My heart starts to pound with a mixture of emotions, and I can’t focus on one; there are too many.
“Yes.” Silver eyes speak as loudly as his words do.
So that meant no brothel. I wasn’t being sold. My heart didn’t sing or fly like all the butterflies I had set free. I had imagined this moment differently.
I knew why I wasn’t free. This wasn’t a choice.
Lucca licks his lips, and my focus zones in on the movement. “Do I have a choice?”
His lip tugs up slightly. “Would you rather go to Igor?”
My focus leaves his lips. His hand still cups my cheek. His thumb is still moving back and forth. I wasn’t sure if he was aware of what he was doing.
“No.” It’s a whisper.
“Good.” His word has him moving closer, and he claims my lips. My stomach twists with fear while my heart expands with a want for Lucca that I can’t explain. My mouth moves against his, and when his hand glides down to my neck and further until his hand grazes my breasts. I open my eyes to find him looking at me too. Our kisses slow until they halt completely.
“I can take care of you.” Lucca’s hands rest on my waist, his touch as heavy as chains that I’m not sure I want to break.
“I can take care of myself.”
He nods. “I know you can. But let me take care of you.”
Conflicting emotions raced through me. I’m drawn to Lucca, and being here with him is better than the alternative, but I can’t release the iron-clad grip I have on hope.
I know it’s a golden thread that a pair of scissors hovers over, but maybe, just maybe, I could see home again.
My eyelids flutter closed with the pain of not seeing my parents again.
“Will you let me, Evie?”
The question has me looking up at Lucca. If I said no, what would happen?
I nod, afraid my voice would betray me. Lucca smiles, and it lights up his silver eyes. My stomach tightens for a completely different reason this time. When his lips find mine, the kiss is soft and all-consuming, like a memory. I allow myself to get lost in this soft touch. That is new to me.
His long fingers flutter along my flesh, like an artist or a musician who is creating something amazing.
His touch gives me power, and I deepen the kiss. I taste the lust on his tongue, yet his movements are gentle. Even as he unbuttons my dress, he undoes one button at a time, slowly and carefully.
The cold air presses against my naked flesh as the dress falls to the floor.
Lucca steps away from me before reaching back in and picking me up. My arms instantly wrap around his neck as he carries me to the bed and places me in the center. Everything he is doing is gentle, and as I lay down, each kiss he presses to my flesh gets absorbed like light to the darkness inside me. I want to ask him what he’s doing as he picks up my hand, raising my arm slightly in the air. He leaves a trail of kisses up my arm that causes all the hairs to rise. He stops at my neck and leans over me.
His silver gaze roams my face. My breaths are harsh as my heart pounds rapidly. Each touch, each kiss, feels like an apology. Lucca moves down the bed until he’s in between my legs. His fingers run along the inside of my thighs, and he parts my legs.
I’m staring at him, waiting for him to remove his clothes, but he doesn’t. His head dips, and I gasp as he presses a kiss against my entrance. Each kiss has me falling away from the pain and closer to the pleasure as he runs his tongue along my clit before entering me. My hands leave the quilt and sink into his thick black hair.
He presses his tongue deeper inside me, forcing my back to arch as my body sings with the pleasure that’s pumping through me. The ache that was constantly between my legs fades the more he licks and sucks me. My mind jumps to why the ache is there, and I freeze for a moment. One of his hands reaches up and touches my stomach gently, and it quietens the anger in me, and I refocus on the pleasure I’m feeling.
Lucca’s tongue does all the work inside me as his fingers work on my clit. A groan slips from my lips, and I glance down. Seeing Lucca in between my legs has my orgasm coming quickly. I cum hard and fast and cry out as I sink my fingers deeper into his hair. My body jerks and spasms as I release myself onto Lucca’s tongue. Once my body stops jerking, Lucca licks a few more times before coming up.
His chin and lips are coated with my juices, and he grins at me. I’m still struggling to breathe as he wipes his face with the edge of his shirt.
I lie back and close my eyes as my body slowly returns to some semblance of itself.
“I meant it, Evie. I can take care of you.”
This time when I look at Lucca, his gaze carries a vulnerability like he was the one lying on the bed naked, with his legs sprawled. I sit up, pulling my legs closer to my body.
“I know.” My answer doesn’t seem to satisfy him, and he moves back to the edge of the bed and sits down.
I hold still and don’t drag my legs closer to me like I want to.
His gaze bores into mine. “What is it that you want?”
I want to go home.
I don’t answer him because my tongue feels too heavy in my mouth right now.
