I unbuttoned my tunic then removed it, tossing the bloody shirt on the floor so it wouldn’t stain anything else. The wound had already healed over, leaving a small line as a scar. “Not really.”
Stunned, she just stared at me.
“I don’t see why it matters if I’m fucking her or not.”
Her eyes widened at my declaration. “Wow…you’re an asshole.”
“Whether I’m committed to her or not, it’s none of your business. And why would you care?”
“Why would I care? Because I don’t sleep with married men.”
“Not married.”
“Whatever. You still belong to somebody else.”
“I don’t belong to anybody.” Never had. Never would. “And don’t pretend to have this righteous moral compass. That’s not what this is about.”
She stopped in front of me, her arms still crossed over her chest.
“You don’t want me to sleep with anyone else. That’s what this is about.”
Her eyes brightened in anger. “I couldn’t care less—”
“Are you my baby or not?”
She shut her mouth and went still.
“I like a woman who tells me what she wants and how she wants it—so fucking tell me. Stab me with that knife and tell me that you want me all to yourself. Stab me and tell me that you’re my baby and you’re the only woman who gets my dick every night.”
All of her anger drew out of her features. Now she stood there and stared, at a loss for words.
“I speak my mind. I tell it like it is. If there’s something you don’t want to know, you shouldn’t ask, because I’ll tell you the whole goddamn truth with every minor detail. That’s what you get from me. You want to be my baby? Then you better do the same.”
She stared for a long time, all the anger now out of her eyes, a calm serenity on her delicate features. “I’m your baby…”
My body flushed with heat, my skin on fire, my dick hard in my pants.
“And I don’t want to share you.”
I could feel my muscles tighten the same way they did before battle, an intensity that I couldn’t shake until every last foe was dead. I could feel the adrenaline drop into my stomach, feel my heart race like I was running rather than standing still.
I stepped closer to her, seeing the way she drew breath when I came near, the way my proximity affected her, scared her a little bit. With my chin tilted down to regard her and my eyes locked on to hers, I reached for her clothes and started to pull them free. Her shirt moved over her head, her breeches came loose; it all happened while I kept my eyes locked to her face.
She breathed hard like my mouth stole her breath along with her kisses, and her hands went to my breeches to get them loose, her green eyes still on me. Clothes fell to the floor, boots were kicked away, and then I got her on the bed.
I took her at the foot, her ass hanging over the edge, my arms locked behind her knees.
She couldn’t handle all of me, so I always gave her most but not all, but this time, I didn’t hold back. My thrusts were hard, my shaft went deep, and I made her moan and wince at the same time. “Can you handle that?”
Her hands held on to my arms as her nails dug into me, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. “Yes…”
“That’s my baby.”
The fire burned in the hearth at the foot of the bed, filling the room with heat that was almost too much after all the fucking we just did. The sheets were pushed to my waist, and she was all over me, the heat not strong enough to keep her away.
“You never told me who she was.” Her hair was on my shoulder and my chest, her leg tucked between mine under the sheets. Her soft fingertips lightly traced my hard body, following the river between my abs.
“Elora. My sister.”
Her fingers halted on their venture down my stomach. “You never mentioned you had a sister.”
“Because it was never relevant.”
Now she sat up, propping herself up on her elbow. “But you said when you were exiled from Delacroix, it was just the three of you.”
“And it was.”
“Then…where does she come into this story?”
“She was born afterward.”
Her questions stopped, as if it finally made sense to her.
“My half sister.”
“I saw the way you looked at her…like you loved her.”
“And I do.”
“I guess that was why I thought you were married.”
“If I were married, you wouldn’t be here right now.”
“So, you would be faithful to her?”
“If that’s what she wanted.”
“That’s not just a given if you’re married?” she whispered.
“Probably not, since I wouldn’t marry for love.”
“Then why would you marry?”
“Duty.”
Her fingers started to trail down my stomach again. “Your mom is unmarried.”
“She has children. I don’t.”