Chapter Twenty-One #2
Rune turned to her, nodded, then got up and went behind the screen.
He didn’t even linger on her, as if he couldn’t look at her anymore.
She considered his reaction for a moment, trying to determine if it was because of her or because of him.
He’d told her that she wasn’t ugly. But that didn’t mean he found her beautiful.
Seraphina heard the splash of water as he lowered himself in the tub, and her hands closed into fists at her side. Should she try again? She felt mortified already. She wanted to be close to him, in the steam of the bath, her heart thundered for him, and her stomach ached for him, and...
“Do you want me to wash your back?” she asked because she couldn’t let this go, not yet.
“No.”
“I could–”
“No, Seraphina, please don’t come in here.”
She groaned and felt the most wretched woman alive.
To be refused like that by a man... She stomped over to the bed and slipped under the blanket, claiming the spot near the wall.
She made herself small, trying to occupy as little space as possible.
Her attempts to fall asleep were futile.
No matter how hard she tried to focus on the crackling sound of the dying embers, the only thing she could hear was Rune washing himself, water splashing then dripping off him as he got up and stood like that for a minute before he got out of the tub and dried himself.
Seraphina heard him get dressed, walk into the room and feed wood into the fire.
He waited, hesitated, hovered... until he was too tired to resist the temptation of the bed.
The mattress dipped under his weight as he lay down with his back to hers.
He was rigid, his breaths coming in fast and sharp, and her own breathing picked up the pace at his closeness.
Was he upset with her? She was upset with him
No, she was upset with herself for having put herself out there when their relationship was clearly not of that nature.
They lay like that for what felt like an hour, neither of them able to shut off their mind.
She stubbornly pressed herself to the wall because his significant weight positioned on the edge of the mattress created a valley between them that invited her to roll toward him.
Exhaustion won, and she started to drift off.
She was hanging between sleep and wakefulness when he shifted, turned onto his back, then toward her.
“I didn’t mean to be harsh,” he said.
Seraphina felt the pressure of his wide hand on her shoulder, and when he squeezed, that woke her up more than his apology.
“Maybe you’re right, and I am afraid of you. Afraid of what you might want from me.”
“I will never ask for anything you don’t wish to give,” she said.
“That’s the thing...”
He inhaled deeply, and when he released the air, Seraphina felt it on her nape.
He was so close to her, a few more inches, and she’d feel his chest press against her back.
His hand moved from her shoulder to her head, and he started playing with her hair, twirling a lock around his fingers.
She bit her lower lip trying to suppress a groan.
“I’m afraid that you will ask, and I will... I will do it, because I’ve been dreaming, imagining...”
“What?”
“I can’t tell you. I won’t.”
“Tell me the most innocent thing you’ve imagined.”
He hesitated, as he always did. She waited, feigning patience. He was skittish, still, but his hand didn’t stop moving, caressing her hair, and she chose to take it as a good sign.
Rune inched closer.
His shin touched the back of her leg, and she couldn’t help it.
She pressed back into him. He tensed, she held her breath, but he didn’t pull away.
The top of his chest met her shoulder blades, she melted into him further, and his hand dropped on the bed, inches from her breasts.
His arm was draped over her, his chin resting atop her head.
“I imagined holding you like this,” he whispered.
“Then do. Hold me like this.”
“All right. But don’t ask me for more.”
“And if I do?”
He let out a groan that sounded equally hungry and dangerous. It vibrated through Seraphina’s body in a sinfully delicious way, making her squeeze her legs together. There was a very specific spot she would’ve loved to rub right now.
“I will do whatever you want. But I shouldn’t, because it wouldn’t be fair to you. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, I think. You can’t see me, so you don’t know. If you knew, you wouldn’t want anything to do with me. You wouldn’t want to be touched by these hands...”
“I would. I do,” she keened.
“No, Seraphina.” He wrapped his arm tightly around her, tucking his hand between her shoulder and the pillow. “You wouldn’t.”
Arguing with him was pointless. Tonight, they weren’t going to get anywhere if she insisted, so she chose to revel in the feel of his massive body enveloping her, keeping her warm and pulsating with want that was frustrating, yet also pleasurable.
She listened to his breathing even out until he was asleep. She followed.
Hours later, what woke her was the hardness pressed against her lower back.
The room was still dark, the dawn outside heavy and gloomy.
Rune was sleeping soundlessly, but there was a particular part of his body that was wide awake.
More than awake, alert when she rolled her hips gently and felt him twitch.
Something pulled tight in her solar plexus.
The sensation intensified until all her organs seemed to tighten and flutter, and below her waist, everything turned to liquid.
She ached, gushed, and felt wetness slick out of her to dampen the fabric of her chemise that was bunched up between her legs.
She rubbed her thighs together, which made her hips shift back and nest into the curve of his pelvis.
The length of his cock was trapped between them, engorged and straight along her spine.
Rune’s hand moved from where he’d held her all night, pulling free like she’d burned him. It drew over her body and stopped atop her hip, where he gripped her and stilled her.
“Seraphina...”
She froze, waiting to see what he’d do. Was he going to flee again? Turn away from her and not look at her until he worked up the courage to apologize?
She could feel him trembling behind her, breathing heavily, inhaling the scent of her clean hair and skin. The warmth between their bodies increased until she was sweating and wanting to slip out of the cotton shift.
Rune’s fingers dug into her flesh. Tentatively, he guided her hips in a roll as he pushed himself against her.
Seraphina’s mouth fell open, and she let out a moan.
“Please stop.” His voice sounded strained.
“I’m not doing anything,” she whispered. “It’s you.”
“No,” he ground out. But his actions betrayed him when his hand moved from her hip to her face, and he cupped her cheek and pressed his thumb to her lips. “No.”
Seraphina turned her head slightly, allowing him to see her tongue darting out to lick his thumb.
Rune’s head dropped into the crook of her neck as she sucked on the tip of it.
He breathed in her ear, and the rush of hot air made her body shudder and her pussy throb and push out a fresh wave of wetness.
“No,” he groaned again, but didn’t let go.
“I’ll stop if you stop,” she said.
He was panting in her ear now. Seraphina didn’t know what his constant no’s meant, when he didn’t seem to be able to heed them himself.
“Tell me what you want.” His words sounded like a vow.
She was nearly undone.