46. Rook
For the first time in…well, since I could remember, I had a body pressed to my back. Arms stretched around my torso. Face pressed into my spine.
Shewas holding me.
I didn’t remember how we got here.
There were vague images of Hawke driving. My head in Summer’s lap. The feel of her shivering.
I’d tried to comfort her, to grasp her hand but then I’d slid back into the darkness.
Tentatively, I reached for my ribs—Saul’d deliberately branded right on the bone, where it would hurt the most. It was bandaged and the tugging on my wrist led my gaze to an IV by the bed.
Wincing as I pulled it, and the medical tape out, I tossed the line to the floor.
“That’s supposed to stay inside you. For the pain.”
“I don’t want it.” I could already feel the effects—my thoughts a little fuzzy, my eyelids heavy.
But I needed to clear my mind. Saul wasn’t done with us—not by a long shot.
I had to be prepared for what came next, especially now that he owned me.
A gentle touch traced up my spine, and my eyes blinked sleepily, my thoughts hazy. I closed them for a moment, enjoying the feel of her fingertips as they moved tenderly across my skin, tickling slightly. It sent a shiver up my spine, and a small smile played at my lips.
How had I lived without this for so long?The simple touch of someone who cared.
It was followed by the press of her lips at the base of my neck, her words mumbled against my skin. “You shouldn’t have done that for me.”
“And you should’ve given them my real name.”
“Saul would’ve killed you.” Her fingers moved up over my shoulder, then down my arm, her lips still brushing against my skin. “And I couldn’t accept that.”
“Better than something happening to you.”
I felt her shrug, her lips pressed to my shoulder in a soft kiss.
“You promised me,” I kept on. The past few nights had been the worst nights of my life—not knowing what was happening to her. Not able to go to her, physically being restrained. Trusting that Fallon was watching over her.
“I know,” she said. “I broke my promise.”
“Summer—”
“It was my choice. To protect you.”
There was a sudden knot in my throat, and I couldn’t speak for a moment. She’d protected me. Hadn’t betrayed me. Despite the fact that they almost killed her for it. I finally managed to breathe. “You’re stubborn.”
“It’s my best feature.” I felt the upward curl of her lips. She was smiling.
I loved it when she smiled. When she was happy. It was the only thing I lived for these days.
Nothing else mattered.
A silence fell between us, except the sound of soft rain from the open window. The sky was cloudy, the air with its sticky humidity.
It was a slow, lazy day, despite the agony of what had just happened.
It could be like this all the time.
If she stayed.
I turned onto my back, needing to see her, then caught my breath.
Bright blue eyes stared down at me.
I didn’t know how to describe the look in them but it made a rushing warmth blossom through me, sinking deep into my soul.
That look—it couldn’t possibly mean…
I pushed the thought away, not wanting to even consider it.
She”d replaced her ceremonial robe with a shirt of mine, button-up, with the top of it open. There was a black tie around her neck. I smiled.
“Why’re you wearing a tie?” It was so silly—and just like her.
“Because it reminds me of you.” A crooked grin.
“But I’m right here.”
“I know,” she shrugged, and the collar slipped lower, revealing the curve of her shoulder. The flash of something more—lingerie I realized. White lace.
I let my eyes linger, drinking her in. From the simmering gaze in her eyes, down her long slender neck, to collarbones peeking from my pressed, white shirt.
The promise of unwrapping whatever lace thing lying underneath my shirt.
She was so beautiful—it hurt to look at her.
Her own eyes filled with something, something more. A warm, simmering, just like the feeling in my own core.
I frowned, tucking her messy hair behind her ear. “You are never to do that again, you understand me? Never put yourself in harms way for me.”
She crooked an eyebrow, pausing, before simply stating, “no.”
It took me a moment to realize what she’d said. “No?”
“No.” At my frown, she followed up with, “My life, my choice.”
My frown turned into a scowl. “Summer.”
Her own eyebrows furrowed, her voice growing deeper, mimicking mine, “Rook.”
“I—” my lips parted in protest, but, suddenly, I laughed. “You’re ridiculous.”
“I’m ridiculously awesome.“ With a mischievous look in her eye, she straddled me—careful to avoid touching the brand on my ribs—and flipped her hair back, sashaying her shoulders in a way that made heat fill me. She was a goddess of sensuality. “Ridiculously obsessed.”
“You are?”
She placed her hand on my chest, leaning over, and, slowly brushed her nose against mine. Whispering, “Only for you, Rook Undergrove.”
The sound of my real name on her lips did something to me. It sounded strange, coming from her.
I wasn’t used to feeling so comfortable with another person. It was wild and unfamiliar. And yet, felt like there was nothing more right in my life.
I gently took her hand, scowling at the bandage. “They hurt you.” It’d driven me mad to see her cut herself in the baptism, and then—when the priestess, Vashti’s, snake bit her—I’d almost lost all control.
I pressed my lips to her bandage softly. “Does it hurt?”
“Does yours hurt?” She asked, nodding at the bandage on my ribs, still intentionally avoiding touching it.
“No. You didn’t answer my question.”
A bare shoulder came up. “I think the doctor gave me the same medicine as you. Because I feel incredible.”
Her smile was my fucking undoing. I could only stare at it, at her, her beauty and lightness shining through.
My fucking bunny was quickly becoming my whole world.
She leaned forward again, her tanned thighs spreading out on either side of me and her hands pressed to either side of my head.
“Baby girl. Don’t hurt yourself,” I protested, my fingers wrapping around the wrist of her hurt hand, stroking it softly.
“I won’t.” She said simply, her eyes meeting mine.
Pools of blue that I could easily grow lost in.
Once again, there was something there. Something in them that spoke of more. The something that made my breath hitch again.
I held it, counting to three in my mind, my eyelids shuttering as her fingers traced down my chest. Then she placed her wounded palm over my own bandage.
“Look at me, Rook.” When I met her gaze, all playfulness was gone.
Instead, replaced with an intense seriousness I’d never seen from her before.
It made my throat thick, a pressure in my chest. It was so intense.
“This.” She cupped where the branding was over my ribs. “You did this, for me.”
I nodded.
“Why?”
“Because, I…” I couldn’t force the words through my lips. The feeling inside me, long ago buried but now coming alive….
“I’m going to tell you what it means to me,” she said, after my hesitation.
“Okay.” I nodded, trying to swallow the knot in my throat.
“This means everything to me,” she began. “More than words can describe.” Her hand went to her own chest. “Something deep. So deep, it can only be shown. It means you care for me, in ways that no other man has cared before.”
I could only stare into her eyes, not responding. Despite how much I wanted to, I couldn’t crack open the wall holding my vulnerable parts inside.
“It also means that you belong to me, Rook. I own you, not them.”
“They won’t see it?—”
“You understand me, Rook?” She leaned down until her nose was only a breath away from mine. Her eyes, savage and vehement. “I. Own. You.”
“Yes.” My voice caught.
“Every time you see it, you think of me. How you sacrificed for me. How I fucking hold your heart in my fist. You understand?”
“O-kay,” my voice caught, and a heaviness in my chest lifted with her proclamation. Being owned by her was much better than the Magnolia.
She kissed my nose, whispering, “It’ll be our little secret. No one else needs to know.”
I nodded, my own voice a whisper, “Okay.”
After a long moment of staring into my eyes, she nodded. Then, slowly, she took my hand and guided it up under her shirt. Her skin was smooth and soft, and, together, we traced over her belly, then up, up, and towards her breast.
My fingers easily slid under lace, and she exhaled softly, a slow building of lust filling her gaze as I played with her nipple.
“Where’d you get this?” I asked.
“Amara.” Leaning down, she brushed her lips across mine.
It was gentle. A barely there kiss. Then another.
“I should bring her here more often,” I murmured, my voice growing thick.
“You think?” She smiled against my lips, then pulled back an inch.
I tilted my head upward, reaching for her, and she did it again. Took her time, brushing her lips against mine. Reveling in it, deepening it, while I was slowly sinking into the wonder of her touch.
It wasn’t the rushed kiss of lust or need, but the exploration of something new. Something special.
I flicked her nipple and she inhaled sharply, then plunged her tongue into my mouth. I groaned, clasping the nape of her neck with my other hand, holding her to me.
She tasted like sunshine and heat, like slow steps towards the cliff’s edge, where my newly-beating heart had always been afraid to go, before.
“Rook.”
“Yes?” My voice betrayed the lusty sensation I was feeling inside, the heat that was slowly building inside me.
With a small sigh leaving her sultry lips, she whispered against my lips, ”I want you to fuck me.”
I blinked my eyes slowly, shutting down. ”We can”t.” It actually hurt to deny her.
”Why not? I started birth control, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“It’s not that,” I choked out. “Your dad.” I pulled back and, holding her gaze, shook my head. “All this was for him; I promised him I would protect you.”
“And that’s the only reason you won’t?” Her eyes filled with sadness, and maybe something else…
Regret?
“Or maybe you don’t want to. I know I’m not experienced, or maybe I’m not…enough.”
“That’s…” The knot was back in my throat, but I forced my words out, “That’s not why.”
“Then…?”
I curled my arms around her waist, holding her in place, closing my eyes as I inhaled a deep breath.
I wanted to open up to her. To tell her all the feelings buried deep. I’d managed to tell her a little bit at the initium, but it wasn’t near enough of all the swirling emotions inside me.
I opened my mouth to try to explain.
Another confession…
But it was impossible.
The words wouldn’t leave my mouth.
”Wouldn”t my father want me to be happy?” she asked.
”Yes, of course.”
“Then, make me happy, Rook.”
Aching, deep in my chest…my words stumbling out, ”I... I-I can”t--”
”Why not? I need another reason,” she leaned upwards, soft feather lips brushing against mine. ”I know you want to, I can feel it.” She wiggled against my growing erection.
”I am a man,” I answered.
”A man with needs, just like me.”
“We can do other things,” I tried to convince her, though I sounded weak, even to my own ears.
“No,” she answered simply, as she had before. “I want more than that. Or nothing at all.”
I sighed, growing frustrated. ”And you think this will make you happy?”
”Yes.”
”How do you know?”
”Because I realized something,” her lips came down, kissing me oh, so softly again.
How could she be so gentle, so sweet? And how did I deserve this woman?
”When I saw you, on your knees, taking the brand that was meant for me, that’s when I knew. You gave your freedom, for me. And the only thing that can compensate for that, is this.”
I frowned. “Summer, that’s not… I’m not expecting….”
“Not my virginity,” she clarified, “but the gift of innocence. My innocence. It’s yours. You are the only person who deserves it.”
She kissed me again, not waiting for my permission now, but demanding it. She deepened it immediately, her hands sliding between us to cup my erection, rubbing against it.
I groaned and, unable to stop myself, my hands went to her hips, squeezing them tight. Holding her there, afraid to let her go.
Shifting my own hips, giving in to the sensation washing over me.
Her lips were soft pillows of silk, pouring heat through my lips, then face and chest. Her breasts pressed against my bare chest, soft and perfect and a thrill rushed through me.
The need to consume growing…
I gripped the back of her neck, fingers digging in, moaning and growling. The animal inside was waking. My need for her growing harsher, fuller, my hips jerking up into her cupped hand.
I wanted to fuck her.
Groaning, I pulled back, my teeth catching her lip to tug it harshly. I was heaving, breathless, frustrated as anger and want warred inside me. ”I can’t,” I growled out, ”We can”t.”
God, why was this so painful?
“I think we can.” Her hands went to her shirt. “You want to fuck me. I want it, too. And I’m going to take what I want.”
“But—that’s—” I tried to get out a coherent sentence.
“Or you think a woman can’t make her own choices?” she said. “I know that”s what the Magnolia is really about.”
“I’m not—” I argued, my eyes moving to her fingers, anticipation filling me slowly, the bottom of the shirt came undone. Up, up, she undid every button. “You know I’m not like them.”
“Then tell me, Rook Undergrove,” Now she was untying the white ribbon, revealing her perfectly peach shaped breasts.
“Craven,” I growled, “that old life is behind me.”
“Fine,” she conceded, “tell me what Rook Craven is like?” She pulled the tie from her neck. The motion left the shirt open, everything sensual about her showing.
“I’m…” I tried again but I was transfixed.
“You’re…?” she asked. Her hands had gone to my wrists, and she was pulling them over my head. Her tits were right in my face.
…right by my mouth…
…I licked my upper lip… the temptation to pull it into my mouth so strong.
“I…” I tried again, and my breath made her nipple perk. I leaned in, brushing my lips over it. It pebbled at my touch. I gave in to temptation, and suckled, pulling it into my mouth. God, she tasted so good.
I couldn’t think.
My mind short circuited.
“I…” I tried to touch her but, my arms wouldn’t move. Suddenly, I realized, she’d tied my wrists to the bed frame.
“I’m not a little bunny any longer, Rook Craven, but a wolf. And now, I own you,” she stared down at me. “So I’m going to take what I want from you.”