles splash over the side.
Neither of us pays attention to it.
“I didn’t do anything to prove a point,” she snaps.
“Then why come out here at all? Especially alone.”
“I came out here to get away from you .”
Her words echo in my head longer than they should.
Probably because I know I’m a fucking idiot for ever allowing her out of my sight.
I’ve never deserved her. I shouldn’t have even touched her. Where hers are pure and clean, my hands are filthy, and I know I’ll only spoil her sweetness.
She wasn’t made for me.
Unfortunately, I’m still trying to convince myself of that.
“Why am I here, Levi?” she asks when I don’t respond. I fucking hate the tears glistening in her eyes more than I hate myself, and that’s saying something. “What do you want from me?”
I ignore her question and repeat myself. “You could have died.”
“You said yourself, you don’t care. Yet, you hunted me down in the woods. This contract—”
“I told you there was nothing romantic about what I want to do to you. You set yourself up with the wrong expectations if you think this will be anything other than us fucking.”
“So, you’re saying you don’t think of me at night?” she challenges, and I’m suddenly very aware of the drip in the faucet.
She stares at me—actually fucking meets my gaze—and it’s like a thousand hornets just stung me in the chest.
Let her go . . . One voice in my brain chimes.
Fuck her until she’s begging to be yours, the other one disagrees.
Fuck . . . am I actually losing my mind?
Carefully, Ava drops her arms and rises in the tub. I sit back against the side, my hand gripping the edge with white-knuckle force when she slips between my legs, her bare pussy hovering just over my cock.
She’s so fucking close, all it would take for me to sink inside her would be my pulling her down an inch and giving us both what we want.
Much closer now, Ava’s eyes slip up my face until they meet mine, again, only this time, she looks unsure but determined. As if she thinks she can rip down the walls blocking her out with a simple gaze.
I’m starting to wonder if she’s right.
“If I mean nothing to you, then why search for me?” she breathes, and my heartbeat hammers in my chest when her hand rests on my shoulder, her body warm and soft over mine.
I don’t take my hands off the edges of the tub, but fuck do I want to.
“Or are you just afraid of letting someone see the real you?”
Her pussy brushes over me, and it’s like a lick of fire up my spine. My breath catches in my throat, and I clench my teeth on a groan.
Little fucking brat is going to be the death of me.
“Ava,” I warn, but she doesn’t relent, stroking my cock through her folds.
Her eyes flutter, long lashes casting shadows over her cheeks with the dim lighting in the room. She continues to stroke my cock with her pussy until I’m on the verge of dragging her home and marrying her right fucking now, storm be damned.
“What’s the matter, Levi?” she purrs, leaning forward until her lips are at my ear. She presses little kisses along my jaw and neck, and a shiver rolls up my spine. “I thought I had no effect on you?”
She’s all over me. Her hands in my hair, tugging the dark strands. Running over my abs, up my shoulders.
Fuck, I need her.
I can’t get enough of her.
When her teeth graze my neck, my patience threatens to snap.
“Enough,” I growl, gripping the nape of her neck to drag her eyes up to mine.
The little brat smirks.
Fucking smirks at me.
“I haven’t been moving,” she breathes, cheeks flushed and her voice breathless. “You’ve been doing that all on your own.”
What the fuck?
I look down at my hand on her hip, gripping her against me.
Yeah, definitely fucking losing my mind.
“You’re playing with fire, sweetheart.”
“Am I?” she taunts, giving me one painfully slow roll of her hips against mine.
“Fuck,” I grit, my hand tightening on her hip and rolling her against me again and again. And then my cock notches at her entrance when she lifts her hips, and both of us freeze as the head slips in.
She whimpers. I freeze, groaning so deeply that it reverberates through my body and into hers.
She purses her lips together in a thin line and tries to stop after a few inches, but I grip her hips tighter, pulling her closer.
“All of it.”
Her eyes flutter closed, and she gasps as she slides down my length, swallowing me whole. Our breathing is erratic, our bodies melding together like she was fucking made to take me.
My fingers leave her hair, and I use my leverage to move her over me, letting her get adjusted to my size. She’s so fucking tight, it feels like she’s going to squeeze the life out of me.
“Who’s affected now, sweetheart?” I rasp when she bites her lip, rolling her hips over me and riding my cock in slow, delicious jerks. Fuck, I could watch her get off on me all damn day.
“Fuck you,” she bites, though it lacks any real heat because it comes out as more of a moan.
“You already are.”
Leaning forward, I capture her nipple in my mouth, sucking and nipping a path around the hard peak and making her squirm over me.
“Let me hear you, Ava.”
She bites her lip harder, to the point I worry she’ll draw blood, but she still refuses to let me hear her sounds.
I take that as a challenge, releasing her nipple and reaching between us and pressing my palm flat on her stomach to roll her clit around with my thumb.
“You want to see the real me, Ava?” I rasp, and her eyes roll back in her head. “You think you could even handle it?”
“You don’t scare me,” she breathes, and I let out a dark chuckle, fully lost to the feel of her now.
“No? But how bad you want me scares you. How you crave to have me in this tight little pussy, fucking you until I’m the only man who will ever do it for you like this. Make you come so many times, you can’t think straight.”
I strum my thumb faster, pushing her until I know she’ll break and let me have her sweet fucking sounds.
“Goddamn, Ava. You’re doing so fucking good. Riding my cock like a good girl.”
I thrust my hips into her, dragging her down on me until the water in the tub sloshes over the side. I don’t give a fuck. I’m too far gone.
“Ride my cock, Ava. Show me how bad you want it.”
Her pussy clenches on me, her head kicks back, and suddenly, her soft cry fills the bathroom. I can’t help but grin, even as heat swells up the back of my spine from her clenching around me.
“Good fucking girl. Again.”
“I can’t,” she whimpers, shaking her head.
“You can. You were made to take my cock, Ava.” I run a hand through her hair and tug her closer by the messy strands, holding her against me until I can jerk my hip up inside her. “So fucking perfect.”
“P-please,” she begs, head thrown back and her eyes watery from the orgasm still tingling through her.
“Please, what?”
“Please fuck me,” she breathes, and I lose control.
Dragging her against me until her tits are pressed against my chest, and there’s not a spare inch of space between us, I fuck her as hard and as ruthlessly as I’ve been craving.
She takes it all, her nails digging into my shoulders, and when a moan slips free from her lips, I fuck her harder until the base of my cock is rubbing against her clit.
She’s panting, and I’m out of breath. The bathroom is fucking soaked, but who the fuck cares when I’ve got her in the palm of my hands?
When I’m inside her, I don’t have to worry about where she is. Who might be watching her, just waiting for the opportunity to hurt her.
When I’m inside her, no one else matters.
Her pussy clenches down on me, and she arches her back, clinging to me as desperate whimpers slip past her lips, and it’s only a few seconds before she’s coming again.
I grit my teeth, powering into her, and push my cock balls-deep inside her when my orgasm finally hits. She’s so fucking tight, sucking me in greedily and then refusing to let me go.
I suck in a ragged breath, and she squirms over me, her cheeks flushed and her hair sticking to her wet body.
I reach up and brush the hair back from her face and tighten my hold on her hips.
Tonight, I’ll get her out of my system.
I’ll find a way to finish this.
“Bed. Now.”