Chapter 20
M aking for Benedict’s quarters, he and Lucy managed to sneak by the coven members at the bar unnoticed, only to be caught by the vampires’ wedding organiser. Lucy told him she could make it the rest of the way herself, but he wouldn’t listen, so she waited on the staircase as he handled the situation with ease. A few moments later, he called over some staff to take over and brought her upstairs.
“You’ve got to be kidding me?” Benedict exclaimed, resting his hands on his head.
A nervous chuckle escaped Lucy when she saw the burnt cake all over his desk. It was a crumbling, charred mess of melted icing and crumbs.
“Sorry – I didn’t mean to laugh,” she said, though it was nice to have a distraction from the nausea and pain currently competing within her body. “I really didn’t mean to send it here. I was trying to think of a safe place; if anything, I thought it might end up in the library.”
Benedict stared at her. “You feel safe here?”
“Shouldn’t I?” she asked, not wanting to admit what her subconscious had confirmed.
His gaze softened. A question lingered in it, but he didn’t say a word.
“We should clean this up,” she said, cutting the moment before the tension caused her to set the place on fire. She’d already made a mess of his desk.
“Forget about it for now. I’ll worry about it tomorrow,” he said, looking over to the desk and the ruined paperwork. The sweet smell of burnt icing lingered in the air.
Lucy took a seat on the black suede couch. It was so soft, she couldn’t help slipping off her shoes and snuggling up with one of the matching cushions.
“I’ll be right back with some painkillers and tea for your stomach,” Benedict fussed. If she hadn’t been so uncomfortable, she would’ve worried he had some alternative agenda. “Don’t move; I’ll be back in a second.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” she promised, trying not to be so amused by his worried mother hen impersonation.
He disappeared and she sighed in relief, glad she’d listened to him instead of walking home. She snuggled into the couch to wait.
“I hope this is the right one; we keep a few in stock for the guests.” Benedict hurried back, handing her a pink packet of painkillers specifically for menstrual pain. She wondered how he’d known or if he’d guessed as she washed them down with the peppermint tea he’d brought.
Before she could thank him, he disappeared again, only to reappear with a hot water bottle encased in a fluffy unicorn cover. Why does he have such a thing?
“Where did you get this?” she asked softly, hugging the white and pink unicorn to her swollen tummy.
“We keep them in the Manor for guests just in case. I never want anyone to feel uncomfortable,” he explained, sitting on the edge of the table across from her. She’d assumed he’d be eager to get some alone time with the coven members downstairs, but he showed no desire to leave.
“A unicorn will certainly cheer up anyone feeling unwell,” she joked as the discomfort began to settle thanks to the delicious warmth of the water bottle. Her lack of energy must have weakened his element, because, for the first time since they’d swapped, the chilly night air bothered her.
“We’ve got plain colours as well,” he added, smoothing down his trousers as though he didn’t know what to do with his hands. Lucy got the impression he wasn’t used to looking after someone, even if it was his job to see to the needs of hundreds daily.
“I got the unicorn? I feel so special!” She wasn’t sure she ever wanted to give it back. Her water bottle case at home was so worn that it barely protected her from the scalding temperature she preferred.
“The animals are usually for our younger guests, but I remembered you were obsessed with unicorns,” he recalled.
“When I was six!” How had he remembered such a small detail?
“Fine, I’ll get you a plain one.” He reached for it, but she refused to give it up.
“How did you know it was my period bothering me?”
He looked slightly embarrassed. “During our final exams in school, you were sitting on the ground in the exam hall with your knees under your chin. You looked like you were in pain, and then I heard you talking to a nurse,” he told her, while she tried to remember the day in question. “She didn’t have any hot water bottles, and there wasn’t time for you to go home and get one.”
“But she did get me one in the end. Wait… that was you? Did you leave the school to get me one?” Lucy didn’t know if it was the gesture or her hormones that were making her eyes water.
“Don’t look too much into it! I wanted to place first in the class on merit, not because you were too sick to take the exam,” Benedict protested, focusing on twisting his signet ring. She didn’t believe his dismissive tone for a second.
“When I didn’t see you in the exam hall, I thought you were trying to throw me off, or you’d been caught cheating or something. I never would’ve guessed that you missed the exam… so I could sit mine?” She couldn’t believe he’d done something so kind for her. It wasn’t like they’d been friends; if anything, the exact opposite. She’d have expected him to revel in her misery.
“I didn’t plan on missing it. When I tried to sneak back in to the hall, I got caught and they wouldn’t let me sit the exam. The nurse convinced Principle Pauper to let me sit it the next day because I’d given her the hot water bottle for you,” he said lightly, as if it was nothing.
“Why let me think the nurse just found one?”
He shrugged, bringing her a pillow from his bed. “You needed it. Didn’t matter who gave it to you.”
“If you keep doing kind things for me, I’m going to think you’ve gone soft,” she said, sighing as the painkillers began to ease her cramps.
“We’re to be bound, I should keep up appearances.”
“No one’s watching now – or then,” she pointed out, as he adjusted the pillow behind her back.
“Maybe I’m just trying to seduce you and take your position,” he said, his breath a whisper against her neck. She could hear the smile on his lips.
Considerate, empathetic, kind… The spell. Lucy shook away the thought that he might be the one . He was only doing this because he wanted her to think he’d be a good leader. Yet he’d risked his final exam to help her even though he had nothing to gain. It could have cost him.
“You should get back to the others before they drink the bar dry. And you have a vamp wedding to see to,” she reminded him, trying not to let him see how his kindness had affected her.
He hesitated, worry creasing his brows. “Do you need anything else? Any cravings? I can have room service make you anything you like.”
“Thank you, but I’m still full of cake.” She was perfectly content, sinking deeper into the pillow behind her head. It smelt like him.
“Me too.” He patted his flat stomach. Having seen him in a towel, Lucy couldn’t help but think of the smooth skin beneath his shirt.“If you need me, just call down to the bar. Are you sure you’re okay alone?” He stepped back slowly, genuinely reluctant to leave her.
“I’m not alone.” She stroked the purple lizard resting on the back of the couch. “Greko makes for excellent company.” With a click of her fingers, the candles shone brighter, and the fireplace lit up in the corner by his desk.
“Try not to set the room on fire while I’m out,” Benedict teased, backing up towards the door.
“I’ll do my best,” she mused, watching him go.
Once the door closed behind him, she considered leaving. It felt far too intimate being alone in his private space. He apparently trusted her enough to leave her where she could snoop and search for any secrets that might cost him any future election. Yet instead she found herself snuggling deeper into the couch and opening the book he’d left on the coffee table. She couldn’t believe it – he was reading a romance.
Maybe Benedict is more soft-hearted than he let on.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you,” Benedict whispered softly, reaching over Lucy to pick up the book. The smell of his aftershave drifting around her was a nice way to be woken up.
His gaze lingered on hers, and there was a hunger there she hadn’t seen before. Conflict, desire, anger – she couldn’t read him for the first time in years.
She sat up, and he settled, on the coffee table giving her some space.
“I didn’t know you were a man of such exquisite taste,” she joked, waving the book at him. He reached for it, but she pulled it out of his reach and began to flip through the pages. “Hmm, where was I?”
She hadn’t planned on teasing him, but the flush on his cheeks was irresistible. She pretended to clear her throat.
“‘Penelope had bound herself to him for life, and their love would live long after they were gone.’” Suddenly awkward, she glanced at Benedict; perhaps this page wasn’t the best choice. Refusing to let her nerves get the better of her, she kept reading. “‘She braced herself as the viscount, her new husband, came towards her. His unbuttoned shirt exposed his smooth pale skin, and it was the most she’d ever seen of a naked man. He ordered her to face the mirror, and she did as she was told. She wanted him, all of him, but she couldn’t stop herself from shaking as he cut through her strings at the back of her wedding dress. He stared at her naked form in the mirror, his dark eyes lingering on every curve, every freckle, until she couldn’t take it anymore. She turned around, bringing her lips to his. He gripped her face, deepening the kiss and stealing her breath. Carrying her in his arms, he dropped on the bed and ripped off his clothes, settling between her legs. She didn’t care about her inexperience; she trusted him to teach her. His lips travelled to her breasts, her stomach, before settling between her legs, and she gripped the pillow behind her head as he licked and tasted what he had longed for since the moment he’d first laid eyes on her. Heat pooled between her legs, a growing ecstasy—” Lucy flushed under Benedict’s gaze, but she wasn’t going to break first. “Calling out her beloved’s name, he bit—”
“You should stop,” he interrupted her, and with a thrill, she noticed his voice was much lower than before. He snatched the book away from her as though it would come alive and, like the viscount, bite her.
“Why?” She stared up at him over the page. Heat flooded her body. He’d never looked at her with such desire.
“Because when I think of fucking someone, it’s you, in my dreams,” he told her, moving into her space.
His gaze fell to her lips as she swallowed, unable to stop thinking about him doing everything she’d just read aloud. He cocked his head, a sly smile dancing on his lips. Lips she suddenly wanted to taste. She was hot all over, but this was different from his element. Sharper, urgent, more consuming.
“You want me, Lucinda. I don’t know why you continue to deny what you truly desire.”
The next thing she knew, his hand was in her hair, and her head was being twisted to the side as his lips crashed down on hers. She whimpered as the feel and taste of him overwhelmed her. Oh, shit. I can’t. It’s Benedict.
As though reading her mind, he darted away from her. Her eyelids fluttered open; his sudden absence made her dizzy.
“Fuck it.” She reached up, grabbing the back of his neck and kissed him greedily. His hand gripped her waist; she shoved aside the blanket, overwhelmed by heat and the desire to remove any barriers between them. His fist tightened in her hair as his lips demanded more. Drunk on the taste of him, she struggled to catch her breath. She loved his mouth, which was surprising, since she spent most of her life wanting him to shut it.
He teased her with his tongue, brushing her lower lip and driving her desperate with need. Slipping his hand up her shirt, he palmed her breast, and she let out a little gasp. Lost in his touch, she struggled to think, to breathe. All she knew was that she needed more, and that she’d never get enough. He trailed his lips along her jaw, his breath hot against her ear.
“If only this were real,” he whispered, his lips grazing her sensitive stomach.
The words shocked her out of the dream. “What in the hell type of dream was that?!” She shook the images from her head as they lingered. Period dreams could be rather crazy, so she decided to blame the book and forget it had happened.
Lucy didn’t know when she’d fallen asleep, but she was now covered with a blanket, and the book she’d been reading was on the table beside her. It was dark outside, and she guessed she’d slept long into the night.
The water bottle was still warm as she took it from her tummy; she smiled a little. Given the amount of time passed, Benedict must have refilled it when he came back.
Peeling herself off the couch, she tiptoed over the creaky floors until she reached his bedroom to find him sleeping. Leaning against the archway, she couldn’t help but admire how peaceful he was. He looked younger, sleep removing all traces of his scowl.
He turned over, clutching a pillow to his chest, and something that resembled butterflies stirred in Lucy’s heart. The alarm clock by his bed told her it was already five am. She had to get home and change before work; she didn’t want the town to see her walk of shame.
She wanted to repay his kindness, and the only way she knew how was to get his element back to him as soon as possible.