“Lucien.”
“Eternity,” he murmured against my lips then his head slanted, his mouth claimed mine, our tongues dueled and his thrusts became savage. Then I was on my back in the bed taking the force of him between my legs and it was pure brutal beauty.
His mouth broke from mine, he buried his face in my neck as he buried his c**k in me and I listened to the power of his groan.
I gave him that. Me. Just who I was. All that I was. I gave him that. I made him feel that beauty. My beauty was what he saw.
I loved that.
He barely finished before he rolled to his back, taking me with him, keeping himself a part of me. When he settled, one strong arm held me tight around my back and his other hand in my hair pressed my face in my throat.
“Christ, I’m sorry, Leah.”
I blinked at his throat.
These were words I didn’t expect to hear.
I lifted my head to look down at him.
Wow. He even looked sorry.
“You’re sorry?” I asked.
“Yes, sweetling,” he replied gently, his black eyes filled with remorse, his hand sliding out of my hair to cup my cheek.
“For what?”
“For taking you that hard.”
Was he serious?”
“Uh, darling, it seems you might have missed this but I liked it,” I informed him.
His thumb slid along my cheek as his eyes moved over my face.
Then his eyes came back to mine and he murmured, “You aren’t lying.”
“Why would I lie about that?”
“Because that would be what I wanted to hear.”
It was my turn for my eyes to move over his face.
Cautiously, I asked, “Do people tell you what you want to hear often?”
“Except for Cosmo, Teffie and occasionally others, always.”
I felt my lips part and my eyes grow wide.
Whoa. I didn’t know what to do with that.
“Seriously?” I asked in amazement, the shadow moved out of his handsome face and he grinned.
“Seriously,” he answered.
“I don’t know if that’s cool or if that would suck,” I shared.
“The latter,” Lucien clarified.
I tipped my head to the side even as I dipped it closer to his and I grinned before saying, “I don’t know. I think it would be cool to have everyone tell me what I want to hear. Like, ‘Leah, your butt absolutely does not look big in that.’ And, ‘Oh no, this hollandaise sauce isn’t runny and disgusting. It tastes great.’ Stuff like that.”
Lucien’s hand left my face so that arm could also wrap tight around me and his h*ps adjusted slightly so he slid out of me as he grinned.
Then he stated, “For the record, your ass never looks big in anything.”
“Good to know,” I said through my smile.
“But please, don’t attempt hollandaise sauce.”
I burst out laughing and as I was doing it, Lucien rolled me to my back. We ended with his torso on mine but most of his weight on a forearm in the bed beside me. I was still giggling and although Lucien was smiling a beautiful smile, he wasn’t laughing. He was watching and he was doing it like he liked what he saw.
And I liked that.
“All right, darling,” I replied. “I won’t attempt hollandaise sauce. But I’ll inform you that this is mostly because I already have about seven thousand times. I’ve always ruined it so I know that’s a road I shouldn’t go down.”
“This is good,” he muttered, his eyes holding humor.
“But I make no such assurances about béarnaise sauce. I think I could kick some béarnaise ass.”
Lucien kept muttering as his eyes kept dancing when he said, “Heaven help me.”
“Just saying,” I muttered back.
He held my eyes, his still lit with amusement then I watched the amusement die and he said quietly, “We must talk.”
I sighed. Then I replied, “I know,” and finished, “Cressida.”
His head jerked slightly and he asked, “Cressida?”
“Darling, I have to say, and please, no offense but I’m concerned you’re into me considering the two other women that have been in your life that I’ve met. Am I like them?”
“Not in any way,” he stated firmly.
Interesting.
“Then why did you pick them?” I asked.
“I’m not certain you want to know.”
I totally did.
“Call me crazy but I do.”
“Then I’ll amend my response,” Lucien returned. “I’m not certain I want to tell you because, having you, I’m no longer certain why I chose them.”
Oh my God.
That was sweet.
“Lucien,” I whispered.
Lucien changed the subject. “But that isn’t what we need to talk about.”
I nodded and said, “The table thing.”
Lucien’s brows drew together. “Pardon?”
I fluttered my hand in the air and explained, “The table thing. I saw it. When you seated me at the foot everyone went kind of weird. What was that?”
“Tradition,” Lucien answered. “You’re a mortal and you were amongst vampires. My mother would normally take the foot.”
I didn’t think that was good.
“Then why’d you seat me there?”
“Because it’s your house, your place and my seating you there was my way of telling them they should respect you in it. Unfortunately, even this did not deter Cressida and my father from behaving badly.”
He was right about that.
Still.
“I hope your mother wasn’t offended,” I whispered.
“She understood why I did it and therefore she wasn’t.”
Well, that was good.
Lucien went on, “That also isn’t what we need to talk about.”
Again I nodded and stated, “The Council.”
“Leah –” he started but I interrupted him.
“You still haven’t told me about what happened and I’d like to know.”
His eyes moved over my face again and he noted, “You’re worried.”
“I told you I was but that was then, only the morning after. Now I’ve had two days of inexplicably being under guard at your demand, something else you haven’t explained. And, I should tell you, I kind of figured it out that I don’t have a guard to stop me from sleeping without you close. Then there was both our families descending unexpectedly. Not to mention lots of hot sex. But bottom line, time has passed. So before I was worried. Now I’m worried.”