Chapter 14 #2
“Now, if you have nothing else to say…” She flashed her eyes warningly. “I will go now and if I never see you again, let us call that a victory.”
She should have opened the door then and stormed out. The only thing that stopped her was the look that Edward still held behind his eyes. He tried so hard to find anger and hurt, but the sadness was there, and he made her see it as if he wanted her to know how he truly felt.
“It was not all lies,” he said, his voice dropping. “I… I am sorry, Celestine…” He looked away with shame. “I should not have… what I said just now…” He winced. “You have found me in a bad place. Forgive me.”
She shook her head. “What do you want, Edward? Are you angry with me? Are you upset? I did as you asked, as we promised.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you attacking me? You know I do not want to marry, just as you know I have no choice. Please…” Her hand was shaking but she reached out and took his hand in hers. He flinched at her touch but did not pull away. “I do not want you to hate me.”
“I could never hate you.”
“Then why?”
“I… I…” Slowly, he forced himself to look at her. Again, the sadness was in his eyes, but it was paired with something else. And that look was one she recognized.
Celestine’s heart caught in her throat when their eyes met and once again she thought it was best if she fled the room. Only, she knew too that she did not have the strength to do so. Not when he fixed her in that look.
“I have been thinking much this week,” Edward began slowly, careful with each word as he continued to look down at her. “I know the promise that we made, just as I know the reason. But what I do not know, what I cannot escape from, is whether we did the right thing.”
“We had no choice,” she said. “You know that.”
“Do I?” His eyes flicked to her lips. “This week, I could not help but feel as if I lost something. And when I saw you tonight, I realized that I did.”
“No…” She shook her head as her heart raced, the excitement building. “You are only saying that because you saw me with Lord Grundon. Your hate for him, that is the reason.”
“Perhaps,” he said. Then, slowly, his other hand moved to the side of her face. “But is that such a bad thing?”
“And what if I say no to Lord Grundon? Lord Ironvale? Everyone? What then? Will you realize that you do not care? That all this was, was jealousy.”
“Maybe,” he said as his hand cupped her face so that she could not look away. He stepped in closer, pushing her against the closed door. “But if it is not, then is that not worth finding out?”
“For you, maybe…” Her body trembled. “But I do not want to be used by you.”
“Just as I do not want to wake up one day and wonder if I made a terrible mistake…” He breathed as he leaned in close so that she felt his warm breath on her lips. “A mistake that there is still time to fix.”
“And what mistake is that?”
“Letting you go.”
His lips were on her before she had time to decide if she wanted them. And then when they found her lips, she knew that she did.
The kiss was like a fire lighting her from the inside.
It rose quickly and swept her body, consuming her completely so that it was all that Celestine could do to keep some semblance of control.
His hand cupped her face, his other squeezed her hand by her side, and their mouths opened as their tongues danced and played.
Edward stepped forward, his large body crushing her against the door.
She lifted her leg slightly, bringing it around his side as if to trap him.
Their kisses became hungry and ravenous, moans escaping them, the sense that the world was about to end so they best taste one another completely before it did.
“I have missed these lips…” Edward moaned between kisses. “I have missed you…”
“You had me,” she said as she leaned her head back so that he could attack her neck.
He did just that, licking and sucking and kissing her bare skin so that it sent ripples of pleasure and heat through her.
“No, I never did…” He growled as his hand slid from her face to the back of her hair.
He grabbed it, pulled back, and she cried out in pleasure as she shut her eyes. “Now, I do.”
“And…” She whimpered as his lips started toward her collarbone. “… what are you going to do with me…”
“Everything.”
Celestine and Edward’s right hands were still wrapped together.
She could not say who moved first, whether it was her or him.
But as Edward sucked her collarbone and pressed his body against hers, his hand moved to her waist, then to her dress, and before she knew what she was doing, her leg lifted and she was guiding his hand between her thighs.
Her thighs trembled and quivered as his hand slipped upwards. A wetness grew between them, buffeted by an intense heat. Her entire body shuddered and shook, and while Celestine knew how wrong this was, she simply did not care.
She wanted this. There was no denying it. All week, she had fought against her feelings, denied them, called herself a liar. But now that she was in Edward’s thrall, she never wanted to leave.
“Edward…” she moaned as she felt his fingers trace her lips. “I… this is not…”
“I told you already…” He started to kiss up her neck again. “I am not letting you go again.”
“But then what… argh,” she whimpered as his fingers pressed against her lips, teasing her, stroking her like a fire he was trying to coax to its full heat. “What will you… oh, God…”
Two fingers slipped inside of her.
Celestine’s eyes widened and she went to cry out, only for Edward’s mouth to smother her. He kissed her intensely and with unbridled passion. He kissed her to shut her up, to tame her, and to let her know that she belonged to him. He kissed her because he could, and because she wanted it.
His fingers slid deep inside of her. Her body seized, tightened, and then relaxed just as he started to curl them. They stroked her walls, and each time that they did, spikes of pleasure the likes of which she had never known swept through her body.
Her knees buckled and she might have collapsed, was Edward not pressed so tight against her.
“You will not marry Lord Grundon,” he growled as he continued to stroke her. Her breathing turned heavy, quick, and he moved his fingers to match. “You will not marry anyone.”
“I have…” She moaned. “No… choice.”
“You always have a choice…” He licked her right ear and then his lips wrapped her earlobe. He tore at it before attacking her neck again.
“I… there is nothing… I cannot…”
It was hard to concentrate. The pleasure that attacked her body was impossible. It built slowly at first, then quickly. It rose higher and higher, toward her heart, her throat, then out her mouth so that she wanted to scream.
“There is one thing…” He pulled back and looked at her.
She forced her eyes open, even as her body rebelled because his fingers worked her with such expertise that she knew what was about to happen, even if she could not say why.
It came on her. It engulfed her. It opened her, then wrapped her, then suffocated her so that she felt as if her chest was being crushed. And then, with a final expert stroke, one that ran the full length of her walls, it hit her right in the heart and the stomach and everywhere…
“Oh… God… Edward…” She shut her eyes.
“Look at me,” he commanded her as she exploded.
She snapped her eyes open. Her mouth was wide, soft moans held back but barely. Her entire body writhed from the pleasure, and she thought her heart might literally give out.
“Marry me,” he said as he looked at her, his fingers still inside of her, still owning her.
“Wh… what?” she breathed.
“Marry me,” he said again with a growl. “Marry me to save yourself. Marry me so that nobody else can. Marry me because…” Gently, he pulled his fingers from her. She gasped, lurched forward, and then fell back against the door as her body spasmed. “Marry because it is what you want.”
She almost said no, just because she thought that she should. Her body still ran hot, her breathing was heavy, but it started to calm. Her thoughts returned in pieces, the realization of what she had just done and with whom.
Say no… this is wrong…
Then Edward brought his fingers to his mouth, licked them slowly as he made intense eye contact. He tasted her, proving to her once and for all that he wanted her as she did him.
“Yes,” she said, caught in the moment, not sure if it was right but knowing that she was not strong enough to say no. “I will marry you.”