It was raw and it was coarse, but it was completely honest. His need for her flowed from his body to hers as his heart beat into her back. However she had imagined love, it was not this. This was not something soft and delicate, tied up in flowers and bows. This was wild and honest, durable and true. He loved her, and when his feelings poured out of him like this, it was so potent there was no denying they were real.
His breath beat at her shoulder. Her heart pounded into the bedding. He could be rough with her. She wouldn’t break, and over time he had learned that. She smiled into the rumpled bedding as her body found contentment in this beautiful moment.
“You, Lucian. Only you.”
She gasped as he suddenly withdrew completely. Her body was lifted and flipped. Again, she was lying on her back. His hips pressed between hers and his cock slid home. Belly to belly, they each sobbed at the unbelievable pleasure of being connected in such an elemental manner. Anyone could fuck, but she found it hard to believe many people knew what this felt like.
The blindfold was stripped from her eyes and she blinked into the shadowy darkness of the room.
“Look at me.”
Lashes fluttering, she focused on the dark silhouette above her. As Lucian’s messy black hair came into focus and his dark eyes bored into her, she had the wonderful sense of coming home. There was no need to search for others. They were alone. “I knew it was you,” she whispered with a smile.
“Always me, Evelyn. No one else.” His lips crashed down over hers and he delivered the most passionate kiss of her life. “I missed you today.”
“I missed you too.” Her knees drew up and cradled his hips. Fingers tugged at the silk tied to her wrists, and the fabric gave way. She fisted her fingers in the air, forcing the blood back into them, then reached for him.
Warm, damp muscle filled her grip as she dragged her nails over his broad shoulders. Grasping his arms, she stared at him. The words were there, but she couldn’t say them. Fear that they might slip out had her leaning up to kiss him.
The urgency eased, but their need only grew. Slow intensity guided them. Her hands explored his body, gripped his neck, tugged at his hair. She latched her leg over his hip, ground her heel into his thigh, and they melded together as if they could somehow pass through each other.
Broad hands spanned her back, lifted her closer as he thrust deep. His strokes, now measured, were delivered in a way that said never forget me.
She never would.
“I love you, Evelyn.”
Still unable to say the words, she pressed her face into his strong chest, gripped him with all the need and affection she had for him, the ever-present, all-consuming drive to be by him, with him, and showed her love the best she knew how.
Chapter 3
Breakfast of Champions
Evelyn’s drowsy mind told her it wasn’t quite morning before she opened her eyes. Something had awoken her. Soft sheets twisted over her body cushioned with pockets of heat. She stretched and instinctively reached for Lucian. When her hand came into contact with cooling emptiness, her eyes opened.
Frowning into the dark, she listened. In her mind, she saw him sitting in his chair, watching the early morning stillness just before daybreak crept in.
There is a quiet to night that only comes during the brief moment when the world is mostly asleep. Taxis are hidden away and even the nightingales have flown home. In a city like Folsom, these moments are fleeting and rare, yet Lucian seemed gifted in capturing them. As weightless as wishes drawn into a net, he somehow always knew exactly when these moments drifted by. They were as delicate as an untouched bed of new-fallen snow, and Lucian seemed to catch every single one before the world shattered that glimpse of quiet peace.
The condo was silent. She slid from their bed, cool marble pressing into her feet. Her arms slipped into her robe. Padding softly into the common area of the suite, she stilled at the edge of the hall. Lucian sat in his desk chair just as she expected him to be, posture at ease, ankles crossed, fingers steepled beneath his chin, facing the window.
The blackness of early morning showed his reflection in the glass. With the ease of sand falling through an hourglass, black faded into deep purple hues. He appeared deep in thought. She smiled, enjoying the sight of her intense, beautiful man.
Even beneath the frown rippling his brow, he was incredibly handsome. His bare chest was naturally muscled. His legs, clad in only black silk lounge pants, were strong and long.
Lucian often awoke at odd hours of the night. It wasn’t uncommon to find him there, contemplating one business deal or another. Evelyn wasn’t much help in that department. Maybe someday she could be. Right now she was working on learning to read, so that day was far off.