34. Summer
Rook was quietlycontemplative for the remainder of our walk and dinner, except for his demands to add broccoli and sweet potatoes to my grilled chicken. When we returned, the storm clouds of his thoughts shifted—towards me.
He pulled me into the house, his fingers clenched tight in mine, as if he was afraid of letting go. Within seconds of closing the door behind me, he’d pushed me up against it. He thrust his leg between my thighs, his arms on either side of me, boxing me in. His gaze bore into me with a relentless intensity that I couldn”t escape.
”Summer, I...” he paused, hesitating. ”I need to tell you something.”
My stomach began to churn, my chest tightening with fear. Was he going to send me away?
”I have, and always have had, an insatiable appetite,” he began. “And I”m afraid it’ll be too much for you.”
I hitched a breath. “I don’t understand.”
A look of agony crossed his face. Then his eyelashes fluttered, shuttering closed. Pressing his forehead to mine, he said, “I was serious when I said I’m obsessed. It’s wrong of me but… but I can’t stop. All day long. Every time I close my eyes, I think of you. If you only knew…” His fingers tickled across my cheeks, caressing them softly, though he still wouldn’t look at me. “I want to infuse myself into your mind. Know your every thought. Every feeling. Want to own every inch of your skin. To kiss every hurt and ache away, like when you were a kid. I want to be your whole world, Summer. To live and breathe Summer Duvall. But I”m afraid it will be too much, that I’m too much. And I need…I need you to promise me something.”
There was a knot in my throat I couldn”t swallow. ”What?”
”Swear to me that you”ll tell me. If we do this, if I allow myself to give in…” he finally opened his eyes to stare into mine. “Do you even want it?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.” He nodded, then swallowed. His mint and whiskey breath poured over my skin as he stroked my cheek with his thumb, “Promise you’ll tell me if it”s too much. And I will do everything in my power to tone it down. But just… just tell me, okay?”
I somehow knew that I was the one person on this earth who had ever seen this side to Rook.
This vulnerability.
An immense feeling of wonder and gratitude poured over me like liquid, covering me with its warmth. Why me? I couldn”t understand it. I was just Summer, a small girl in a big world that wanted to eat me alive.
“Sometimes,” he continued, “I can barely restrain myself. I’m an insatiable animal. Especially when I really want something. So, please,” his hand curled around the nape of my neck, placing the palm of his other hand over my heart. I was certain he could feel it pounding. “You have to promise me you’ll let me know if it’s too much. I can’t hurt you.”
”Rook,” I stood on my tiptoes, softly brushing my lips over his, ”You will never be too much for me.” And then I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer. ”Give me everything you have. I want it all.”
A low, throaty sound escaped his throat—the sound of surrender—and then he was kissing me, fingers fisting tight into the back of my hair. Tangling. Clenching. His lips were scorching. My skin was on fire.
“Tell me you want this.”
“I did, already,” I murmured.
“Say it again, bunny. I need to hear it one more time before I descend the path to hell.”
“We can stop if you want,” I snarked, pulling back.
His eyes flashed, his gaze darkening.
Sliding from his embrace, I ran.
“Summer,” he growled, and a grin split my face, my heart pounding as he chased after me. I squealed as we raced around the house. Circling around the large island in the kitchen. Pounding through the living room and into the dining room. I caught my hip on the table, knocking a chair. I pushed it between him and me and laughed as I heard it crash against the wall.
I ran past the back door, circling through the large study and towards the stairs.
I shrieked as he yanked me off the ground, caught in his strong grip.
“You can’t run from me, Summer.” He easily threw me over his shoulder as he took the stairs two-by-two. “I will always catch you.” His hand came down on my ass, slapping it so harshly, it reverberated through me. “You think you can get away with teasing me like that?”
“Rook!” I squealed. “What are you doing?”
“Making you do something you never thought you would.” He did it again and again, heat pooling through me, my chest and face flushing red. “Beg me to punish you.”
“Oh God.”
“Now,” at the top of the stairs, he placed me on my feet, “are you going to be a good girl for me?”
I bit on my lip, trying to hide my smile. “Absolutely.”
“Remember,” he smirked, “only good girls get to come.”
My smile disappeared. “Nooo. I’ll be a good girl. I promise.”
“Show me.” He demanded, his voice a low rumble. “Undress for me. Take off everything.”
“Here?” We were in front of the large foyer window. I could see the street below, the neighbors across—their lights were on.
“What did I tell you about that,” he growled. “I want everyone to see what belongs to me.”
His gaze filled with heat as he watched me slide the shoulders of my dress downward, his breath catching at the sight of my breasts.
Nipples budded tight at his heated gaze, the dress falling to the floor.
With any other person, I would be embarrassed. Shy. But the look of absolute longing on Rook’s face gave me the confidence I needed.
So many other women wanted him—Lux had hinted at it, and I”d seen it in the gazes of women everywhere we went.
And yet, he only had eyes for me.
His gaze burned, for me.
Yanking me to him, he kissed me, holding me with one arm while his fingers tangled in my hair. Using the grip to maneuver my head. “Do you know how sexy you are? And you don”t even know it.” We stumbled backwards, my lips parting as he thrust his tongue in my mouth. I wrapped my arms around his neck, my clothes forgotten in the press of his body against mine. Heat flowing from my mouth, spreading out in my chest and belly.
I couldn’t breathe, I was so consumed by him.
“Now,” he placed me on his bed. “Scoot back. On your knees, and wait.”
I scrambled to obey, my heart hammering as he pulled something out of his dressers. He didn’t show me but slipped them into the pocket of his suit coat.
Then, the smell of sage and sandalwood filled the air.
“Watch the flame, Summer.” I focused on the candle as he came towards me. It flickered from the slight breeze from the window. It was hazy. Hypnotic.
I’d descended into a dream, where the man I”d come to worship and adore existed in the same space as me.
His eyes on me.
Watching.
Waiting.
Like the wolf in the night.
“Hands on your knees, head tilted upward.” Fingers trembling, pressed to the skin of my thighs, my heart pitter-pattered at the feel of the silk brushing across my skin. Darkness enveloped me as he tied it around my eyes, cutting off my sight.
It was like Kuru was in my mind. When we stop looking with our eyes, we feel things as they were meant to be felt.
My ears prickled, the soft sound of Rook moving, the bed dipping. I felt his presence in front of me. His warm hands cupped my cheeks, and his thighs, strong and muscled, enveloped me. The feathery breath, spanning across my cheek, a shiver up my spine as my lips exhaled.
Then, a gentle kiss that surprised me. His lips, so soft and sweet. A tenderness I hadn’t expected.
Fingers slid down my neck to my shoulder, pressed into my collar. Then, a sharpness that took my breath. Thumb digging in.
He pulled back, nibbled on my ear. “Do you like that, Summer?”
I nodded, breathless and on edge.
“Say it out loud. I need you to use your voice so I can be certain.”
“About what?”
“You’ll see,” he said, brushing his lips across my mine, his tongue flicking out. Then he wrapped his hand around my neck, his palm pressing gently into my Adam’s apple. He kissed me again, the softness quickly melting away to something more desperate. He groaned, deepening the kiss as his fingers squeezed, cutting off my breath, and I was lost. The blackness around me growing darker. My lungs blazing, throat burning. A sudden release, his lips consuming mine as I inhaled a sharp breath. His tongue filling me, stroking as he murmured, ”I don”t usually do this with someone so inexperienced, but I want to try something new with you. I just need your permission fir?—“
“Yes.”
“So eager, my little bunny.” He chuckled, biting on my lip so harshly that it sent a thrill straight to my core. His hand on my throat tightened. ”I want you, Summer, do you know this?”
I hummed, the pressure in my throat growing slightly with the movement.
He bent forward, his lips now grazing the shell of my ear with a whisper, ”I want you, and I always get what I want.”
My upper teeth bit down into my lower lip. There was something so satisfying in being wanted.
”And yet,” a pause, a low growl of frustration, ”And yet, I will never have you in the way that I want you. Is that understood?”
What?! But...? I was lightheaded, having a hard time understanding…
“I will play with you,” he continued. “Make you feel things you never thought you could feel. I like things harsh and dirty, and I will use you to fulfill my sickest fantasies. But I will never fuck you.”
“But,” I finally choked out. “Why?”
“Because I don’t deserve your virginity. That belongs to someone else, someone who can be soft and sweet.”
“I don’t want soft and sweet.”
“You don’t know what you want.”
His words stung, anger flashing. “You have—” About to argue, but the pressure on my throat increased, cutting me off, and he repeated, his voice a vicious snarl.
“I. Will. Never. Fuck. You. Is that understood?”
I knew what he wanted.
And I wanted to come, so I gave it to him, hesitatingly. I nodded, “Yes, sir.”
A pause, a silence, and I swore I could hear the flickering of the candle.