“Aren’t you a little old for hiding in wardrobes?” he asked, holding me by the shoulders.
“I’m so glad you’re not dead in a ravine,” I told him, and a lop-sided grin spread over his face.
“Why would I be…? Where’s Daniel?”
“I have no idea who that is,” I told him. “All I know is, I woke up here, all alone and with nothing to eat, and then there were two strange men and—”
“Two strange men? Who were they?” His eyes narrowed in concern. “I left Daniel here to take care of you, he should have given you anything you asked for. And I left a note, there on the mantel. Did you not see it?”
“Oh…” I suddenly remembered what had happened. “When the men came in I wasn’t dressed, so I hid in the wardrobe. As I went by the fireplace, there was a paper that drifted down and was sucked in by the heat…”
He huffed. “Who were these men? Did they hurt you?”
I shook my head. “They came in, they were arguing about the house and the property and…I don’t know. He called him something like Lord Burlington.”
“Barrington?” His features darkened. “He was here?” Vasile started checking around the room, as if something might be missing, but finding nothing, he took me by the arm and led us from the room. “Daniel?” He shouted. “Where are you, man?”
“So Daniel was supposed to bring me anything I needed?”
“Yes,” Vasile said distractedly as he led us through the interior of the house, calling out to Daniel as we walked. “I left you instructions in the note how to find him and that I’d return in a few hours.”
“I went looking for food, but…Barrington, he said he was leaving you a message before he left. He destroyed the kitchen and any food that was there.”
“What? Barrington, that fucker. He’s harmless, really, but a terribly sore loser. Daniel, are you here?” His voice echoed through the hall.
There was a knocking sound from a closet as we passed, and Vasile stopped short.
“In here, my—Vasile,” came a muffled voice from the closet.
Vasile glanced around, and grabbed the nearest thing—a sword held by an empty suit of armor—and started bashing at the lock with it. It wasn’t quite as elegant as my own method of getting past locks, but it was effective. A few moments later, he had the door open and a disheveled man, who I recognized as the kinder looking one from earlier, almost spilled out into the hall.
“Thanks,” he said.
“Daniel, what the fuck? I left you with specific instructions to—”
“I’m sorry. I was trying to make him leave. When I grabbed his arm to turn him back toward the front entry, he spun around and slammed me in the head with...I’m not sure what.” The man rubbed the side of his head. “I was dazed and he shoved me in here, and locked the door.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, just my pride is damaged.”
“Well, he trashed the kitchen. There’s no food. Valeria hasn’t eaten all day.”
“I’m sorry. I thought it better to keep her presence a secret than to call out for help, even if it was only Barrington.”
Vasile nodded. “True enough. Do you have any food in your cottage? Otherwise one of us is going to have to make a journey to town.”
As Vasile entered the sitting room carrying a big tray of fruits, cheeses, dried meats, and wine my stomach groaned on cue.
On an ornate carved mahogany table, he set the tray in front of me and knelt beside where I sat.
“I really am sorry,” he said, his eyes so tender and kind. “I would never have left you without any food.”
“You must take wonderful care of your staff. For a member of the house staff to have such decadent food and wine.”
“I show my gratitude for loyalty. In many ways. But Daniel is more than just a member of the household staff. Well, nonexistent household staff at the moment. When I discovered him, it was years ago on one of my trips home to visit, he’d been living on the streets most of his life, cheating at cards or breaking into the houses of the rich and taking just enough to get by. I’d liked him from the start, and we’ve established a somewhat unconventional friendship of sorts since we met. When I returned this last time, I went looking for him, but found out he’d been caught in the house of a magistrate and was going to be serving many years of hard labor. I gave him a different option. Let’s just say, I used our family name to convince the magistrate and a few other officials to turn him over to me. I brought him here to work at Bellemore. He’s more than proven himself worth the effort. You can trust him, today and always.”
Either from the chill in the air, or from the emotion coursing through me, I shivered hard and gripped my arms. Vasile took note, grabbed an afghan from the settee and draped it around me, sweeping my hair aside, and then sat down on the floor.
“I will get you some clothes tomorrow. You can’t be running around in this cut open nightdress for the rest of your days.”
I giggled, looking down, realizing how unkempt I must appear, and yet also taking note I didn’t care. I felt right with Vasile, although it felt strange having this big beast of a man sitting below me. And yet, I didn’t mind. He kept one of his huge hands on my thigh in a sturdy, possessive grip. With his other hand, he took a candied fig from a simple pottery bowl and held it up for me to eat from his fingers.
“I can feed myself,” I said, a rush of shyness at the affectionate gesture.
“Sure you can,” he said, with eyes twinkling. “But I won’t let you.”
Feeding me the fig, he pressed the tip of his thumb to my lips.
When I took it from him, I sucked on his thumb for a little longer than was necessary. My clit responded instantly to the taste of his skin, the smell of his leather riding gloves. Musky and manly and utterly delicious.
He fed me cheeses and meats, taking some for himself as we ate in silence, enjoying the flavors and the simple act of nourishing ourselves.
After a few moments, I slid down on the rug beside him in front of the fire. He positioned himself so that my folded legs fit neatly inside the gap he left for me between his. Against my ankle, I felt the unmistakable heat and warmth of his cock and balls, resting on the fabric of his pants.
I glanced down at his groin when I was sure he wasn’t looking, feeling flushed and turned on by the realization that clearly, his pants had been custom made to make extra room for how big he was. It was all I could do to stop myself from moaning into my glass of wine.
Sitting there, we ate and talked. We got to know each other in a way that our wild passion hadn’t allowed us to before. I learned about his years in the east, and he learned about my life, about the shameful sort of privileged poverty that I’d tried so hard to hide from everybody.
But not from him. We talked about our fathers, his so much more successful and so different from mine, and about our mothers. About that particular ache of a mom who is unwell and suffering, and how much we wished we could help.
Guilty as well, that we were missing out on a certain care they were unable to provide.
Being there with him, it felt like home. More so than my own in a way. With every comfortable moment in his company, I felt myself falling harder and faster for him. It wasn’t just that I could love him. Watching him there, talking to me, staying close and attentive, I realized I already did love him.
That thought closed my throat in its own conflicted terror.
I felt like I was being swept away, losing my internal sense of what was best for me and my situation. A sailor adrift in an unfamiliar ocean. I knew I was being irresponsible. So many things were swirling around in my life and I sat here as though none of it was real. How easily we deceive ourselves sometimes.
He had a power over me, an indefinable strength, that I’d never felt around another person; I knew in my heart that if he asked me to do something, I would to it. Anything. Everything.
Whatever it was, my answer would be yes.
And I was petrifi
ed. The feelings in my heart put me on the defensive, and before I knew it, they’d made me lash out without thinking.
“If you ever abandon me like that,” I said, “I will never speak to you again. Be a good boy, or I’ll take all this,” I waved a hand to indicate myself, “away from you.”
As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I kicked myself for saying them. But the words were already out there, hanging between us. And there was no way for me to take them back.
“Excuse me?” he said, flashing with that dominant anger I’d seen in his eyes now more than once.
I was too afraid of the look in his eye to say anything else. My cheeks burned hot with embarrassment at the outburst in a moment that should have been left alone. But also with fury. Because I really did mean what I said. Even if I shouldn’t have said it.
He didn’t speak either, but instead pushed the table aside and then planted his hand on my sternum, heavy and foreboding, forcing me onto my back on the floor.
The V of his hand pressed into my throat, and I felt my own heartbeat ricocheting back at me. With his other hand, he slid my nightdress up my body, rough and intense. Then he placed one knee on either side of my hips and let me take some of his weight.
“Don’t you fucking pick fights with me, Princess,” he said.
Glancing down, I saw his erection pressing hard against his pants. So hard, in fact, that I could make out the outline of its thick shaft and broad head.
“Sorry,” I whispered, looking up at his face. The flickering fire highlighted the strong angles of his jaw and cheeks.
He was so exquisitely handsome it was almost hard for me to stare too closely; like looking straight into an eclipse. But when I glanced away, he shifted his hand to pinch my jaw more tightly, forcing me to look back up at him.
Once again, I felt that fear—of getting too close, of getting my heart broken, of being left alone and forgotten. But instead of pulling back from my fear, I let myself go towards it. I allowed myself to feel my deepest desire—to please him, to obey him.
To listen and learn.
To trust.
And when I did that, I felt myself relax. I let my heart open to him.
Even though I hadn’t said a word, it was as if he could feel that shift inside me. He caged me in with his massive arm to my left, and leaned down into me. Full soft lips took possession of me and I melted into a feeling I should not.
Hope.
The longer the kiss went, the wetter I became. Once I was panting and pawing at his cock to free it from his pants, he pulled away from the kiss.
Hitching up his hips, he yanked his pants halfway down his ass. I hooked my toe over the waistband to push them down his thighs.
Then he positioned his cock right at my opening, and growled into my ear, “You fucking belong to me. And I’m going to prove it to you tonight.”
Chapter 17
Vasile
She had no right, no fucking right, to be so sexy and perfect—it made me hate her for it and love her even more.
I unleashed all my power into her—all of it. I took her missionary, deep and hard, ramming my cock ruthlessly against her cervix. With every thrust, with every drive, I imagined shooting my hot seed into her cunt.
Again and again and again. Her pussy was young and tight, and she got so goddamned wet for me that I could feel my orgasm coming up hard and fast. Though she was inexperienced, she rode the waves of instinct effortlessly.
She was never timid; she was never shy. She was like a fucking wildcat. With one particularly ruthless drive, she dragged her fingernails down my back to make my entire goddamned body tense up.
She’d drawn blood, I was sure of it… and that just made me wilder for her still.
A spurt of precum shot out of my cock inside her; tensing my ass, I kept the rest of my orgasm back, letting it build and build. But knowing that my cum was inside her just intensified my need to pound her even harder.
“I want to fuck a baby into you,” I told her as I fucked her. “I want to spend my life filling you with me.”
Arching her head back, she tipped her hips into me and roared up at the ceiling. “Va—sile…” She split my name across my pounding thrusts.
“Come for me,” I ordered her. “Right now,” I said, punctuating my words with another ball-slapping drive into her pussy.
The smell of her sweat and wetness was fucking intoxicating, all the more so because I knew that no other man would ever know her this way.
She was mine. It was all for me. Now until the day I died.
She’d pussy-whipped me so bad that it took me a few seconds to realize she hadn’t obeyed; she hadn’t even answered. Looking down at her, I saw a sparkle in her eyes, and that pissed me off all the more.
“You will obey me. You will do as I say, or else.,” I growled. “Do it. Now.”
My direction had her cheeks blush and her eyelids dropped.
“You fucking like that, don’t you?” I asked. “You like me angry with you.”
“Yes,” she panted. “I don’t understand it, but yes, I do. So much. Too much.”
“Good. But you’re forgetting the rules, Princess,” I said, pulling my cock out slightly so I could lift her knees towards her chest. “You do what I say. Don’t fight me. Submit to me. Right fuckin’ now,” I snarled.
The sassy confidence evaporated just as soon as it had appeared. In its place, I saw fear. Real fear. I saw that innocent girl who was in over her head.
This dance we were dancing would take time to perfect; it was my job to push her. And it was her job to be honest in return, just as she had been.
“But don’t you dare flinch. Don’t be afraid of me.”
She laughed a little, hanging on tight. “I am, though. That’s half the fun. But…”
“Listen,” I said, slowing my pace, lingering there inside her with my shaft throbbing. “I know you can handle me. I spend my life holding back around everybody else. But I worship you. I want you to have all of me. I will not hold back.”
“Good,” she whispered. “I don’t want you to. Doesn’t mean you don’t terrify me. Sometimes…”
“Fear is good. Fear feeds the fire.”
She paused before she answered. “Yeah?”
“Fuck, yeah. And no matter how dirty I get when we’re doing this,” there I added a flex of my ass to drive into her deeper, but less intensely now, “I’m like a lion on the hunt. I can’t help myself. You turn me into an animal.”
I felt her nod but she didn’t answer, not right away. Instead she clutched me close, not even letting me see her face.
But she still hadn’t fucking obeyed me.
“Give me that orgasm, Princess. Let me have what’s mine.”
Rolling my hips, I kept my cock almost fully inside her, while focusing on my hips to make sure I gave her plenty of contact on her clit. As soon as I did, I felt her start to give in. A little whimper, a sweet little sigh, a change in the way her pussy fluttered against my throbbing dick inside her.
Tenderness was what she needed now, and I found that I did, too. Though it was hard to admit to myself, being away from her had been fucking agony. But just because her softness disarmed me, it didn’t mean I wasn’t still her master. She owed me something and I was damned well going to collect.
“One way or another,” I told her, keeping my voice low, “you’re coming for me.”
Her moan of yes was dark and sultry.
“I want to give you everything,” I told her. “I want to give you the fucking world. But first, you need to come on this dick, baby. You’re not going to get a goddamned thing from me until you give me that.”
My words had an instantaneous physical effect on her. She shuddered in my arms and gasped. Then and only then did I feel her give in to me. At last.
“Oh, God,” she moaned, letting me know she was getting close.
Atta fucking girl. Still focusing on her clit, I gave her exactly what she needed, and goddamn… it was
exactly what I needed, too. I loved this dance with her—this yin and yang, this ruthlessness and softness.
Never in my life had I imagined finding this kind of bliss. Never had I expected to be so fucking happy. Never had I expected to find someone who could wrench my power from me, with nothing more than a glance. It was what I always needed. And here she was.
Every ram of my hips got me closer and closer. As soon as I heard her and felt her turning the corner into her orgasm, I doubled down on my thrusts, feeling my balls swell with seed. She hung onto me tight, keeping us cheek to cheek.
Her orgasm came this time not as a scream but as a sob, a sound so sexy and primal that it plunged me into orgasm like a goddamned starting pistol. I couldn’t have fought that need even if I’d wanted to. As strong as I was, I was powerless against that pussy of hers.
As I came inside her, I knew that I was so far gone for her, I’d never be whole without her. I didn’t give a fuck what happened with our families. She was my most cherished possession. And I swore then and there, as I exploded inside her heavenly pussy, that I’d burn down the motherfucking world before I gave her up.
Chapter 18
Vasile
We lay there for a while in front of the fire, me embracing her from behind, her wrapped up safe in my arms. As the fire began to burn low, I worried that she’d catch a chill. But also I had a surprise for her. I rolled my body away from hers, covered her up, and put another log on the fire as I stoked the embers with the poker.
“Sorry I called you that earlier,” she said softly. “About, you know…when you first got back.”
Hearing the cringe in her voice made me smile, but I kept my face away from her so she couldn’t see me.
“You call me a ‘good boy’ again and you will not sit without a wince for a week,” I said, keeping my voice stern. Gutsy as fuck, her talking to me like that. Truth be told, I loved her for it. But that didn’t mean I wanted to get her thinking she could act like that often. Eyeing her cold over my shoulder as I added another log, I said, “Never again.”
Wild Heir (Fated Royals Book 4) Page 12
