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“Rej’thorek! You’re home!” he exclaims. “Stop hiding out there and come in to say hello. I have a new friend I want you to meet.”
Something about this makes me chuckle to myself. I’m being introduced to the person who is here thanks to me. I’ve already met her, I think. The back of my neck heats as I recall teasing her naked body. We have certainly met.
But I just step into the room, trying to act casual. “A new friend?” I repeat in an assured, yet curious tone. “How nice.” I lean against the door frame, watching her from a distance.
I don’t want to scare her and ruin her mood. I prefer it when she’s happy, I’ve decided. But I also don’t want to seem weak and overeager. It’s important that she knows that I could take her or leave her, that any attention I give her is my own choice. I don’t know how long I’ll keep her around, but I don’t want her to grow spoiled or self-important.
She looks up, and our eyes meet. It sends an electric thrill through me, a strange sensation unlike any I’ve experienced. She does more to me with just her eyes than others do with their entire bodies, and I don’t know what to make of that yet.
Her face lights up, the shock and surprise to see me there etched across her features. She doesn’t look displeased by my appearance. There’s a hint of nervousness, but underneath that, she seems almost…relieved?
I could be reading too much into it, the victim of wishful thinking. I study her face, wanting to know for sure. But then she looks away, blushing, and her expression changes to something shy and modest.
My stomach coils, desire for her springing back to life with a renewed vigor. I don’t know why I want her for myself so badly, but I do. She intrigues me in a way that I seem unable to escape.
Even if I could remove myself from her, I don’t want to. I want to explore the sensations she brings me, the passion she breathes into my tired life. I want to chase this high, ride this wave, and see how far we can go.
I don’t know what this fire is, that she holds. But I’m not going to stop until I do.
“You can talk to your friend later,” I tell Akos. “Right now, it’s my turn to get acquainted with her.”
Her lips part in surprise, and my gaze drops to them. She glances up and meets my eyes briefly, then looks away again. Her blush deepens until it blooms to the tips of her ears. I wonder where else humans blush, and what color she is underneath her clothes.
I barely register Akos leaving the room.
My mind has a tenuous grasp on anything but her. The only reason I pay any attention to him at all is because I want to know when we are finally alone. He departs quietly, and I study her in silence at first. I wanted her to myself, but now that I have her, my stomach flutters as though I am nervous to approach her.
I have no explanation for these feelings. This is my home, and she belongs to me. I won her, and I will do with her as I please. I don’t need to impress her or gain her approval. Why should I be nervous?
She doesn’t seem to notice, studiously avoiding my gaze. Her hands are folded demurely in her lap, and she stares down at her laced fingers. I slowly cross the room to sit beside her on the couch, wondering how to initiate a conversation with her.
She was so light and carefree with Akos.
I know that it isn’t a competition, that it doesn’t matter if she prefers his company to mine. She’s mine, in any case. I’ll let Akos entertain her while I’m away, but only when I don’t want her first. But for some reason, it suddenly feels as though it matters very much if I can’t please her the way that he did. I know that she enjoyed my touches the other day. To be honest, when I first brought her home, that was all I expected to do with her.
It wasn’t until I heard her talking with Akos that it occurred to me that I might want that too. Not just physical pleasure, but companionship. That conversation with a female could be as entertaining as bedroom games.
I shake off my sudden attack of insecurity. I’m a Prince, after all. Why should I worry about what I can offer her? She’s already doing well for herself, just being here with me. There’s plenty of others, like Yedina, who find me perfectly suitable.
Why am I tying myself into knots trying to impress this human? It’s absurd, I know, but I can’t seem to get rid of this gnawing feeling in my chest.
She straightens herself up when I sit next to her. Her eyes are still on her hands, but then she darts a tentative look over to me. She doesn’t meet my face, only looking somewhere around my chest, before she pulls her eyes away back to her hands.
Despite my best efforts, I’m still tongue tied. Her shyness is enchanting to me. I know that it’s on me to speak first, but I can’t think of anything to say. I suppose I’ve never relied on my conversational skills much in the past.
I stare at her precious countenance, admiring her profile. She must sense me because she shyly looks over again. This time, our eyes lock.
There’s a fluttering inside of me as I drink her in. I don’t want her to look away before I get my fill, and my powerful hand comes up to cup her chin. Her gray eyes go wide, her eyebrows rising expectantly.
I hold her face there, capturing every curve and plane with my mind. The slope of her nose, the slant of her forehead, the way her golden skin glows at the apple of her cheeks.
Then I lean into her, claiming her mouth in a kiss so soft it surprises even me.
43
LAURA
His lips are as soft as I remember, a startling contrast to his outward appearance. Nothing about Rej'thorek looks tender. But his kisses somehow are. Remarkably so.
