30. Ivy
IVY
I giggle as the door clicks shut behind me, sealing us in.
His hand is gone from mine as he moves with ease around the room, despite how dark it is.
This is insane, but I’m addicted to it; to his proximity, the spontaneity, and the adrenaline that ignites in my veins.
I want more.
“Teddy?” I whisper, my palms flat against the door behind me as I try to catch my breath.
We ran so fast. In those heels.
It was worth it.
I wonder if they’ve realized we’re gone.
I can feel the smile on my face, but a second later, a soft glow casts over the room and my gaze connects with Teddy’s, revealing his grin too.
Glancing at the source of light, I stand taller, keeping the surface behind me as a prop.
“What is that?” I ask, and he holds it higher.
“It’s an old lantern. It was my father’s. I like to make sure I keep it charged with magic for times like this,” he explains, and I nod.
“You mean times when you bring a girl to your room?” I retort, hoping to catch him off guard, but he grins.
“That would be a first,” he states, and my eyebrows gather in confusion.
“I don’t follow,” I admit, pressing my palms against my stomach as he places his lantern on his nightstand. “I’ve seen you with girls plenty of times.”
“In my room?” he asks, turning his full attention back to me, and I shake my head slowly. “I didn’t think so.” He’s at ease as he eliminates the distance between us.
I avoid him, taking in his room instead, but apart from the gray and navy sheets on his king-size bed, I can’t see anything before he fills my vision.
My lips purse as my heart races, but I keep my gaze fixed on his. “So you’re telling me you’ve never had a girl up here?” I ask, and he shakes his head. “Never?” I clarify, and he hides a grin behind his hand. “But I’ve seen them all over you.”
He shrugs. “They were a good distraction from the pain inside.”
“Were?”
I hate this game we’re playing, constantly back and forth, noticing each other’s tension when speaking, but it still sends a shiver down my spine as he nods.
“Now I need distracting from something else entirely,” he whispers, reaching for my chin as he tilts my head back, and I gulp, but before I can ask what he’s referring to, he manages to inch closer.
“What are you thinking about?” I blink at him, unable to use my tongue as he tilts his head at me.
“Princess?” he insists, and I exhale slowly, nerves getting the better of me.
“That I’m insane.”
“Are you only just figuring that out?” he says with a grin, cooling my nerves as he drops my chin to place his palms on the door behind me, caging me in.
I take a shuddering breath.
“Are you nervous?” he asks, the teasing tone making me roll my eyes.
“Of course not,” I insist, and he snickers.
“Sure.”
He looks deep into my eyes, and something about the softness in his blue orbs calms me, even when I know it shouldn’t.
“I feel reckless.”
He nods. “Because this is intimate or because it’s me?”
“Both,” I admit, and he rubs his jaw.
“I can take you home,” he offers, and I shake my head.
“I don’t want to go home.” The truth parting my lips makes me lightheaded.
It encourages him to lean closer so his lips brush against mine as he speaks.
“What do you want?”
“Why are you doing this?” I ask, my mind trying to find a way out of this, but my body and soul are all in.
“Doing what?” He cocks his head to the side as I scoff.
“Pursuing me, groveling, all of this.”
“Because I’ve spent two years denying what I want. Two years hiding behind a fake-ass life with fake-ass people and I’m over it.”
My heart stutters as he tosses my words back at me.
It feels like an eternity ago that I spoke them, but hearing them from his lips is like speaking them myself. He knows where the statement comes from, deep inside, and the exhaustion that claims you right along with it.
“What is it you want?”
“I want to get to know you better. I already like what I know. I want to see more. I like how it feels to be around you. Your presence is golden, and I want more of it.”
I clear my throat, his words making my cheeks heat. “And this is casual, right? Just sex?”
Sex.
Me.
Virgin.
I can’t tell him, though. He’ll change his mind. I know it.
His eyes crinkle. “Is that what you want? Casual?” he clarifies, and I nod.
“Yes.” The word on my tongue feels wrong, and I don’t miss the way his eyebrows gather, but before he can speak, I try to explain myself. “I’m broken, Teddy. From my family, my home life, the four of you,” I state, waving my hand at him, and he captures my wrist.
“You’re not broken,” he interjects, bringing his other hand to my face as he strokes his finger down my cheek.
“I am, and that’s okay. My fate involves piecing myself back together.” Saying it out loud feels freeing. Seeing that I’ve spent my entire life as a statue in my surroundings has me desperately wanting to break the mold to figure out who the hell I am all on my own.
“And if I wanted to help?” he asks, tilting my chin up, and my breath stutters in my chest.
My lips part, no answer on my tongue, and we’re suddenly drenched in darkness, his lantern no longer offering up its soft glow to illuminate our surroundings.
There’s nothing.
Just darkness.
Just us.
Without the light, my heartbeat spikes, not with nerves or fear, but with exhilaration.
Consumed by the pitch-black air, our heavy breaths grow shallower as goosebumps prickle up my spine, and we move as one.
Our lips collide, hot and heavy as his tongue presses along the seam of my mouth.
I groan, desperately, as his hands fall to my waist.
“Fuck, Ivy. Who knew fate tasted so sweet?” he rasps, his fingers digging into my hips as I reach for his shoulders, holding on for dear life.
His name is on the tip of my tongue, but before I can let it meet the air, he’s claiming my mouth once again. I gasp for air, my nails pressing into his throat as his fingers curl into the fabric of my dress so tightly he lifts me an inch off the floor.
Then another.
And another.
Until my legs instinctively wrap around his waist, bringing us even closer.
His hands drag down my back, running expertly over the corset lacing, and he hisses.
“Every second I spent lacing this up earlier, I was thinking about what it would feel like to watch it unravel. Now the lights are out, and there’s no show for me.
Do you know what that means, Princess?” I shake my head, our lips brushing back and forth against one another as he snickers.
“It means all I can think about is tearing it off instead.”
My breath hitches at the idea, and he must hear it, taking it as consent before he presses my back against the door and reaches for the neckline of my dress. The delicate graze of his fingers against my chest makes me shiver, and a second later, the sound of thread splitting echoes around us.
Cool air brushes against my skin and I gasp.
Another wisp of delight in my tone as he shreds my dress further.
His lips ghost over my collarbone and my stomach clenches as my head tilts to the side, offering him access.
My fingers rake through his hair, both clinging and encouraging as he slowly lowers me back to the floor enough for my dress to fall, pooling at my feet.
The second it stops, he’s moving again, blindly reaching for my waist as he hikes me in the air, curling my legs around his middle once again. Only this time, he’s moving.
I squeal, hiding my face in the crook of his neck as he expertly maneuvers around his room in the darkness until his knees hit the side of the bed, and I’m greeted with soft sheets a moment later. He stands, leaving me where I am as he runs his hands down my sides.
He freezes when his hands meet my hips.
“Where are your panties, Princess?” he croaks, fingers digging into my flesh so tight I’m sure he’ll leave his fingerprint behind.
“Not necessary with the dress,” I admit, and he groans, raspy and heavy as his hair floats across my stomach.
His breath blows across my hip bone, making my back arch as my muscles clench.
“Don’t move a muscle. I’m trying to contain myself,” he bites.
I sink my teeth into my bottom lip, willing myself to listen to his command, but in the darkness, I’m feeling brazen. Instead, I tilt my hips, and he moves in a flash.
He hovers over me for a split second before disappearing. My hands dig into the sheets, anticipation consuming me, but as I breathe his name, he returns, his heat hovering over me. I notice the difference instantly.
He’s as naked as me.
His length presses against my belly and I gulp, my mouth drying with nerves, but the desire that floods my system makes me want it more.
I jolt when his mouth finds my ear. “To piece you back together again, I’m going to need to make you shatter first.”
It’s a promise.
One he’s determined to uphold as he shifts down the bed, and the next breath from his lips exhales across my core.
“Teddy…”
“Princess…”
“Please…”
“I can’t even imagine how pretty you look when you beg. But we’ll save that for a time when I can take advantage of the view.” My lips part, but my words are lost as his tongue dances across my clit, and I cry out as my toes curl into the sheets. “Sing for me, Princess.”
As if summoned by his siren abilities, I cry out again and again, lost to the sensation of his mouth between my thighs. My hips move of their own accord, grinding against his face as my lungs burn.
Euphoria washes over me as my muscles clench again and again, until his teeth run across my sensitive nub, and I explode.
I’ve only ever felt this kind of ecstasy once before, but that was with my own hand and with guidance. This? This is all him.
“Teddy.”
“You sound desperate, Princess.”
“What are you doing to me?” I pant, and he chuckles.
“Shattering you, remember?”
I shake my head even though he can’t see. “Why do I want you to do it again then?”
Why haven’t I been able to get even remotely close to replicating it on my own.
“It will be my pleasure, Princess.”
He shifts my legs, planting his knees between my thighs, and I move instinctively. With my legs wrapped around him, his cock nudges at my center, and my hands snap forward, colliding with his chest. Instead of shoving him away, my fingernails press into his skin as I reach for his shoulders.
“Mark me, Ivy. Claim me like I’m going to claim this pussy of mine.”
I scoff. “It’s not yours,” I mutter, and the air goes still.
One breath.
Two.
His dick presses against my entrance, his head nestling in my heat as I inhale sharply. Or is it him?
“Fuck, Princess. You’re tight,” he croaks, dropping to his elbows, his arms framing my face.
I can’t breathe, locked between need and anticipation. “Shatter me,” I cry, and he does just that, thrusting his thick length inside of me in one swift move.
He groans as I inhale sharply, tears pricking the back of my eyelids instantly as pain burns in my core.
I have never felt so full in my life.
I feel like I’m going to splinter into a million pieces.
Like I’m going to shatter.
Just like he promised.
“Fuck, Ivy,” he groans, slamming his mouth to mine as he retracts.
I hiss through the pain as he fills me again, slower this time. My fingers dig into his shoulders as a sob rattles from my chest, but I dig my heels into his ass, desperate for more.
He doesn’t disappoint, giving me exactly what I want, despite the pain, but with every thrust, the pain subsides, fueling the heat and desire coiling through my veins, eager to feel the tingles of euphoria again like a woman starved.
“Please, Teddy. Please,” I chant, unraveling my legs from his waist to plant my feet on the bed, flexing my hips to match his pace.
“I fucking love my name on your lips, Princess,” he groans, his breath hot and heavy as perspiration clings between us.
A single one of his fingers brushes against my clit as he slams into me, and he detonates me.
My screams rip from my throat, ecstasy clawing through my limbs as I spiral, riding wave after wave of pleasure.
Slowly exhaling, my limbs are weightless, but I still notice the second he slips from between my thighs. I lay spent, struggling to steady my breath as exhaustion clings to me.
Sleep hovers over me, and I let it take me as I feel the press of his lips against my temple.