Tattooed On My Soul

by Lisa DeBells

  Eden looked delectable tonight at the club, and I felt bad for making her feel second rate. I wasn’t used to emotions and feelings and shit. But I tried to make her feel relaxed in my home. There was no pressure to stay the night and if she’d said the word, I would have taken her home. It was laborious dissecting my emotions. My hand shook a little while I poured her drink. I didn’t know I had any deep feelings, but apparently I did. It had just taken twenty-six years to find the one that drugged me into feeling again.

  There she was. Eden White. In my living room and looking edible. Examining my life without her realizing what she was doing. She’d barely said a sentence and yet that was enough to spear my chest. I took a swig from the bottle.

  I perused her from behind; she was as sexy as fuck. Her back was bare with no material from the waist up. I wouldn’t have picked her to wear something that daring, she fucking pulled it off like it was made just for her body. The perfect sheet of hair hung down her back, covering most of her skin. She brought new meaning to the saying “Bringing sexy back.”

  The dress rode high and exposed so much sun-kissed thigh that I was twitching to run my hands up the back of them. I liked that she worked out; her legs were shapely and toned, and there wasn’t a jiggle of fat on her. Her ass was round and firm like a peach, so fucking juicy I could bust a nut just watching it.

  Fuck me, get a grip, Stone. Whiskey on ice, crushed to be exact. I busied the glass in my hands and added her crushed ice. I needed to be close to her; I wanted to run my nose up her neck and just breathe her in. I was kind of dumbstruck that I wanted to take things slowly with Eden tonight. I did everything high-speed, from women to cars, and work. It was all I’d known. But for Eden, well, I was still trying to work out if it was only sex.

  I got a kick out of her raised eyebrow as she sashayed her cute little ass over to me. She was sassing me, and yeah, I could deal with that. It was hot as fuck, just like her sexy walk. Those long sexy legs that I wanted wrapped around me soon. My cock twitched to life as it did when Eden was near me.

  She was demure from the front. The swell of her breasts in that strapless dress begged me to dip my tongue and lick into the deep crevice. Any sane man would fall at her knees; she was every man’s wet-dream-fantasy, and tonight I wanted to show her, with a ferocious need that I couldn’t understand, how I wanted her. My chest ached just wanting her to be mine.

  I tore my eyes away and to her face. I inhaled deeply because I didn’t get the emotion that had caught me and exploded through my body. And not just in my cock, either. She was a breath of fresh air caressing my dark soul. I didn’t have any right to want her this much. I didn’t deserve this pure soul, so innocent and open, yet with a fire inside her that stood up to me and sent me away because she wasn’t desperate enough to chase me.

  Despite all of the dark in me, I’d pursue her. She was too special for me not to. My alpha, the one I didn’t know I possessed until a week ago, bucked with desire to hunt this woman, take her back to my cave, and make her my mate. Protect her as a male does his female. Make her fucking mine and nobody else’s.

  I wanted her to want me as much. There was a spark in her eyes when she approached me; sexual tension, maybe fear or trepidation. Wide-eyed and expectant, her lip latched between her teeth. I might pounce on her, God damn, I wanted to. Maybe I should warn her; give her the chance to run far away, because if she said no, I was pretty sure I couldn’t let her leave me.

  I had finally found someone real. Someone good. Someone I could be good to. I wanted to give Eden fair warning, because she deserved it.

  She leant her back on the kitchen bench, and I handed the low-ball glass to her. She took it, and I watched her lips part around the rim while she swallowed a dainty sip, she winced as the liquid burnt down her throat. I wanted to taste her.

  “Can I have some?” I took the glass off her and drank from the same spot that her lips had just touched, the warm burn sizzling down to my stomach. I took pleasure in watching her watch me. “Do you still want me to ink you?” I dipped my finger in the amber liquid and ran it slowly along her bottom lip, her tongue darted out quickly to taste it and the tip of my finger. “Fuck, you shouldn’t do that . . . if you don’t want me tonight.” This woman caused a maddening heat in me, the zipper in my jeans would be a painful testament to that.

  “I’m simply fighting fire with fire.” Her eyes widened while her demure chest rose and fell quickly. Her pink cheeks where the sweetest shade I’d ever seen, it ran down her throat, to her chest. I needed to focus.

  I leaned over her and opened the kitchen draw where I kept the drawings I had created, just for her. I splayed six A4 pieces of paper on the island bench and motioned for her to come over. “I designed these, for you.”

  “You drew me a picture?” She looked confused as she came closer and stood next to me. I watched her face as she regarded the images with uncertainty, chuckling. She was so fucking adorable right now.

  “No. Yes. It’s an idea. For the tattoo that you demanded. Remember, it’s why we met.” Fucks sake, Mitch, get the words out.

  Her hand leapt to her throat and her mouth made an O. Yeah baby, that’s right, your boy over here, he got talent.

  “Wow.” She blinked at me. “I’m in awe. They’re amazing.” She took my hand in hers, faced me, and laced our fingers. “You . . . are an artist, Mitchell.” Her blue eyes praised me just as she had the flowers. I loved this shit. “I can’t . . . I’m totally . . . thank you.”

  I had drawn a myriad of flowers. Four in colour and two in black and grey, all of which were inspired by her. It was all I had done in the days that she didn’t call me. There was a calla lily in the vase the night I’d met her. The bunch of peonies that I bought her. Roses, both open and closed bulbs, because that was my favorite flower, and a few others as well.

  I smiled, a little unsure, because no one else’s compliments had felt so fucking fantastic. What she thought mattered. “You like them, huh?”

  “Yes, very much.”

  I tilted her chin up with my index finger, then ran it from the center of her delectable chin down her neck, her breath caught in her throat as ran it all the way to rest in the middle of her chest.

  “Tell me what else you like.”

  “About you?” She replied slowly. The swell of her bottom lip held my gaze, because I wanted to lick across that lip and hold it between my own.

  “Yeah, about me.” I was having trouble focusing on just one facet of Eden.

  Her cheeks lifted, crinkling her sparkling blue eyes in the corners. “Like your ego isn’t big enough already.” She giggled nervously and it was the sweetest sound.

  Christ Eden was sexy peeking up at me through her thick lashes. My body thrummed with the need to touch her, her tongue flicked out to lick her pink lips. I’ve lost any restraint and hauled her to me by the curve of her hips bringing my face down to hers.

  “I have ways of making you talk.” I kissed her full lips and was pleased when she kissed me back. Her warm, sweet tongue tangled with mine in her mouth, and I took her savagely like the wild beast in me wanted to. Her hands ran up my chest and into my hair like she wanted to touch every part of me and all at the same time. Eden’s sweet moan was wired all the down to my rock-hard cock. There was no such thing as taking it slow. I was fucking deranged out of my mind with lust. My cock had never swelled this hard. Ever.

  I pulled away, and we were both panting. I was hard as fuck but wanted my answer before I take her.

  “Answer me. I need to know,” I said watching her glistening lips, wet from my kiss.

  “You’re serious. I have to say it?” She stared at me with doe eyes pressing her tits to my chest.

  “I’m not a fucking piece of meat, Eden. Look beyond what your eyes can take in.”

  “Mitch, I—”

  “Do you know how bad I want this?” I slammed my lips back onto hers, pouring everything I didn’t have the words for into the kiss. I made love to her lips, ge
ntly. Brushing her honeyed-tongue with all of the passion, Eden somehow managed to crack my dark heart.

  She pulled away first, pushing on my chest, but I wouldn’t allow the distance.

  “OK.” Her voice was quiet; contemplative. “Apart from the obvious gorgeous package.” She rolled her eyes at me, but I didn’t find it amusing. She was good at deflecting and I didn’t want to get off track. “You’re thoughtful, like when you brought me flowers. You saved me that night, which shows you are caring. And . . .”

  “And?” OK, there was more.

  “I like that when you look at me, like into my eyes as opposed to this.” She motioned with her hand to herself. “You see past what I want to hide. I know you are seeing me.”

  I gulped heavily, because I didn’t know that she had me pinned so well.

  “I’m not too afraid to tell you what I feel when I’m with you, Mitch. To do that would devalue whatever it is this is.” She pointed between us.

  “Hmm.” Was all I could say as she secured me with her eyes.

  “That’s all you got?” She giggled to cover up . . . disappointment? “I pour it out and get a hmm?”

  There was no way I could have her believe that she hadn’t affected me since the day she stormed into my shop. “No, baby, I’ve got other ways of explaining what it is you do to me. I’m not great with expressing myself with words, Eden. I’ve never wanted to before. For the right reasons anyway.”

  She bit the fleshy part of her bottom lip. That tempting lip was mine. I bent my head to her and licked over them. Eden would be my woman. Maybe I was crazy; I was in some weird reverse universe were everything was opposite and I got the girl. She wanted me the same way, and to be sure that she had no choice but to own me, I would do anything in my power to make it so.

  “Let me show you what you do to me,” I whispered and licked her mouth. “Stay the night. I want to wake up and see your face.” I was struggling to hold my shit together. One more whimper out of her and I would be throwing her onto the kitchen bench, I needed to be so fucking deep inside her. I hung my head and waited for her to seal my fate. Would I be enough? Was I too much?

  “Look at me, Mitch.” I hesitated until I felt the warmth of her hands holding my face. I tilted my gaze upward and my head followed slowly.

  “I want you to show me as much as you want, whatever you can give me. We take this slow. Me staying isn’t even a question. Just be real with me, Mitch. No bullshit, no other women, because I promise you I will walk and never look back.”

  Fuck me, but this was more than I ever expected. Eden wanted real and that was all I would give her. “The way I am Eden, it’s ingrained in me. I’m gonna try. Only for you. As far as other women, I would be fucking nuts, I expect the same from you.”

  She nodded. “Come here.”

  She wrapped her hands at the back of my neck and I finally relaxed the tension in my shoulders. We were so close I could breathe in the same air that she’d exhaled. “Show me.”

  Eden lifted onto her toes and made up the distance between us, showing me that this was what she wanted. I lifted her and her body fit mine, like she was made for me. I walked her to the stairs and up to my bedroom where I’d give myself over to her until we were exhausted or she begged me to stop.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Eden

  Lifted, I felt weightless with Mitchell’s powerful arms, he carried me with the smooth elegance of a panther, through his house and upstairs. His kisses were maddening and sent crazy little sparks down to my enlivened core. My fingers were threaded in his hair, his excitement pressed hard up against my butt, muscled torso fixed to mine.

  I kissed him hard on his mouth, connecting with him, the way we do.

  I didn’t intend for this to happen, to crave him; that Irrevocably. I almost hated myself for letting him have that impact on me. I wanted to stop it now before he became too important to me, but it was hopeless. I wanted him, it was more than desire, it bordered on need, and that scared me. I had never, not once, wanted any man that much.

  I was totally fucked.

  Weightless and flying high, the heat burst inside me, throbbing in my core. anticipation was driving me wild.

  I’d gone from high to low and back again several times during the course of the evening, but in that instant there was nothing I was more sure of. I didn’t have to research it, type up a spreadsheet, and file it under ‘what the fuck to do’ to get there.

  Mitchell slid me, slowly, down his beautiful chest. My breasts pushed hard up against him, and my nipples awoke at the feel. He stood me at the foot of his bed, my knees touching the bench seat. I whimpered at the loss of his lips from mine. But it was only for a second as he toed his shoes and socks off to land with a thud on the carpet.

  The words ‘show me’ echoed in my head.

  Mitchell held my face in the palm of his hands and splayed his fingers into my hair, holding me still. His eyes alight with desire, lips parted slightly. He looked from my mouth to my eyes, “Your gorgeous, so sweet, right now I want to rip your panties off you, kiss every dip and shape of your curves.” He ran both hands down my waist brushing my peaked nipples thus sending a ripple of arousal low in my belly.

  “You quell this ache that lives in me, the anger that sometimes consumes me for days, with one simple look, a touch, and I want more. You rule me, every time I look at you.” He ran the smooth pad of his thumb over my lips. My unguarded heart stuttered in my chest and damn it all, I was fucking gone. “You’re my stellar.”

  I couldn’t look in his eyes any longer, so I dropped my gaze to his chest where my hands ran the course of his torso and rested on his pectorals. His every word like precious diamonds, where all too much. I felt myself faltering. I didn’t want Mitchell to look at me like this, with honesty and truth that mirrored his words, like I was adored. It wouldn’t bode well for me when eventually I’d lose the shine and become an old toy, exchanged for a new improved version. These words, this look would linger and stay with me, torturing me every time I thought of him and couldn’t have him because I was just a notch in his bedpost. I had no self-preservation tactics because I was okay with that, I wanted him more than the pain I would feel later, when he’d had his fill of me. Men like Mitchell, the seriously sexy bad-boy type, didn’t fall for the prim and proper, always meticulous planning types, like me.

  “Look at me.” His enigmatic voice was all rough and sweet, but still biting with command.

  “Don’t resist me, Eden.” He tipped my chin up and tangled his fingers in my hair holding my gaze. I gulped, my chest rose and fell heavily. How the hell could I resist?

  “Don’t say words to me like that . . . please.” I pleaded him to understand.

  “It’s the truth. You slay me.” He moved his hand to rest on his chest. “Here, is where I ache and where I feel you.” His voice timid but grating, his declaration a benediction, as his lips pouted like magic around them and the veil like silk lifted from his eyes, revealing a beautiful man that could be tender. I could so easily fall for him right here and now because of it. I may have already nosedived off that cliff the very first night I locked eyes with him.

  “Just kiss me.”

  “Tell me you feel it too.”

  “I want to feel you, now, in me, on me, all over my body.”

  “Oh, you will,” he replied wickedly, and turned me away from him. He ran a finger down the center of my spine, slowly, pushing my hair to one side of my neck. He laid hot and wet kisses along my neck and behind my ear. His breathing became feathered and matched mine. Every open-mouthed kiss seared me. I closed my eyes and tipped my head back as Mitchell’s hand wrapped around my neck. He held me in place as he bit into my shoulder and neck, then running ardent kisses over the sting.

  A low moan came from me. I was wrapped up in wanting him, not wanting him, confusion and sexual energy. His hips pushed against my lower back and the strong, hard erectness of Mitchell prodded me. He slowly unzipped my dress and let it pool
with a whoosh at my feet. I wasn’t wearing a bra as the dress didn’t allow it, but black lace seemed to cause a pleasurable stir in him. A rough grumble escaped his mouth.

  “You are delectable, Eden.” He spun me around. “Take my shirt off.” I didn’t hesitate to make fast work of his shirt buttons. One by one, my fingers shakily popped them open, giving way to his bronzed chest while he stood, just watching me. His expression carnal, I smiled shyly up at him. I ran my hands up over his chest, his broad shoulders, and over the flower tattoo that trailed down his bumpy, muscled arms. It was like opening a present on my birthday but one hundred times better. I pushed his shirt off and it dropped noiseless to the floor.

  “I love your tattoos.” I said as I traced with my finger the outline of a blue wave of water that curled and morphed into a wonderment of colorful flowers.

  As if I’d snapped him out of a trance he picked me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He lifted me like I weighed nothing, which turned me on even more. My sex clenched fiercely with each step, rubbing on his hot length. I could feel my wetness that soaked my panties.

  “Hmm,” was his only reply.

  He pulled back the covers on his bed, and laid me on his sheets. They smelt of clean linen and him and I wanted to build a little nest and stay there forever. But I was too excited, so stretched my arms to him, whispering in a wanton, sexy voice for him to come to me.

  He knelt between my open legs and I didn’t care that I was so open. The way Mitchell looked at me, like I was amazing, cut all my inhibitions to shreds. His gaze drenched me, between my legs, where I was already pulsating for him. I’d never been so turned on. He ran big hands up the outside of my torso, from my hips to my waist, then reached my nipples, and rolled them between his thumb and forefinger. I was driven crazy-wild and with each tug I felt a pull down there.