by Brianna West
His eyebrows waggled, daring to say whatever he pleased because I was currently incapable of punishing him with the cup I still held cradled inside my hands. He placed his hand close to my thigh on the sofa, leaning towards me with a glimmer in his eyes I couldn’t quite figure out.
Oh god, had he always been this forward? Tonight felt like he had intensified his usual tenacity, and I was already faltering under its power. Completely ensnared.
In spite of my outward projected disgust, my heart was racing and images of that body close to mine; those hands roaming over my flesh; the fog of hot water as it pelted our bodies; and those entrancing amber eyes sliding over my body, taking in every detail as they roamed, it was enough to bring heat into my face when I knew that I couldn’t deny that the very idea of it was tempting. It shouldn’t be, but all I could think about was touching his skin, which would be wet from the water that bathed our joined bodies.
Oh heavens, I’d let him wash every part of me twice over.
No! I couldn’t let my mind runaway with thoughts of the Guardian’s hands on my body in a way no man had ever laid hands on me.
My stare punished him as I sneered, seeking to hide the wayward thoughts occupying my head. “I do not require your help in such matters, Bernard.”
His eyes sparkled the moment he smiled. “Bernie.”
There was an easy sensuality to Bernie that I hadn’t come across in a long time. It wasn’t outright or actively sought, just there, charmingly available to the eye with the way he smiled and the almost unassuming sex appeal Bernie naturally exuded with every glance and action. My heart couldn’t take anymore. It was becoming a definite, tangible problem.
Unlike my kind, who were overtly sexual by nature due to an intended preference in our traditional upbringing, Bernie was what one would refer to as boyishly charming. However, in moments like these, his masculinity was undeniable and criminally persuasive. The power that wrapped and corded through his upper torso, which was lain bare for my eyes to partake in, was indisputably captivating. A combination fatal to the likes of me, having been under his spell from the moment we met.
I was becoming a Bernie fangirl. One among many, to be sure.
Even more damning, though playful and irresponsibly brazen, Bernie was genuinely well-meaning despite his overly flirtatious personality. The concern he showed for me had been the first time in my life that anyone had truly looked at me in such a way, save Big Brother and Anric. It had tapped into a part of myself I hadn’t been aware was seeking that sort of gallantry. It warmed a deep part of my heart that I hadn’t been aware was cold and painfully numb. And now that I had a moment to really visit upon what had occurred between us, I was beginning to realize that Bernie had uprooted parts of myself that I hadn’t been aware were buried beneath a lifetime of concealing who I truly was.
I was becoming someone I didn’t quite recognize but somehow felt I’d always truly been on the inside. The very notion of it was terrifying. Now that those parts had been uprooted, I didn’t know if there was any way I could rebury them after this.
Even more frustrating, I couldn’t quite figure out if the man himself knew of this natural ability he carried that had managed to break down every barrier I’d put up, or if he was oblivious to this effect he had on others. Either way, it was a very dangerous thing to be faced with when we were the only two in the room.
The entire house even.
Honestly, tonight, it felt like he and I were the only two people in the entire world, because it seemed there was nowhere I could run that he wouldn’t find me and strip me of the last of my barriers away.
What would become of me when the last barrier fell?
“What’s that face for?” Bernie asked playfully, scooting closer and effectively distracting me from my spiraling thoughts.
Leaning back in a moment of weakness, my breath caught in my throat and the usual retorts weren’t forthcoming. Instead, I was transfixed to the honey skin completely bare and inching closer. The Guardian’s eyes were glittering as he reached out, startling me further when his fingers brushed against my hand. Jerking, hot chocolate splashed over the top of the cup I held and onto the pants Itzel had lent me to wear.
Bernie’s eyes widened and dropped to my lap, where the liquid was soaking rapidly into the denim fabric. “Hot!” he hollered to my confusion as he searched frantically around himself for something.
He was just too bloody adorable!
Then, as if the thought had just occurred to him, he smacked his forehead and snapped his fingers. Gold and orange exploded from his hand and the towel he had previously used to dry himself appeared in his awaiting palm, of which he quickly pressed onto my thighs and soaked up the liquid as best as he could.
He was wiping me with the same towel that he had used on himself!
My thoughts were deranged and squealing as I fought to work through the equal excitement of the idea of his hand touching me so intimately and it being with the same towel he had recently wiped his naked body with.
Indirect naked torso touching!
But Bernie’s frantic movements as he moved the cloth over my thighs made my lips twitch upwards, a giggle fleeing my throat before I could control myself. Amber eyes flitted upwards as Bernie froze, peering into my face with amazement.
Oh mother…
His own lips slid up into a broad smile. “Oh man, I’m in real trouble,” Bernie whispered in a low, slightly pained voice, almost as if he had meant to say it to himself, “That smile…it’s not good for my heart, princess. Having you here in my childhood home, right where I spent my life, it’s doing things to me. Shivery things.”
Shivery things?
My head tilted to the side as Bernie fingered through his messy, fragrant brown hair, appearing to think something over as the soiled towel disappeared from where it rested on my lap. Nervous excitement coiled inside my stomach when I realized that Bernie’s other hand had remained on my thigh.
Heart stammering, I tried desperately to ignore the warmth flooding through my body when his hand slipped up, touching me a bit more intimately. My throat was dry, and I found it increasingly more difficult to catch my breath as Bernie hovered close to me, a raw expression contorting his face.
Oh heavens, I was too far gone. I wanted to finger through his hair and caress his cheek. To touch him as freely as he touched me. To lean forward and surprise him with a kiss.
But I couldn’t. I shouldn’t want to, but I did. I could no longer deny that what I felt for Bernie was irrepressible and growing. However, the very least I could do was control myself at times like these to make up for the indiscretion of my thoughts.
A shiver traveled the length of my spine when Bernie finally looked at me again. His amber eyes were practically blinding in their glow, an emotion clearly burning inside of them.
Desire.
The strength of his yearning struck me like a physical blow to the chest, taking all of the air from my lungs as I watched his face come towards me. Even though I had every ability to strike him down and put a stop to what was happening, I didn’t move. Didn’t even find the will to breathe, lest it somehow give him reason to stop.
His hand took hold of my bicep while Bernie drew me towards him—the hold cementing our imminent action. His grip on me was deliberate, his movement confident, but still, he went slowly, carefully. And whatever was weighing down the air around us felt like at any moment, it would spark and catch fire. But his eyes were clearly searching for something in my expression.
I was stricken with the desire to hide, if only to save myself from the penetrating amber stare that felt like it was just seconds away from tearing through the very last barrier I had in place.
There must have been something in my face that gave me away, because as if being struck with a sudden realization, Bernie’s face lit up, and then our mouths were crashing into each other in a searing kiss that I didn’t have the fight left in me to pretend not to enjoy. A gasp escaped my throat,
but it was swallowed by Bernie’s eager mouth as his arm encircled my back and pulled me flush into his naked torso.
Something inside of me broke as my arms wrapped around his shoulders and I succumbed to his kiss, returning it with vigor. And as if it was the moment he had been waiting for, Bernie groaned into my mouth and maneuvered me onto his lap, grasping me around the hips and grinding his lower body up into mine. Intense, intoxicating heat sizzled through my lower half, spreading quickly through trembling thighs and burning away the very last of my hesitation to do what we were well on our way to doing.
The final and unforgiveable transgression.
But I wanted this. Needed it more than I’d ever needed anything.
“Do you know what this is, darling?” Bernie whispered heatedly against my lips as his hands slipped underneath the thin shirt I wore while his fingers clawed into my skin.
His rough voice trembled slightly. “It’s the last of my ‘hands off the princess’ control slipping away. I want you so bad that I’m willing to let the beast in me take over.”
I shuddered in the wake of his words and what they insinuated. Even though what he said could be misconstrued as playful, the way he whispered it wasn’t in the least. He was panting, his lips ghosting over mine as I detected the slight quiver of his torso and the hard, sure pound of his heart. With my training, I knew without a doubt what the signs in his body were. They were the very same as mine.
He was fighting himself.
Silver locked with amber as I slid my fingers into his hair and drew my face away slightly. Bernie’s body tensed against me, his hands drawing me strongly into him, as if he worried I intended to escape.
Rightfully so.
It wasn’t simple lust that met my stare as I trailed my gaze over the strain in Bernie’s jaw and the slight bob of his Adam’s apple. His jugular thudded in time with mine, and I knew in that moment that whatever we had tip-toed around since meeting, we had finally crossed over and there was no going back.
“Bernie,” I whispered his name, feeling the burden of keeping his name to myself this entire time lessening.
The Guardian’s eyes closed, his jaw working while his body tightened further and he exhaled a shaky breath. When Bernie’s eyes reopened, they were the brightly glowing, undeniably breathtaking tiger eyes that had captivated me from the first moment I had been in the presence of his beast from the day we had first met. His hand touched my face, fingers tracing along the cheekbone, slowly, carefully.
“Boss is going to kill me,” he finally mumbled, grasping me around the back of my head and bringing our mouths hard into each other, “But I don’t care. I ain’t giving you up.”
Lifting me underneath my thighs and close to his body, Bernie stood and kissed me roughly, sliding his lips passionately over mine. I trembled against him, finally allowing myself to feel the heat shared between us. There wasn’t a sliver of fight left inside of me.
I was wholly his.
Silently, I prayed that tomorrow would never come so that I could live inside this moment between us eternally. Because as soon as responsibilities dawned, I didn’t know what would be left of Bernie and I.
“Be mine already, princess,” Bernie whispered, taking the narrow steps two at a time to the bedrooms on the second floor of the home, “Please, be mine tonight.”
Tonight.
I closed my eyes, familiarizing myself with his warmth. “Tonight,” I breathed into his ear, emotion tempering my voice, and held on tightly to him, “I am yours.”
Chapter Thirteen
~***~
My body was pinned beneath a much larger one, an expanse of muscle and skin that had plagued me from the moment I had first laid eyes on it hovering above me.
I never would’ve imagined I’d find myself here, lying beneath a man whom I felt so greatly for that it could very easily lead to madness. But here I was, beneath him, surrendering to him.
I shouldn’t.
But just for tonight, I was freely touching Bernie. Touching his gorgeous body that was as soft as it had first appeared to be. As hard as I thought it would be. As incredibly intoxicating as I knew it should be. And without a single inkling of reservation, I ran my eyes and hands over the smooth flesh with an inquisitive enthusiasm that I hadn’t shown to any man; had never even fathomed to enact towards anyone, and never towards a man.
Not until Bernie.
But just for tonight, I would do it all and I wouldn’t shy away from any desire I’d held inside my heart. I would do it all, and I would do it tonight.
Shedding away every thought of how wrong it was to give in, I endeavored to imprint the memory of this night with the sights, sounds, scents, and most of all, sensations of what we did in the dark, under the glow of a white moon and black, unjudging sky.
Bernie’s lips teased along the column of my neck as his hands slipped underneath the thin top Itzel had lent me to wear. “Something about you wearing my sister’s clothes while we do this doesn’t feel right, darling.” He lifted enough for me to stare at his grinning face before he tore the shirt I wore to pieces.
My mouth opened, heart nearly stopping. “That—your sister lent this especially for me to wear! Don’t tear it!”
Bernie was chuckling like a child in the midst of mischief. “That’s right. Let loose, princess. I like it when you lecture me.” His fingers skimmed over my exposed waist, causing my body to tense with the ticklish sensation. “Oh? You’re ticklish here?”
“No,” I lied, stifling another laugh with my hand.
His expression lit up as his hand teased over my waist again. “Bernie likes. Go on, princess, giggle for me.”
I twisted away from his touch, desperately holding back the laughter bubbling inside of me. “I refuse!”
What was this feeling? Warmth spread through my chest, and I was flooded with an innocent excitement as Bernie’s hands continued their torture, seeking out every sensitive, ticklish place they could find on my stomach.
“Come on, giggle for your favorite cowboy.”
“Off!” I demanded, laughing out loud when the ticklish torture became too much and I was forced to writhe and buck up against him. Unlike before, the strength holding me down barely yielded against my attempts at moving him.
Bernie grinned broadly, evidently proud of himself. “There’s my beautiful, laughing princess. Your smile soothes my soul.”
“Bernard,” I admonished as heat spread across my pale skin.
Bernie’s smile grew wicked as he rested his taut waist between my open legs and drew me into him. “Please, darling, tell this old cowboy that no man has seen you blush like this. I don’t think I could take it if any have.”
Oh god, oh god, oh god. How could I possibly utter the words? It had never been something I needed to be concerned over—my chastity. It was an unwritten agreement that I was to save that part of myself for my betrothed. For Anric.
Many didn’t, but I was never one to disregard my duty for passing pleasures like the rest. I’d kept it purely on that notion alone. But if I were honest, it was simply that no one had stirred my desire until now. I silently wished I’d listened to the long-winded stories of my brothers’ conquests. Perhaps then I might have garnered some sort of indirect experience from what I’d heard they had done to the women they had slept with.
Misinterpreting my silence, Bernie’s eyes narrowed on me. There was an emotion burning inside them that stole any words I might have said in response right from my throat as his hands slipped down over my thighs. He tore open the latch of the pants I wore, the muscle in his torso contorting and tautening with his sharp, almost brutal movements. Seconds later, the sound of tearing fabric reached my ears. I stared down to where he had quite literally torn the pants from my body, aghast.
“Now you’ve ruined your sister’s pants!” I exclaimed in shock, speaking out at the injustice.
Bernie’s eyes were smoldering when I finally peered into his face, the humor drained right out of his
expression. “She’ll survive. Who have you been with, princess?”
Confusion filtered into my own expression as I watched Bernie’s hands smooth over my thighs. Hot sensation tingled where they slid, unused to the feel of another person’s hands touching me so intimately. My breathing hitched as my spine curved up and away from the soft bed.
Bernie bent at the waist, hovering over me as he took hold of my face and forced my gaze to his. “Who? Was it that fiancé of yours? The manly, angry giant with the sour expression?”
Unable to get the words out, I shook my head. The power in his voice was unexpected, stealing my ability to speak. I’d never seen such a brutality in his expression or heard such a deep tenor altering his voice. Every word he said was practically bitten out with a rage I didn’t know Bernie was capable of harboring. Instead of being afraid, which I wasn’t prone to anyway in the first place, I was incredibly intrigued by the change in his behavior.
I briefly wondered if it was the nature of his tiger surfacing, because from what I had grasped about it during our time together and my secret research after arriving into anything to do with the kind of creatures that roamed this world and the Underworld, I knew that it was a creature that was prone to reckless aggression and was strongly dominant by nature. As ill-fitting as that seemed to be in relation to the easy-going, jolly Bernie, I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if the beast inside of him sometimes broke through.
Which was totally hot, I might add.
I hadn’t forgotten what I’d learned of his past. I wasn’t quite sure what had come of his meeting with Danny, or if he had ever gone, but from what I could deduce, becoming the King of the Tigers was no small feat. Nor was his position within the Guardians and chosen protector to the visiting princess from the In-Between realm.
“Then, who?” Bernie demanded, pulling me out of my quiet deduction of his abrupt aggressive behavior.
Bernie’s mouth roamed the line of my jaw, his lower half pressing into me in a way that flushed electric sensation through my thighs with every shift. “I can’t take it. I want to be the only one who’s ever seen you look so gosh-darn beautiful. It’s making me crazy with jealousy, and I don’t know what I might be forced to do to any man who’s seen you looking so downright vulnerable.”
