AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Fourteen
The knife clattered to the floor at their feet. Crispin stared down at Maggie in horror. When she opened her eyes, the fear pouring from them stabbed him in the heart. However, the fear vanished, and sympathy wrapped around him. He gathered Maggie in his arms and held her close to his heart. Trembles racked his body, but they weren’t all from him. They sank to the floor as their emotions overcame them.
Maggie lifted her head, and Crispin plundered her lips. He drank from them in his desperation to forget what he had almost done to her. His lips begged for forgiveness, while his tongue stroked against hers with dangerous intent. Maggie clung to him, her kisses making her own demands that Crispin met with each pull of their lips. He should pull away from her and demand that she leave. She wasn’t safe with him. But he couldn’t release her from his arms. Maggie was his salvation. The need coursing through him was more powerful than anything he had felt before.
Flashbacks from his past clawed and dug into the sweet harmony surrounding them. He refused to allow them to inflict harm. Maggie was too pure for him, but he needed her to survive. He fought his demons with each kiss and caress upon Maggie. He tore off her cap and threaded his hands into her hair, devouring her lips with a need he couldn’t control.
Maggie gasped at the intense desire circling them. Crispin’s lips trailed a path of danger along her neck, branding her with his need. Each little nip pressed harder against her skin. She wanted to soothe him. However, he entrapped her in his desperate passion, and her body begged for release.
They tore at each other’s clothing in between their fiery kisses. Each caress grew bolder than the one before. Crispin worshipped Maggie’s body, drawing out her passionate cries. Her lingering moans and soft sighs soothed his battered soul. Her fingernails digging into his back heightened his need to make her his again. And her kisses gave him proof of the salvation he reached when he held her in his arms.
He rose, picked up Maggie, and carried her to the bed. While he acted like an animal with his scattered emotions, he wasn’t a brute to take her on the floor.
Maggie writhed underneath Crispin. Her need grew uncontrollable. “Crispin,” she whimpered.
Crispin paused, staring at her with a crazed expression. Unlike the one before, this one informed Maggie how he meant to fulfill every desire she held. His stormy gaze held hers, while his hand brushed across her core. Her whimpering turned into a torturous moan. His eyes narrowed as if he hoped for a different reaction. Then he slid two fingers inside her. Her wet channel guided them in smoothly, and he started a rhythm of movement, strumming her body with his touch.
“Ahh.” Maggie’s eyelids fluttered closed at the exquisite sensation.
“Open your eyes,” Crispin demanded.
She slowly dragged her eyes open, and Crispin’s stare dominated her senses. They blazed with the victory of pleasing her, yet she also noted the determination to possess her soul. Maggie was at his mercy to do whatever he pleased. She welcomed him into her heart, and it was only right for him to have her soul, too.
“I love you, Crispin,” Maggie whispered.
Crispin moaned. “Ah, love.”
Her declaration pierced through years of feeling unloved and unwanted. The desperation that overcame him when he realized he had almost killed her washed away. He only wanted to love her as gently as he could. She deserved nothing less. However, as much as he wanted to worship her with soft kisses and caresses, his body demanded to fill her and make them one.
Maggie noted how her words calmed him. His touch grew soft, and his features settled in peace. When he slid inside her, it wasn’t with a force to forget his demons, but with a gentleness of a man who loved the woman he claimed. Each stroke spoke of his devotion to her. Each slow, agonizing movement sparked a flame of desire filled with an everlasting emotion shared only between them.
Crispin laced their hands together and bent his head to brush whisper-soft kisses across Maggie’s lips. Their bodies moved as one. Their legs entwined, and Crispin’s chest brushed across Maggie’s breasts, causing the friction to intensify with each movement. Maggie whimpered again when Crispin pushed in deeper and settled without moving. She pushed her hips against his, desperate for him to move. However, he stayed still. Her wetness gripped his cock, clinging with her need. Her fingers tightened around his. Each time her hips pressed tighter, he clung to his control.
He waited.
When one lived in hell their entire life, they only wished to savor heaven for as long as they could. Maggie was his heaven. Her body was the temple he wished to worship every day for the rest of his life. He planned to pledge his devotions to her daily.
However, for now, he only wished to express three simple words he had never spoken to another soul before. “I love you.”
Crispin’s devotion ripped from his soul in a raw voice as he soared into Maggie. Each stroke drove deeper and deeper, with Maggie melting underneath him. He unraveled around her, and Maggie caught him in her embrace. He clung to her in the aftermath of their passion. Her soothing words seeped into his conscience, and tears slid down his cheeks.
She never asked why he cried. She only dried his tears and kept whispering her love for him. He closed his eyes, fighting against the pull of sleep, but the lingering effects of the sedative dragged him back under. He would only rest for a minute. Then he would explain to Maggie his lies and the deceit that followed in his wake.
~~~~~
MAGGIE CONTINUED TO hold Crispin close to her heart while he slept. His tears had long dried, but the proof still lay heavy in Maggie’s heart. They were a symbol of the demons he held onto. She wanted to fight every single one of them until they declared defeat. Now, she only needed to learn what they were.
She never imagined her evening would end in such a dramatic conclusion. When she set out, it had been to visit with Crispin, and instead she had witnessed a conspiracy with a mysterious girl, Rogers, and Ravencroft. She had gained no answers from Crispin. As she came upon him, he had come at her with a knife in a confused state, then he made love to her in a way that kept her heart skipping a beat. It had started intensely and ended in sweet torture.
When Crispin remained sleeping, not even rousing when she moved, Maggie realized their discussion would have to wait. She heard the carts moving on the streets below. Soon the vendors would sell their wares, and Maggie would miss her chance to sneak home undetected. She tiptoed across the room and dressed.
“Maggie,” Crispin murmured.
Maggie glanced over her shoulder to see he had only talked in his sleep. A smile crept across her face. He thought of her, even in his dreams. His action assured Maggie that all would be well. She returned to his side and stared down at Crispin while he slept. She bent over, brushed his hair from his eyes, and placed a soft kiss against his lips.
“We shall talk later, my love.”
Maggie hadn’t even taken a step toward the door when it flung open. She gasped and searched for the knife Crispin had dropped. She didn’t even notice who the intruder was. Maggie saw the knife, ran to pick it up, and turned, ready to defend herself.
