“No.” He shook his head. “I can’t enjoy the moment until I know that you understand. I’m not like my brother or my father. I’m not a part of their world.”
My stomach flipped a somersault at his words. Was he trying to convince me to stay? I knew that was impossible.
Or was it?
“You’re nothing like your brother,” I told him.
He nodded. “Valeria, I won’t let you marry him.”
“I don’t want to marry him.”
“Whatever it takes, I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen.” He slid forward and I gasped, making him grin. “It won’t happen,” he repeated, so quietly I almost couldn’t hear the words.
He brought his cheek down beside mine, turning away from me slightly, and then sliding his big hands down my butt cheeks to grab me tighter as he drove into me. I ran my hands down his now sweaty back, and inhaled his scent, letting myself get lost in the strength of his body and the richness of his smell. Turning my head slightly, I nibbled his ear lobe. His body responded instantly with a shiver…and a new intensity to his thrusts.
With that change of speed and angle, the room began to spin.
“Oh my god,” I gasped, arching my head back into the pillows.
That tell-tale quiver of my body was starting now, but from the inside out. I’d never experienced any feeling like it. It was pure, complete, and mind-spinning bliss.
“Give me what’s mine,” he growled into my ear.
And I did, oh I did.
I let myself be swept away once more by his power, coming hard and powerfully on his cock, gripping it with all my might as I bit down savagely into his shoulder, sobbing out in pleasure as I came.
The orgasm went on and on, wave after wave, until finally my thighs were shaking and I was so sweaty that my skin was slick against his.
Once he had decided that I’d had enough, he slowed his rhythm and pulled out of me. I responded with a spoiled little whine.
“Don’t be a brat,” he said, under his breath, smiling all the time. “Now get up.” He snapped his fingers and rolled off of me, laying back luxuriously on the pillows in the middle of the bed. I popped up on my shoulder.
The last thing in the world I wanted to do was leave that bed.
“Get up and do what?”
“Get up and don’t fucking argue,” he said.
I was angry at being bossed around like this, and felt a little bit whiplashed as well.
Sometimes I pleased him. Sometimes I frustrated him.
It was hard for me to anticipate just what he’d want and when, even from instant to instant.
And that, I realized as I rolled out of bed, standing on shaking legs, was exactly the point.
“Stay there. Keep your back to me. Put your hands by your sides, fingertips to your thighs.”
For one instant, one half-second, I thought about disobeying him—about putting my hands on my hips and turning right around.
But the idea of that, of displeasing him, it made my heart sink. And so, I obeyed, wordlessly, soundlessly, and stood there in the dark exactly as he had asked.
I never, ever, liked being told what to do, and yet every time I obeyed him and pleased him, I was filled with the most exhilarating rush.
I had long prided myself on my competence and confidence; but with a glance, he stripped that away from me, leaving me entirely naked, body and soul. And in my total nakedness I had to admit the truth to myself: I wanted to please him.
Desperately. Completely.
The sound of a flint lighting an oil lamp broke up my thoughts, and slowly the room filled with soft warm light. I wanted so badly to turn and look at him, but I knew better.
Behind me, I heard the sound of running water. And it took every single fiber of my being to keep myself from turning around.
At my parents’ castle, there were no such luxuries, and likely wouldn’t be in my lifetime. But here, in this mysterious manor house that Vasile had at his disposal, there were indoor swimming pools and central heating and running water and God knows what else.
I listened as Vasile moved around behind me, and then I followed his footsteps around the bed. Finally, he came around in front of me. In his hand he held a damp white cotton towel.
“I’m going to get you cleaned up,” he said.
I looked down at my thighs, at the sticky, bloody mess all over them.
“I can do it,” I said, an embarrassed rush flushing my body. “You don’t need to…”
He shot a warning glare at me. “Valeria. I do. I need to.”
“Okay,” I said, blinking on a breath trying to steady myself for what was about to come.
He crouched down slightly in front of me, placing a gentle kiss on my tender nipple, and then with a care and patience that surprised me, he cleaned the blood and my dried juices from my skin.
Once he was finished, he tossed the towel aside and placed his hands on my hips. He kissed me once, slow and deep, but before I could wrap my arms around him in response, he turned me around so my back was facing him, and marched me towards the bed.
“Get on your knees,” he said.
I glanced back at him as I planted my hands and did as he said. I had never felt so sexy in my life as I did then; as I dropped the small of my back slightly, in an almost feline stretch, I felt my pussy part for him and my ass too.
He let out a low growl and dragged his massive palm down his mouth. With his other hand, he stroked himself. Still hard, standing thick and tall, making me quiver at the thought of what was coming. At the base, there was a hint of my maiden blood, which I found so intensely erotic that it made my eyes flutter shut.
“Don’t take your eyes off me,” he said. I forced my eyes open and nodded back at him, gripping the sheet in my fists. The low light of the oil lamp showed off the deep valleys and crevices of the musculature of his torso.
“You’re beautiful,” I whispered.
He glanced away from me then, smiling a little, ever-so-briefly embarrassed with the compliment.
In that moment, I really recognized just how different from his brother he was. This was not some brutal, awful man.
Aggressive, yes.
Powerful, of course.
Intimidating, no doubt.
But he had a good, kind heart in that brawny body of his. The simplest compliment made him shy away. Somehow, some way, I knew it in my soul that I could trust him, and that given the chance, I would willingly and freely give my heart to him. Not just my body but all of me.
I was losing my grip. Letting emotion and lust take over. I must stay logical. I must stick to the plan.
But soon enough, he had refocused on the business at hand, and he parted my folds with the tip of his cock. He gripped my hips from behind and met my eyes. Then, in a slow but greedy thrust, he took me from behind and I dropped my head on a gasp.
As he reached the limit of my depths, I sucked in a steadying breath, but it felt so good that I was frozen like that, breathless and hollowed out with pleasure and surprise.
As he pulled me even further into him, he let his hands trail down to the cleft of my buttocks, rubbing the round domes before, unexpectedly, he hit me with a sharp spank. That sting of pain on my backside was just what I needed to exhale again.
Taking my hips forcefully in his hands, he drove into me again and again. Every drive was more mind-blowing than the last. It felt so good it was almost unbearable.
Almost painful.
Almost too much.
Almost.
“Vasile,” I gasped as he pounded me into dizziness, “I don’t know if I can take you this way…”
“You can take it,” he snarled, teasing and intense.
He filled me with another drive and another. I was at my breaking point, right there on the razor’s edge between pleasure and pain.
I didn’t want him to stop, I couldn’t ask him to stop. And so, I breathed into the pain, into the bliss, into the pleasure and the spinning room.
/> “Good girl,” he said, as he felt me relax. “That’s how you take this cock. That’s exactly how you take it. Now fucking beg me. Beg me for my cum. Beg me to fill you.”
When I opened my mouth to speak, all that came out was a primal, bestial, dirty scream.
“Fuck yes,” he roared as he fucked me harder and harder still. The sounds of slapping flesh and primal grunts filled the room.
“Please,” I said. “Vasile,please. Please. Please, pleeeeeease,” I begged. “I need it. I want it.”
“But do you fucking deserve it?” he asked, with another drive so savage that it slammed the big old mahogany headboard against the plaster with a whack at the same time he brought his hand down again on my rear end, sending a wave of heat and an explosion of pain outward.
I could barely take it anymore. He was so big; I was so inexperienced. My world was now nothing but my pussy and his cock and I didn’t know which way was up or down. But I desperately wanted that seed. I desperately wanted to own his pleasure as he had owned mine. And so I plumbed my own depths for my darkness and fury.
In his hands, I let myself go.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I screamed with each savage thrust the vulgarity feeling so right. “Vasile, please!” And as I screamed that final please, I clenched down on his cock with all my might, willing him with my entire body to release inside me.
And just like that, he was pulsing his seed into my womb, roaring and thrusting and growling my name.
Such an animal. Such a beast.
I was dripping with him.
With his cum.
Oh my God.
What had I done?
We lay tangled up together in his bed for a little while, but as soon as I felt his breathing become more regular and steadier, I began to slip out from his embrace.
What we had just done was so powerful, so life-altering, that I wanted the time and space to appreciate it without the reminder of what I knew was most likely true—I was just the next in a long line of lovers.
He was my first, but as for him? I studied his magnificent body, his half-flaccid cock… I was certain I was just one of many.
What we’d done meant something to me, and I was unwilling to let him show me that it meant nothing to him. He’d told me otherwise, but in my mind, his words were twisted into a intricate game he must be playing with me. If I left first, I’d be able to get back some of the control that I had handed over so readily.
Re-center my focus on the plan. Stop getting lost in this intoxicating man.
Carefully, I moved his massive arm off of me and let my legs slide off the bed. The wood floor was chilly, but much warmer than what I was used to at my parents’ estate. I sat there for a moment, blinking off my sleepiness, and then walked softly to where my half-shredded nightdress lay on the floor.
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Vasile growled, his voice doubly dark and deep from sleep.
I froze with the soft white fabric dangling from my hooked finger and looked back at him. He had one eye open, his hair a mess, and he was looking at me with such dreamy warmth that my words got caught in my throat.
“I was…”
He narrowed his eyes, making his long lashes nearly dust his rugged cheeks. He lifted up the blanket and sheets to make a space for me and raised his eyebrow.
“Get your ass back in bed and I’ll pretend you didn’t just try to sneak out. Deal?”
A pulse of desire radiated out from between my legs at the sound of his voice.
So much for taking control of the situation.
Sighing, I padded back to the bed and crawled in beside him. He pulled me up against his body, spooning me and enveloping me with his warmth and strength. He crossed his thick forearms over my chest and shifted his hips slightly so that his cock rested between my thighs.
I let my body relax into his as I looked out the mullioned windows through half-closed lids. The dawn light was breaking over the hills, casting long shadows from the hardy evergreens that grew in our harsh climate.
But as the light grew brighter, the real consequence of what I had done in the heat of all that passion began to dawn on me, too.
There were things I had not considered in my so-called plan.
I turned my head to look into Vasile’s eyes, and whispered, “He’ll kill me if he finds out…”
Vasile opened his eyes slowly, inhaling and clearing his throat. He focused on me, watching me carefully. I watched a series of emotions pass through his eyes. Fear, concern, acceptance… and finally hard, dark, ferocious determination.
“That motherfucker won’t lay a hand on you,” Vasile growled. “You have my word. Whatever it fucking takes, I will keep you safe.”
He pulled me closer and nestled his cheek against mine.
His body was tense for a long while, and I could feel the pounding of his heart against my back. I shivered even nestled next to Vasile’s warmth.
How far would he go to protect me?
How far was too far when it came to Vasile Greengallow?
As sleep finally took me, I willed myself to dream of a simple life. A life where girl’s were not used as pawns in the games men played.
A life where my destiny was my own.
A life where I choose love.
And love chose me.
Chapter 12
Vasile
Her words haunted my sleep. He’ll kill me…
Not because I was scared, but because she was.
I pulled her closer, sliding my hand down her body to pull her hips tighter against mine.
I didn’t care what Petre thought of me, or what he intended to do to me for what we’d just done. In fact, if I was being honest with myself, I took a certain perverse pleasure in knowing that this would anger him.
Not hurt him. Because you would need a heart for that.
Anger him.
He wasn’t the sort of person that loved, so he wasn’t the sort of person that could feel loss. But he would be mad as a box of gunpowder in a furnace. When gunpowder explodes, there’s a real chance that someone nearby is going to lose a limb.
Or worse.
I forced my eyes closed and inhaled her scent. It ran through me like a drug, the first hit and I was addicted and I know already, I’ll never recover.
In her hair, all messy from sweat and fucking, I smelled her perfume, and also the leftover hint of cloves from her cigarettes.
I found my hand sliding down between her thighs. I cupped her pussy in my palm, forcing myself to suppress a groan as I felt her wetness. But she was sound asleep in my arms, dead tired, and she let out a sexy little sleepy moan, then shook her head even in her state of hard fucked unconsciousness.
I smiled to myself. Sassy even as she slept. Fuck, I adored her.
Way more than I’d expected. It wasn’t just that I wanted her body; of fucking course I did. But I also wanted to see more of her fire and confidence; I loved how she gave as good as she got.
Fucking her was the ride of my life, and my cock hardened at the urge to do it again. And again. And again.
But I let her sleep. It was morning, later than I usually got up. It was tempting to stay there with her, all day and all night, the rest of the world be damned, but I knew that there would be blow-back for my actions.
Preparing for that was important. Protecting her was my priority. Now, I thought, running my eyes over face, her cheeks, and lips, her curves, and always.
As I disentangled myself from her and covered her up in my bed, I drew the curtains to make sure the morning light didn’t wake her. Splashing my face with water from the tap, I dressed quietly, careful not to wake her with any rustle or step.
As I dressed, I could tell that something inside me had changed. That she’d changed me already.
When the lone wolf finds his mate, everything changes for him. For good. Knowing that, part of me thought that it might all be needless worry to even so much as think about Petre being angry.
There was no fucking way I’d let him marry her; there was not a goddamned chance in hell that anybody would ever take her from me. He could be as angry as he wanted; it wouldn’t change a goddamned thing.
But still, I had to be ready if he lashed out…. at me, or worse, at her. Or her family.
If protecting her was my new purpose, then I was fucking fine with that. For her sake, I was all in.
Crouching in front of the stone fireplace, I made a stack of a few dense logs and set them alight. I waited until the fire started to draw and then replaced the screen in front of the flames so that no stray sparks arched from the logs into the room. Then I picked up my boots and approached the bed again, memorizing her beauty.
I’d be counting the hours until I was back here with her. Counting the goddamned minutes, even. I leaned down and placed a long kiss on her cheek.
But though everything felt like it had changed, she was still a wild little thing, and a night of life-changing fucking wasn’t going to change that. I hoped not anyway, because her wildness was at least half the fun. Like a new horse, needing to be broken in. And that idea made me remember some wise words from my father’s groom: “Wild young fillies stay wild, until they’ve been bred.”
Christ. I ran my hand down my jaw, grating my palm against my stubble. The thought of breeding her made me fucking crazy, and it took all my strength to ignore my quickly engorging hard-on in my pants.
I adjusted my balls and forced myself to refocus on the problem facing me. As soon as Petre found out she had been with me, her freedom and very possibly her life would be in danger. And that was fucking unacceptable. I needed allies, the right allies and I needed them fast.
And there was only one person I knew of that could provide the kind of help I needed. Even though I knew his help wouldn’t come cheap, I had little choice.
Slipping out of the bedroom without waking her was easy enough. I left a note for her folded on the mantelpiece, explaining that I would be gone for some time and if she needed anything I had left her in the capable hands of the singular member of the estate staff I employed at the manor.
Wild Heir (Fated Royals Book 4) Page 8
