Chapter 21 #3
“What are you going to do about it?” Her lips twitched, unable to suppress her joy. And she shouldn’t. Nothing about her needed to be suppressed.
“Follow you.” I took another step forward.
“Into the dark?”
“Into the dark,” I repeated. “Into flames. Into a horde of bloodthirsty monsters. Into eternity. You name it.”
She glanced to a door on her left that led outside. “And what if I run out that door?”
“I’ll chase you.”
She lifted her chin, adorably defiant. “You won’t catch me.”
A low growl rumbled out of my chest from somewhere deep, primal, and awoken only by her. I let the door swing shut, and we were engulfed in darkness. “Oh, I think I’ll catch you, Ella.”
“No. I’m very fast.”
“I’m faster. And I wouldn’t stop.”
I heard her scoff. “You’d stop. I think you’d find your limit.”
Wrong. And we weren’t talking about a game of cat and mouse anymore. I closed the distance between us, wrapping a hand around her waist to keep her from hitting the wall. Bodies flush together, I breathed in her intoxicating sweetness and whispered, “I have no limit when it comes to you.”
“You’re crazy.” But she brushed her lips against mine. I suppressed a groan, finding her chin in the dark and firmly fastening it between my fingers.
“Fuck. You have no idea,” I exhaled before crushing my mouth to hers.
Our moans filled the cramped space. Her hands went straight to my hair, intertwining her fingers, gripping me, anchoring her against my body. My tongue darted out to trace her bottom lip. She opened for me—so willing and pliant and warm. I craved her trust and submission like a drug.
A strike of fear nagged at the back of my mind. What could have happened earlier, had I not been in this tavern to fend off lecherous men who might follow her into vacant hallways or closets where it was far, far easy for her to be cornered?
“Ella.” Before we could lose ourselves in one another, I withdrew and brushed my lips along the edge of her ear, her jaw, until I reached her chin and kissed her there. “No more running into closets alone.”
She half panted, half laughed against my mouth. “I’ve been hiding in closets all my life. They’re quiet.” Her arms wrapped around my waist. “It’s wonderful.”
“Someone could follow you.”
“Like you followed me?”
I released an exasperated sigh and stole a kiss. “All right. No more running into closets when there are more than three dozen men nearby who would happily surrender their life savings for five minutes alone with you.”
“Three dozen sounds like an exaggeration.”
“Believe me, it’s not,” I grumbled. “If anything, it’s an understatement.”
She let out a quiet laugh, kissed my stubbled chin, then whispered, “I want you to stay with me tonight.”
I froze, my lips buried in her neck. Had that half glass of wine already gone to her head?
“Come home with me,” she added breathlessly.
I groaned, tensing to keep myself from busting in my fucking pants just from the sound of those four words on her tongue. I’d spent a fair bit of time dreaming up scenarios with my hand wrapped around my cock. Her beneath me, writhing under my touch. Sliding inside her while I lay behind her and?—
“Sneak in through the servants’ quarters,” she continued. “The north entrance. It’s late, if you time it right, no one will pay you any mind.” She brushed my jaw with her thumb. “Spend the night with me.”
She’s not ready. She’s not ready. She’s not ready.
That thought hit me like relentless, icy pellets in the middle of a hailstorm.
I realized I did have a limit: doing anything that would hurt her. Doing anything that would make her feel used or uneasy or anything unlike the beautiful, perfect, priceless young woman she was.
“Ella, I love you.” And I hated myself for what I was about to say, but it was what she needed. “But I’m not making love to you tonight.”
It sounded odd coming out of my mouth. Making love. Before her, I’d never considered sex as anything but fucking driven by carnal desire.
And yet here I was, spending most of my time thinking about sinking inside her while reminding her how perfect, beautiful, and divine she was. Capturing her lips in mine and savoring every breath, every whimper, every moan she made while giving her the bliss she deserved.
Fuck, the things I could show her. I could make her forget every name in this world but mine, and she’d scream it until her throat was hoarse.
One day, I’d make her forget her burdens with a flick of my tongue.
I would be the man to show her. And then no one else, ever again, for the rest of our lives.
“I know.” She gently squeezed my hands. “But I still want you with me.”
I carefully brushed my thumb over her throat and reveled in how she let out a tiny whimper, so dangerously and addictively responsive. I silently thanked the gods that she also felt she wasn’t ready, because if she kept asking me, I wasn’t sure how many more times I could say no.
“I’ll stay as long as you’ll have me.”
She smiled up at me. This would be heaven and hell all at once, but I would do anything she asked and give her anything she wanted.
My heart. Pleasure. The ring in my pocket.
After all, I already planned on forever.