She wasn’t admitting to anything!
“Stubborn,” he whispered as he leaned back on his heels, taking his touch with him. His hands
tugged at the waist of his silk pants, and his cock sprang out. “You’re going to suck my cock now. And
only when I’m about to come will I fuck you.”
Had she even moved? Her body reacted so quickly. She was on her hands and knees, taking him
deep into her mouth.
His fingers caught in her hair and he thrust to the back of her throat, forcing her to take quite a bit of him. She was lost in a white haze of passion, determined to bring him more pleasure than any other
woman—or man—ever could.
“You see, Evelyn,” she vaguely heard him whisper over her head as she worked his flesh. “I set the
conditions, and you fight me almost every time because you’re so used to fighting for every scrap of
pleasure you have in this world. You have more self-discipline than any woman I know, and when I
take you to that place of surrender and you give over, you do so beautifully. Never mistake yielding
for weakness. Your resilience, your choice in the matter, is what makes your surrender so priceless. I
may strip away your boundaries, but true courage comes when you bare all in the face of our love.”
She stilled and released him. Slowly, she sat up, his words playing again and again in her mind. All
else faded away until the need to surrender was all that remained. She had the choice. She finally understood.
She met his gaze and whispered, “Please, Lucian, take me.”
He toppled her to the bed and they kissed madly, laughing and moaning as he filled her. His
physical potency blanketed her as the emotional sense of strength he stimulated inside of her
exploded. He erased every questioning doubt she’d entertained over the past two hours as his desire
for her and her alone stifled every insecurity and satisfied every need she had.
His mouth dragged over her flesh as he praised her for being exactly who she was and vowed to
always be what she needed. “I love you, Evelyn. Only you. Forever.”
“I love you too.”
It was in that moment, as he took her without apology, that she embraced a certain kind of oneness
he often provoked in her and she realized, while not everyone worked under this sort of sexual
dynamic, they did.
He made sense of her and she did the same for him. They were two parts of the same twisted whole.
She knew in that moment he was her future, and she recalled the vision she’d had of a young boy
running to her, resembling both her and Lucian. She was going to marry him someday, and perhaps he
loved her just enough to wait until she was ready to face those fears of letting go as well.
Chapter 17
Falling In
By mid-June the city was sweltering. If leaving the hotel could be avoided, it was. Yet, Evelyn
made a point to return to her own apartment at least once a week. She didn’t know why she did this,
perhaps it was a needed reminder to both her and Lucian that she still stood apart from them and held a very fundamental part of her.
He grumbled when she made excuses to go home, and she usually returned by way of Dugan once
Lucian’s patience ran out. But he never forbade her this private space and time, and she loved him all
the more for granting her that significant escape. However, as time went on, she realized her
apartment was not as magnificent as she’d once thought. It was shelter, and with that shelter came
pride, but after a few hours wandering around the small vacant space, she’d soon begin to miss him.
During those quiet moments she did find time to contemplate her career. She wasn’t lying when she
told Lucian she didn’t know what she wanted to do. Time would tell. As Jason taught her language arts
he also broached other subjects. Her passions were still budding and eventually she’d choose a
specific future to chase. Until then, she decided Lucian was right. She was better off focusing on her
studies rather than working part time trying to make ends meet when he’d already met all her needs.
At the condo, even when he wasn’t there, he was. His scent was on the furniture. His personal items
scattered throughout wore his mark. She realized she was beginning to wear the same mark. Lucian
was simply so overwhelming he left fingerprints everywhere he touched. His fingerprints, she
suspected, were taking shape on her soul.
Evelyn found it interesting that this was the first summer she’d actually held on to all of her
belongings. Usually she was forced to stash a great deal of her things because lugging them around in
the heat became unbearable, but this year all of her stuff was safely put away in closets and drawers.
When her bank statements showed up at the condo, she was grateful she’d never gone through the