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D’Artagnan
The last thing I needed was to find her attractive. The word wasn’t strong enough. Exceptional. Excruciatingly beautiful.So much so that for a few seconds, the rage consuming me for almost half of my life had faded. What had replaced the ugliness was desire.
A longing so intense I couldn’t breathe.
I wasn’t equipped for the sensations shooting through every muscle or the electricity that had become maddening the moment she’d walked closer. I hadn’t been prepared for the way her perfume had assaulted my senses, burning my very soul.
And I certainly hadn’t been primed to gaze on her incredible beauty. The pictures hadn’t done her justice, nor had standing across the street watching her like a voyeur. All I’d thought about was hurting her, taking what she’d taken from me. I’d wanted to break her in my hands, watching as the life’s blood flowed from her luscious body.
I’d wanted to cage her, forcing her to suffer the darkness, the wretched loneliness that I’d faced every day.
Now, all I could think about was fucking her.
After saying something to her friends, Lucia walked toward me, and my cock pressed hard against my jeans. The scent of her arousal was the sweetest fragrance I’d been fortunate to experience in years. I allowed the same heated gaze I’d given her earlier to fall to her long, shapely legs. My heartrate was increasing, which wasn’t good. Neither was the fact my hunger was becoming uncontrollable.
The only way I’d been able to handle my intense longing before was breaking bones. This was something I wasn’t used to, an entirely different kind of need sweltering inside of me.
She eyed me carefully then smiled, which was her way of giving me permission to take her away from her friends and the safety of the bar. Little did she know she was walking out with a monster.
My reflexes were more natural than I’d imagined and as I took her hand, the spark of electricity slamming my system was explosive. I was forced to take a deep breath before leading her through the crowd toward the exit. She didn’t resist, although I sensed her tension. If I were a decent man, I’d tell her to return to her table of friends, forgetting she’d seen me.
But I was no such man.
I was an animal.
A killer.
I was out for blood and destruction but not tonight.
Before the last few days, I’d seen her one time since the life-altering fire, the single visit home from college. Looking at her now, I realized she’d changed dramatically, suddenly becoming a woman. The chance meeting could have ended differently if her father hadn’t intervened. I’d ventured to the only place on earth that offered peace, a field of green buried in forest scarred by the ravages of fire. I hadn’t expected anyone to be there, yet the moment I’d set foot on the opposite end of the pasture, the vision of her had overwhelmed me.
Then her father had dragged her away, keeping her from me. But in my heart, I’d known without a doubt she’d noticed me, the shimmer of her eyes piercing mine. Maybe the stupid young man in me had expected her to find a way to escape the treachery of her father’s hold, finding me in the shadows.
That had never happened. She’d returned to her life, years spent in Paris as the toast of the town.
That’s when the ugliness had begun to fester, tearing apart what little hopes I had of becoming normal. That’s also when desire had roared to the surface. Where we’d once been friends, she’d suddenly become my obsession.
Tonight I would indulge in fulfilling the only fantasy that had kept me alive during the nights of loneliness, the terrible injuries inflicted over the years. Her face had remained in the forefront of my mind, her smile keeping me going. I’d thought differently about her at first, never to hurt her.
Then I’d been told the agonizing truth.
She’d left me to die alongside my family, never caring to find out that I’d survived the destructive fire. The tragedy had ended my youth, subjecting me to years of torment and pain.
From that moment on, I’d hated her, longing to break her into a thousand pieces.
This was… unexpected.
And dear God, perhaps disastrous.
Yet as I led her outside into the night air, the fact she was trembling in my hold pulled at an entirely different set of strings. They still confused me even though I’d killed to keep her safe. I wanted her. I needed her.
And dear God, no one and no sense of loyalty to a family who’d treated me like a dog would take her away from me.
Seeing her, breathing in her exotic perfume had confirmed what I’d already known.
She would be mine once and for all, queen to a king who’d soon destroy three regimes. The thought of such treachery was powerful. My actions would need to be calculated carefully.
