This is all my fault.
I toss the rest of the small drink down my throat then rise and leave it, as well as hers, on the small table by the galley. Her eyes have not moved from the window. Tiny tears wait to fall. I drop to my knees in front of her and take her hands in mine, laying them on her lap. “Please look at me, Princess.”
Her breath pulls in deep as she turns her head to look down at me. “There is nothing you can say that can make this better. I need more time, Eden.”
That is the one thing we don’t have, and it kills me. “Should I leave you alone?”
Her eyes glisten as the tears threaten further. “I fear it would kill me if you did. Even as you said the words, my heart felt as if a sharp dagger had been plunged into it. I’m a mess with a boyfriend. You should want none of what I have to offer, which is nothing but a lot of drama.”
The fact she thinks she has nothing to offer makes me furious at myself. I did this to her.
“You have much to offer, Alyssa. Stop talking down about yourself. It’s beneath you. You’re special and will do amazing things with your life. You were not born to be ordinary. Not one day of your life should have been spent that way. Set him free and he’ll begin to heal and so will you.”
One tear rolls down her pink cheek, I quickly brush it away with my thumb. “I can’t do that, Eden. I just can’t hurt him like that.”
The softness in her heart, which she was born with to fulfill her destiny, has taken in that boy and I doubt it will ever release him. The capacity to hurt people is not something she was built with, nor myself.
It’s obvious our protectors will have to deal with this situation, and now I fear for the boy.
Sitting back down in the seat beside her, I put my arm around her and gently push her to lie her head on my shoulder.
“This is not how I want this evening to move forward. Put this out of your head and let us have an enjoyable evening out.”
One of her silky, black tendrils tickles my nose and I sneeze.
With a small giggle, she lifts her head and looks at me. “Deal! Show me your world, Mr. Fontaine, I’m eager to see how the other half lives. Show me all I’ve been missing. I hope the chef can beat the lobster I get at the Lobster Shack. It’s pretty dang great and it’ll be hard to beat.”
A turn in her attitude has taken place. Although cheery, I know she’s repressing emotions and thoughts, which is never good.
I’ll go along, though. Once our protectors deal with Kyle, she’ll have no choice but to move on. She’ll need me more than ever then.
Chapter19
ALYSSA
This place is beyond anything I imagined. The instant we arrived we were seated in the most elegant, small, private dining room. The waiter placed a napkin on my lap and later tied a bib around my neck so I would get no lobster juices on the gorgeous dress my parents gave me.
Eden shines like an angel across the table from me. He was right, this is so much better than Trixie’s or the Lobster Shack.
The stewardess on the private jet, an adorable woman with a warmth about her which makes her easy to like, said something disturbing about us. She said we glowed.
If that’s true, which I pretty much think it is, then Kyle will see it as well. Though I’m trying my hardest not to, I’m falling hard for Eden.
The lifestyle he leads is so different from mine, I don’t understand how we’ll work out anyway. Yet I find myself thinking maybe we could.
This place is something I could get used to. The food is another thing which would make me happy.
The man who sits across from me, making me laugh like I never have in my life, would definitely make my life more enjoyable.
My high society skills are sorely lacking. Instead of embarrassing me about my shortcomings by telling me how I need to do every little thing, he’s made light of my inexperience.
I just about slapped the waiter when he leaned over me, placing a linen napkin on my lap, smoothing it out in what I thought was an attempt to cop a feel. Eden joked with the waiter about it, leaving my dignity intact.
Carelessly he pops a mint into his mouth. His luscious caramel colored lips open to accept the dainty pink thing. A flick of his tongue as it runs quickly over his bottom lip, makes me bite at mine.
“So, better than the burger at Trixie’s?” he asks.
I blink and look from his lips to his eyes. His gorgeous emerald eyes. “Uh, yeah,” I mumble like an idiot.
What he does to me is insane.
He rises and comes to my side, holding his hand out to me. “I would be very pleased if you would come and dance with me, Princess.”
Since the bib has been removed and the napkin long gone I suppose I can spare him a dance. “If it would please you, then by all means, yes.”
My hand tingles in his as he leads me to a dance floor with several other couples dancing on it.
His arm wraps around me as he pulls me close to him. Our eyes meet for a second before I lay my head on his chest.
He moves me about and somehow my feet follow as if we’ve danced together forever, which we haven’t. Our bodies seem perfectly fitted together.
He’s taller than I am, but just the right amount of taller. The top of my head comes to his broad shoulders, making my head fit perfectly against his chest. The music is soft enough for me to hear the soft beat of his heart.
After this night I have to make a choice between Kyle and Eden. I don’t want to string either along any longer. I feel it’s cruel and can no longer take giving them pain.
My choice seems clear, I know this. Yet my heart refuses to let Kyle go. It tells me I love him more.
A warmth fills my ear as Eden’s velvet voice speaks softly. “You dance like an angel.”
My heart speeds up. That’s what happens to me all the time with Eden. My heart either drops a beat or speeds up. Sometimes it aches and when he asked me if he should leave me alone, I felt a sharp, stabbing sensation.
Every time we touch it seems electricity flows between us. For Christ’s sakes he just looks at me and heat rushes through me, straight to my lower regions.
This thing we have is too intense. Like most things of that nature, I fear it will burn out just as quickly as it came on, leaving me destroyed. I would have destroyed Kyle for no reason.
The music ends and Eden still holds me. I pick up my head and smile at him. “Thank you, Eden. You certainly know how to show a girl a good time.”
Running a finger along his jaw line down to his chin my body threatens to betray my very own rule of no kissing on this little outing I’ve allowed him to take me on.
“Alyssa, you’re the only girl I wish to show a good time.” His finger mimics my motions and my jaw clenches to stay in control.
If I allow a kiss, I’ll never be able to do what I have to. The life he leads is beyond fantastic, but I’m ordinary, no matter how Eden sees me.
I fear he looks at me through rose-colored glasses. I could never rise to his standards. Even if I managed to do it, I could never keep it up.
Normal has always been my life. It’s much too late to change that now. I’d never fit into his world.
“This has been fun and a great adventure, but I think it’s time to go back home, don’t you?” I ask.
“I could hold you like this forever, but if you’re ready to go, we will. As always, Princess, your wish is my command.”
***
The hour is late and I’m exhausted. As we sit on the jet’s seats I lean my head on Eden’s shoulder.
Once we level off, he kisses the top of my head and says, “Come, precious, you can lie down on the bed.”
He leads me to a door at the back of the small cabin and opens it, revealing a large bed, with a dark red bedspread and plush pillows.
“Eden, this is beautiful.” I plop onto the soft bed. It’s heavenly and I kick off my shoes and lie back.
Eden stands watching me as he smiles. This will be our last outing together, our la
st night together. It should be more than what I’ve allowed it to be. This thing we have should go out with a bang. I pat the bed next to me.
“You want me to lay down with you?” he asks with raised eyebrows.
I nod as I bite my lip in anticipation of what my body will do as he makes his next move. In slow motion he kicks off his shoes. Takes off his jacket and tosses it on a chair. His hand runs through his hair. The dim light casts dark shadows over his tanned face.
My heart stops as he climbs onto the bed on his hands and knees and says, “Alyssa, I know you said no kissing and I respect your wishes. I only want you to know I’m exercising the most self-control I’ve ever had to because of my deep respect for you.”
Why does he respect me so much? And why do I want him to ignore my rule and hold me down and take me like he owns me?
The way his body hovers over mine a bit is leaving me breathless. My entire body prickles with anticipation, need, want and desire. I can’t deny it anymore.
“Eden, will you kiss me, and end this torture I’m putting us both through.”
Emerald eyes twinkle back at me and small wrinkles form at the corners as he smiles. “As you wish, Princess.”
Pushing my hair from my face, our eyes search the others for what seems like an eternity. This kiss hasn’t happened and I’m already breathing hard and so is he.
Slowly he inches his face closer to mine, our eyes close. Warm breath fills my slightly open mouth as his lips nearly touch mine. I suck it in, tasting him and what might possibly be his soul.
Sweet Jesus, this is intense and our lips have yet to meet!
Pulling in a breath, he sucks mine out and groans as he does. My body shakes as I run my tongue around my mouth finding the sweetness he left there.
It’s everywhere, behind my front teeth, around my molars, and down my throat. The smell of flowers fills my nostrils as blood rushes to my lower regions, setting them on fire. He hasn’t even kissed me and I’m ready to pull my clothes off and give myself to him.
His hand strokes my cheek as his lips touch mine very gently. Stars fill my head. Some galaxy; dark, yet full of light, pulses in my mind.
A sound comes from me without me realizing it, a tiny shriek. Eden moans and deepens his kiss, filling my mouth with his sweetness, prompting me to arch my body up to his.
I run my arms around him and pull his body to mine. Our tongues intertwine as we taste each other and explore the deep recesses.
I want more!
My hands run up his well-muscled back to find his feather-soft hair. I press his mouth harder to mine as I entangle my fingers through his thick, dark locks.
Heat fills me and I want to know if this is affecting him in a similar way. Moving my leg between his, I press it to him, finding him rock hard, long, wide and on fire.
Another one of his breaths flow through my mouth and into me. It’s the most unreal thing I’ve ever felt, as if we’re one and the same.
Freeing one of my hands from his luscious waves, I let it travel over his back. Down to his waist it makes the way down south, snaking it around to touch the hard, throbbing object between his legs.
My reaction to the excitement and want makes me take in a breath, his sweet taste renewing itself as if it’s an entity of its own.
He pulls his mouth from mine and sits up. My hand is still on his ample package, he looks at it. His voice is rough and raspy, “That’s what you do to me on the outside. Tell me you feel what we do to each other on the inside.”
I find mine just as raspy as I answer, “Yes, I do. Eden, I want to feel you inside me. I know this is sudden and too fast, but I crave it. I need it. Please.”
He crashes down on me as he straddles my body, his tongue tracing a path from my collar bone up my neck, making my body rack with the desire which takes my mind away from anything which isn’t Eden.
His tongue flicks my earlobe and my insides quiver. Hot, wet breath fills it.
“Tell me how you feel about me, Princess. How important am I to you?”
“You’re everything to me, Eden,” I say as I run my hands over his back and butt. “Please show my how you feel about me.”
Trailing kisses back to my neck, he lifts his body up and looks into my eyes. “Alyssa, do you love me?”
I blink up at him. Do I?
“I think I do, Eden.”
“I know I love you, Alyssa. I need more than an, ‘I think’, if we are to do more.”
“Kiss me again. I want to be sure.”
Achingly slow he brings his face back to mine. I draw in my breath and he blows his into my mouth. I suck it into my lungs sending my heart into a frenzy of super-fast beats.
My body twists as my lips have to have his. He gives them to me and I nip at his bottom lip as he consumes me. I grind myself against his erection, and a moan rattles his chest.
His forehead presses to mine as he pulls his mouth away, but leaves it so our lips still brush one another’s. “Do you know now, Alyssa?”
My body aches to be one with his. Sensations I’ve never felt flow through me, and I’m acutely aware I will never have this with Kyle or anyone else. This has to be love because I will surely die if I ever lose this. If I ever lose him.
“I love you, Eden,” the words barely leave my lips before he’s back in my mouth, his hand squeezes my breast and I cry out with the pleasure of it.
His lips leave mine and I feel almost abandoned by his action until he connects his mouth to me again at the breast he’s unleashed beneath his hand. Then I feel one with him again though I need more.
An animal hunger for him tears through me. So I grind against him again in a reminder of what I want from him. What I need from him.
I push my hand between us to unleash the thing which is causing his slacks to nearly burst. He lifts up to allow me access to the button and zipper.
My hand moves inside of his tight boxer briefs to find satiny-smooth skin over the hardest thing I’ve ever felt in my life. The smooth over the hard is other-worldly and my whole hand strokes it, finding a bulbous end which has leaked a bit.
I run my finger over the tip and Eden groans against my breast which he suckles at in between mind blowing bites that threaten to make me burst inside.
My hand now wet with his juices, I want to know what it tastes like. Bringing it to my lips, he stops and looks at me, watching me place my fingers in my mouth.
I should be embarrassed he’s caught me doing this but I’m not. With his rapt attention I can almost read his mind. Will I like it? I swear he’s thinking that.
The moan I make comes through no will of my own. He tastes like honey and cream and I want more. I’ve closed my eyes with my reaction to the deliciousness of him. When I open them he’s there, waiting for me to remove my fingers from my mouth.
“May I taste your sweet innocence, Princess?”
My God, he wants to taste me down there. Should I say yes?
My eyes brighten with the thought of what he’s about to do. “You may,” I say as I trace his lips with one of the fingers I’ve released from my mouth.
Sheer delight travels over his face as his lips find mine for a moment, then trail down my chest to the destination he travels to. My heartbeats shake my body as I wait for the touch of his lips in an area which has gone untouched.
“I love you, Alyssa,” he says before his head disappears beneath my dress.
Although already very hot in that area, I can feel his hot breath on me. My body tenses for its reaction to his touch.
His lips touch me gently, kissing my inner thigh, he trails kisses to the center then I feel it. His lips touch me there and a streak of white, hot heat travels over my body.
My hands clench the bedding as I almost fall apart. He makes an mmmm sound which vibrates something down there and I nearly burst.
He’s kissing me there, and it feels even better than when he kissed my mouth. Flicks of his tongue against something which is hardening on me drives my body in
sane and I can’t think anymore.
“Eden! Eden! Don’t stop, God, Don’t stop!”
His hands move to grip my bottom, pulling me to him as he kisses, sucks and nips at me in a most pleasurable way which makes no sense at all. Something begins to quiver in my core and my body shakes, legs tremble, heart pounds, then I shatter into pieces.
Was that an orgasm? Shit, that felt incredible!
Moisture leaks from me and then he’s there, lapping at it, his tongue going into me. Inside of me, his tongue fills the space I craved him to be in and I’m almost whole, close to complete. I never felt incomplete until he came along.
I’m tired all of a sudden, like beyond tired, and content. Eden kisses down one leg as he moves from under my dress. His hair hangs in damp strands around his smiling face as he stands up, looking down at me.
“Can we both agree on something, baby?”
I nod my head yes because I will agree to anything the man says for the rest of my life. He lies his body next to mine, using one hand to hold his head up, one of his fingers makes spirals on my chest.
“We belong to each other now. No one else. I am yours and you are mine.”
He is mine!
I cannot believe he even wants to be mine. He has class, money, looks, crap he’s lacking not one thing, and he wants to be mine.
“I’d love that. I love you, Eden. I do.”
The light hits his eyes just right, and they sparkle. “I love you too, Alyssa. I only have one more thing to say to you then we must clean ourselves up and be presentable as I’m sure we’re going to land soon.” All humor leaves his eyes, leaving them as serious as I’ve ever seen. “I do not believe in real intercourse until after marriage. With that said,” he turns over and grabs a black box from a drawer in the nightstand. Pulling me up to a sitting position, he kneels on one knee in front of me.
My mouth drops open and I am speechless. More than that, I’m mindless. I cannot accept what he’s about to ask of me. I look around the room for an escape but there is none.
“Alyssa Shaylee Devlin, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
“How do you know my middle name?”
His face makes me laugh as he pulls it back in confusion. “Alyssa, please. I’m being serious here, baby.”
Quartet Complete Series: Billionaire Romance Box Set (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) Page 77
