I’d told Marcellus during one of our talks how much I love the sweet juicy fruit. My feet kick as my hands push away from his chest trying to get him to put me down so I can run over to the closest plants. He chuckles and sets me on my feet with a sparkle in his eyes. This man sure does love his surprises.
As much as I want to jump up and down while clapping my hands, I know it isn’t considered very lady-like. Instead, I try to maintain my composure as I swiftly move toward the closest plants to us. That’s a lie, I skip over to them like a little girl. Now that I've realized what they are, I can’t help but see all of the small red fruit hidden amongst the leaves. This will certainly work as a breakfast substitute. No bear for Marcellus today.
I reach out to pick some of the fruit but pause to make sure it’s okay first. “I wouldn’t be so cruel as to bring you here and not let you pick the fruit, Cecily,” he tells me. I was pretty sure he wasn’t that rude, but there was always the chance I was wrong.
He comes up to my side and joins me in picking the fruit. I’m momentarily distracted when I see his strong hand picking a beautifully ripe strawberry. The red skin glistens in the sunlight, and my mouth waters at the thought of how delicious it’s going to taste. To my surprise, he holds the object of my desire in front of me, his fingertips holding it by the leaves with the fruit pointed toward the sky.
While holding eye contact, he slowly brings it toward my mouth. I've never been one to imagine being fed, but this may be a memory I'll forever replay in my mind. As the berry approaches my mouth, my lips slowly part to allow it entry and they close around the strawberry just before I sink my teeth in its tender flesh.
As the flavor hits my tongue, I can’t help but close my eyes to savor the taste and a moan escapes as I chew the bite. Marcellus makes a choking sound and my eyes open again. His face has turned a slight shade of red, and he’s pulling his shirt away from his neck while trying to clear his throat. The discomfort written all over his features makes me smirk. So does his inability to meet my gaze.
Seeing as how he’s teased me endlessly by holding back on kissing me, I’m not above taking advantage of the moment. “Marcellus, this is the most delicious strawberry I've ever tasted. I’m not sure if it’s the berry itself or the man putting it in my mouth.” I’m pretty sure my words steal his ability to speak, batting my eyelashes, I say, “Would you mind giving me another? Just so I can try to decide which it is.”
Holding my mouth open a small width and barely sticking my tongue out, I show that I’m waiting for him to give me another. Finally, he glances back at my face and lets out a harsh breath. “You’re being awfully naughty, Darling. I should teach you a lesson about teasing me.” He makes a lunge to grab me, but I squeal and jump out of his grasp just in time.
Giggling, I hold my hands up in front of me and take a few steps back. “Who says I’m being naughty? Fair is fair, Marcellus, you’ve been the one who’s a terrible tease toward me. I’m just making things even between us.”
He narrows his eyes and pats the ground next to him without saying anything else. I take up my position next to him once more so I can continue gathering the delicious goodness. “You haven’t seen teasing yet, my dear. Just you wait,” he mumbles under his breath. In a stronger tone he says, “Let’s gather enough to fill us and head over to the grassy section over there,” with a nod of his head indicating where he was talking about.
Using the skirt of my dress, I pull it out to make a temporary basket and begin filling up the space until it’s overflowing. Marcellus better not get any ideas of me sharing. The moment we’ve gathered as many strawberries as possible, we head over to the grassy area he pointed out. There’s a single tree right in the middle of all the grass which is where we sit, using the trunk as something to lean against. I’m quite pleased with my gathering skills, my skirt holding more strawberries than my hands ever could. As soon as I get settled, I arrange the collection in my lap.
Marcellus glances over at my lap and his jaw drops observing how many I was able to collect. “Cecily, my darling, would you like to share some of those with me?” I peer from his face to my lap, back to his face, and scrunch up my forehead thinking about his question.Predictable.
“Hmm, I’m not sure I want to... I may need some convincing.” I can’t help but taunt him. In all honesty, I wouldn’t mind sharing with him. If we want more after they're gone, we can always go back and pick another bundle.
“You take a girl for nice surprises and she constantly gives you a hard time. Sheesh!” My hand tries to bring a berry up to my mouth but is stopped by a pull on my arm in the other direction. I quickly realize it’s Marcellus using his magic to stop me from being able to take a bite. My bottom lip sticks out and I give him my best pouting eyes.
He holds up his own berry and says, “Here, let me.” I take the bite he’s offering and a little juice ends up on my lip. Taking his thumb, he wipes it off and promptly puts it in his mouth to suck off the flavor. “You might be right, the strawberries I feed you do taste better.” There’s a husky tone to his voice that sends a chill of longing down my spine.
I give him a huff, not finding his teasing amusing. The growing tension between us is becoming too much, and I no longer possess the patience for his hesitation in kissing me. Trying to find a comfortable position, I shift against the tree to an angle where the bark isn’t digging into my back. Marcellus notices right away. “Scoot forward, I have a solution I think will be more to your liking than leaning on the tree.”
I do as he says and he dumps the rest of his berries in my lap before moving to sit behind me with his legs on either side of mine. His right arm wraps around my waist and pulls me in toward him until our bodies are flush. Shifting to the left so he’s able to reach the pile of strawberries, we finish the rest of them in silence.
With the safety his arms provide, it doesn’t take long before I’m relaxing back into him and laying my head on his shoulder. His arm has remained around my waist, but now his right hand is on my head, running his fingers through my hair. Now this is something I can get used to for the rest of my life.
“I can’t wait for you to see our home. I asked my lady-in-waiting, Thea, to prepare you a room next to mine, however I’m starting to consider that I’m going to want you closer than that.” Heat rushes into my cheeks with my confession.
The vibrations of a chuckle run through his chest behind me, but I don’t hear a sound as he tries to hold in his laughter. “Are you saying you’re going to want to share a room with me sooner rather than later?” My dream jumps to the forefront of my mind and my blush spreads down to my chest.
Ugh! I shouldn’t have said anything to him. Both of my hands come up covering my face to hide my embarrassment. My face is buried for barely a second, before he’s grabbing ahold of both my wrists and wrapping my arms around me along with his.
His lips brush along my cheek before he says, “I like the sound of that, Darling. I hate having to say goodbye to you every night. Although I look forward to seeing you every morning, it would be even better if I was to wake up with you already in my arms.” He gives a contented sigh at the thought he just voiced out, and I feel slightly better at saying mine out loud.
That is until I remember he won’t even kiss me, and I can no longer hold myself back from voicing it either. “How can you say something like that, Marcellus? You can’t even bring yourself to kiss me. I don’t understand how you can show me so much affection yet pull away, and fight it so much.”
My body has gone rigid with mounting irritation. I’m pretty sure my anger is rubbing off on Marcellus because he releases an exasperated sigh. “Do you really think I don’t want to run my hands into your hair and pull your head in for me to fully ravish your lips? Curse the Fates. Cecily, I want that more than anything! I told you yesterday I’m struggling with what’s true or not, and unfortunately this plays into that.”
“You must be jesting! How does that have anything to do with how you’ve been denying the pull of our bond? The magic surrounding a mating being finalized is self-driven and leads the couple into completing it naturally, based on instincts, and you’ve been trying to smother our growing spark.” I was unaware of this fact in completing the bond, however as the words come out of my mouth, there’s no denying the weight of truth they carry.
Too bad I can’t see his face right now, if his arms weren’t locked so tightly around me, I would turn around. The constricting hold he has on me, makes it evident he fears me running off on him given the chance. “Please, Cecily, be patient with me.” His voice sounds so small right now, and the melodic use of my name makes me pause to fully process what he said. The pleading laced in his words makes the fight drain out of my body and I find myself relaxing back into him.
My actions allow him to take a shuddering breath, as he buries his head in my neck. “Marcellus, I know we haven’t known each other for very long, but I do care about you. Can we please talk about what’s going on? I’ve had this foreboding intuition for a while now and it keeps getting worse. It’s making me apprehensive that I haven’t been able to figure out its meaning yet. We need to start acting like we’re partners.”
What I’m not saying right now is that my wariness started after meeting Silas. Knowing Marcellus, saying that part out loud will only cause him to be defensive. The hold his uncle has on him is unnatural and frankly disturbing. His head nods against my shoulder, but he doesn’t say anything yet so I wait for when he’s ready.
I’m so used to only hearing the sounds of nature around us that I startle a little when finally hearing his voice. “I've always felt like a piece of me has been missing from my life. Recently, some of that void has dissipated, like when figuring out how to use more of my magic. But a huge fraction of the empty abyss inside of me is still there. It’s a constant ache refusing to dissipate.
“I’m not sure how much of that ache has to do with my parents dying before I could even develop any memories of them. Another possibility is that Silas has always bore into me that I had no magic. All my life, I was taught everyone was blessed with magic, but there are those the Fates had deemed worthy of more magical abilities than others.
