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“This is nice.” Us is what I meant. Being in each other’s company without the tension of…everything.
It was my instinct to do it now, but Ruben’s little gesture of taking over made me feel…quite good actually.
Ruben put both hands on my waist and guided me off to the left, then pulled me to a stop.
He stroked his thumb along my hip where he lightly held onto me. My breathing quickened, my body luxuriating in his slight touch. It felt familiar and new at the same time. I was sure he was testing the waters to see if I might reject him. I didn’t want to. Not even a little, even though I still wasn’t sure if this was the wisest course. And yet, it felt so right.
“Still spry for my years, darling,” he teased. “Don’t worry. I can still handle a young one like you.” Oh, I knew he could. Squirming uncomfortably, I ignored the smirk on his face
“Sometimes, I regret being the villain.” “You’re not the villain,” I assured him. But that was all I could manage to say under the weight of his hopeful gaze, wanting more from me in that moment. “Sometimes, I was,” he corrected.
but nothing, not one fantastic thing today, compared to the joust. To hear Jules tell me she was rooting for the villain after I professed to feel like one sometimes.
She couldn’t change who she was and where she was in that pivotal time in her life, and I couldn’t see past my own desires and rage and hurt to see if we could mend it.
Giving her time had been the right thing because I had needed the space, too. To figure out exactly where I went wrong and how to alter the outcome in the future.
Her pulse fluttered in her throat, thrumming in the air and against my chest where I pressed her to mine. It was a siren song to my blood, and I couldn’t keep my fangs from descending. It slayed me to the heart to have her in my arms, looking up at me with a soft sweetness.
She hadn’t once questioned my motives, which meant she understood them well. She also hadn’t protested, so that meant she was on board. Or, at least, that’s what I wanted to verify.
“Speak of this now?” “Where’s my brave girl?” My timbre was low and caressing. “Hiding,” she admitted freely.
day long to push you to the ground, mount you on all fours, and fuck you like an animal? So I can be inside the only woman who was ever meant for me. Till you remember what we’ve both been missing and have been for twelve long fucking years.”
“You don’t have to tell me what we’ve lost,” she snapped, eyes shimmering pools by the torchlight. “I’m well aware.”
“I never slept with him,” she hissed back. “And that was ten years ago, anyway.” Time made no goddamn difference when it came to this.
“That”—she glanced away guiltily— “that was a mistake.” “You’re fucking right it was a mistake.”
“There is one thing you cannot ever do again,” I growled, trying to rein in my temper, “and that is question my loyalty. There has been no one since you. And never will be again. No one.”
“But we’d broken up,” she whispered, panic seeping into her gaze. “That makes no difference to my hardened heart. Or my fucking immortal soul.”
She shook her head, refusing to look at me, her expression tight. Fucking hell. I’d ruined the whole night for her. I should’ve waited and brought this up tomorrow. This wasn’t what I intended. “Please,” she whispered, still avoiding my gaze. Fuck. What had I done?
Yes, I wanted to punish her for taking a lover, if even for a short span of time, because I hadn’t let a woman touch me intimately since she had. She was the only woman with the right.
I wanted to be noble, to obey her wishes, and telling her that she was my true mate—my soulmate, my bloodmate—would’ve terrified her even more and sent her running even farther from me.
She’d be ours again soon enough. She had to be.
He’d never taken another lover? Not in twelve fucking years?! It was unfathomable. For a vampire, anyway. They were notoriously lusty and sexual. According to legend and lore, there were many who wouldn’t even drink blood without fucking at the same time. Vampires. Their blood ran hot, their appetites hotter.
Yet Ruben had deprived himself for all that time. I had not.
He finally turned to me. “I’m here, Juliana. I’ll protect you.” The way he said it and the wicked gleam in his eyes made me shiver.
And I’d never had a vampire carry me before.” “And never will,” he stated emphatically. Ignoring his possessive tone,
“You may need it, Juliana, and I know you don’t want my bite. I collected the toxin just in case.”
This was nothing new. Me jerking myself to fantasies of her. I’d done it hundreds of times, but never had she been in the next room.
Like she used to. Though her typical demeanor was cool and aloof, I knew what made her cheeks flush with passion, what her cries of ecstasy and desperate pleas, begging to reach her peak, sounded like.
Me. I did that to her. And I wanted to do it again. So fucking badly.
She was almost ready. But I had to make sure to control my cock. I was too close now, and I wasn’t going to spook my prey at this point. Which was why when my dick jerked to life again at the thought of curling behind her, I started to stroke myself once more. One more time and I could curl into bed with her and refrain from touching her. So I did.
To my horror, I also noticed that my hand wasn’t just wrapped around his waist. It was tucked underneath his T-shirt, pressed flat against his chiseled abdomen. I was the one who’d warned him to keep his hands to himself, and here I was clinging to him like a damn koala bear.
not wanting him to realize I’d basically groped him in his sleep.
“Did you sleep well?” he asked as he passed behind me. “I did.” “I thought so.” My pulse raced. “What do you mean by that?” I asked nonchalantly.
“But once you rolled over and snuggled against me, cuddling rather close, actually, you stopped.” Heat flared straight up my neck and into my cheeks. I couldn’t deny what I knew was true. “Sorry about that,” I mumbled. He grinned wider. “I’m not.”
The flame of his heart? That was how he saw me. Tears pricked my eyes. I once had believed he’d moved on and was seeing other women. I’d convinced myself of this so that I wouldn’t think about him over the years. I actually still believed this until yesterday. But one thing Ruben was not was a liar.
“More to the point, Juliana, it’s inevitable.”
That was one thing I knew about the man standing protectively to my left. He was good at masking his feelings, hiding behind a façade of indifference or coldness, but when he showed emotion of any kind, it was true to the core.
“I never thought that,” I added softly. “And I still don’t.”
“You don’t think blood-drinking is monstrous?” he asked silkily, his gaze anything but angry. Aggressive, yes, but not angry. More like hungry. “No,” I answered honestly.
“Are you ogling my throat, Ruben?” For seconds, he let his attention linger with a heated caress before trekking his way back up to meet my gaze. It was quite slow, the smile that curled sweetly until it met his eyes that were gleaming with wayward desires.
How in the hell was I supposed to focus with Jules in that goddamn dress she was wearing? Especially with all the hungry vampires in this house slavering over her like starved dogs.
I had to force myself to keep my heartbeat steady rather than get excited about how hot my petite and powerful witch was.
Now he wasn’t dismissing her because of her sex but because of her age.
Jules and I were a force to be reckoned with, and though they may not see her as such yet, I’d make damn sure we didn’t lose this war before we’d even gotten started.
And here was my own boyfriend dismissing me in front of his men, and he hadn’t even realized what he’d done.
“I won’t bite you, Jules. I fucking swear it.” “I can’t take that chance.” He had no idea how he tempted me to give up everything.
“You’re a goddamn liar, sweetheart, if you think you can walk away from me, from us, from what we have, and not bear the bloody fucking bruise forever.” “Ruben.” Tears streamed down my cheeks.
“There’s so much for me to lose.” “And nothing to gain,” he added bitterly. His voice was softer now but rough with emotion. Painful acceptance.
There was a long, dreadful pause as he studied me carefully, as if putting every curve and line of my face to memory. As if he’d never look upon me again. I suppose in a way, as a couple, this was the last time.
