But I was the only one who got to fuck her.
With her moans muffled by the sheets, her back arched as far as it would go, I fucked her harder than I ever had.
When we were finished, we lay in bed in front of the fire, her body tucked into mine like the sheets and the fire weren’t enough to keep her warm.
I was the only thing that was enough.
Her body was light on top of mine, like rose petals. They weighed nothing, but they smelled like the garden, were soft to the touch. My fingers stroked her soft hair, gently wrapped it around my finger like a string. I could almost fall asleep like this.
Almost.
She released a quiet sigh, the same sound she made when she was on the cusp of drifting off. Her arm gave a gentle tug into my side as she used my chest as a hard pillow.
“Chérie?”
“Hmm?” She opened her eyes, turned her cheek to kiss my hot skin, and then lifted her body to look at me, her makeup a mess, her mascara running like fresh paint on a wet canvas. Her lipstick was smeared as if another color had transferred from the palette. But her appearance was still art to me, perfect in its imperfection, evocative. Every time I looked at her, it resonated deep in my soul.
“I’m leaving tomorrow.”
Her sleepy eyes started to stir, and the gentleness of her relaxed face suddenly hardened. “Leaving? Where are you…?” Her words faded when her mind found the answer before she could finish speaking. “Oh.” Her gaze dropped, her long lashes stretching over her cheeks.
“I’ll be gone for a week. Maybe more.” I didn’t fit my life into a schedule. I gauged my surroundings and reacted to them. Having a schedule implied time was your boss. But in my world, I was the boss.
After she had a moment to process my departure, she looked at me again. “Can I come with you?”
I wished it were because she couldn’t be apart from me, but I knew there was a different reason. Anytime her sister was mentioned, I felt the bones in my jaw work, like a machine without the proper oil to stop the grinding. She’d humiliated me, more than once, and it was obnoxious that she was still a wedge between us. Without her, our lives were perfect. But the second she emerged into our thoughts, Melanie’s loyalty swayed. She pulled away from me. Her eyes turned sad. She couldn’t enjoy the world I’d given to her on a golden platter. Releasing Raven was the best solution, but it would be catastrophic to my reputation. I spared her life twice and then let her go? The guards would be furious. The women would stage a coup. It would be fucking pandemonium. “No.”
Her breaths immediately came out hard and strained. “Please—”
“No.”
“Please. Let me see her—”
I snapped. “When I say no, I mean no. It’s not a negotiation.” My eyes drilled into her face like she was Liam, one of my disobedient men who needed a knife against his throat to be reminded who was in charge.
She couldn’t hold the look and dropped her gaze. “I’m not asking you to let her go. I just want to talk to her—”
“You think I’d let the two of you be alone ever again?” I grabbed her by the neck and forced her gaze on me. “After the stunt you pulled?” My fingers gripped her throat but stopped just before I began to choke her. “You still have no idea what you did to me, do you?”
Her eyes shifted back and forth quickly as she looked into my gaze, pulling her body tight like she wanted to be as small as possible, but never looking at me like she was actually scared. She wasn’t scared of me anymore.
“I had to sit there and wait for my men to return you. But would you return as my chérie? Or as a corpse? What would I have done if I lost you?” I lost my temper and pushed her down to the bed as I got on top of her, holding myself over her, bringing our faces closer together so she could truly grasp how much she’d hurt me. “What would I have done if I’d had to bury you? What would I have done if I’d had to live without you?” I forced myself to let go and get off her. My hands shook because I was so furious. I moved to the edge of the bed and planted my feet on the rug, my hands coming together, my arms resting on my knees. I closed my eyes for a brief moment just to wipe out the images in my head, flashbacks of events that I hadn’t seen, Melanie trying to conquer a storm when I was the only one who could.