AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Because I wanted it, too.
I just don’t have toadmitthat. Not to him, anyway. Not to myself.
And definitely not to my sister.
“I came up here…” I shift my gaze to one of the windows, hoping to avoid looking at him while I come up with some sort of excuse. “…for the air. Fresh, crisp, cool mountain air.”
He snorts. “Bullshit.”
I flinch. “I need to think about this, Ilarion.” Now, I do dare to look at him, glaring, but a slight stammer edges out the anger in my words. “We can’t just…jump into bed with one another and assume there won’t be consequences!”
Ilarion presses a warm hand to my stomach. The way he gently rubs, even as I feel the tension in his fingers, makes me want to moan. Moan in frustration…and pleasure.
How does he do this to me so easily?
“Consequences already happened, Taylor.”
There he goes again, making valid points I can’t argue against. I want to slap him. I want to shove him away.
I want to rip his pants off and ride him until I can’t think straight.
Instead of any of those options, I slowly shake my head. “It doesn’t matter. It’s still wrong.”
“I never pegged you for a coward.”
I slap his hand away. “Fuck—”
“You? I’m trying to, believe me.”
I stop short, trying desperately not to smile. The storm in his eyes has faded. But more lightning is never far away.
“Tell me something,” I say, spinning on my heels. “Would you be here with any random woman you happened to knock up?”
I’m trying to hide my insecurities behind a wall of self-righteousness, but it’s a thin wall, and a precarious one. Any half-decent wind will take down.
He eyes me carefully as a small, knowing smile plays across his lips. “Ah. Is that what you’re worried about?”
“I just…” I sigh and throw my hands up in exasperation. “I’m not interested in being one of your conquests. Okay? I’m not interested in being the convenient choice, either.”
“You want to know if you’re special?” He shakes his head in disgust. “Fucking hell, Taylor, how can you be so blind?”
That makes me pause. “What?”
He steps into my personal bubble again, his breath tickling my nose. “I was going to end my engagement to Celine in order to be with you.”
The air is officially vacuumed from my lungs. I can’t breathe. Or hear.
I definitely did not hearthat.
“Do you really think I could have married her?” He reaches for me, caressing the side of my face with more of that gentleness that seems so alien coming from him. “When all I want is you?”
“Ilarion—”
“Stop thinking,” he growls. “I did, and it makes a world of difference. You’re mine now, Taylor. Do you understand that?”
I can’t get the words out, so instead, I nod. It doesn’t dispel the guilt sitting in the pit of my stomach, but I doubt that’s going away anytime soon.
“I want to hear you say it,” he rasps, tilting my face up to his.
