AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lucian followed me to the couch. He sat next to me, his gaze never leaving my body. “Elaborate, please. I’m missing something. How is giving me sass and sarcasm being realistic?”
“It’s self-preservation!” I exploded. “You can say until the cows come home that you’re going to stick around and be a perfect partner for me. I’m not going to believe any of it until I see it. Sure, one dinner is a start. I get that, but you’re going to ditch me. It’s only a matter of time.”
“Why do you doubt me?”
“Because every other guy I’ve been with has!”
“I’m not them!” he seethed, his eyes flashing with anger.
I snorted. “Because you’re my soulmate?”
“Yes!”
“Soulmate or not, you’ll get tired of me eventually. Once you realize you can have a hotter girl...” I shook my head. “I’m great for conversation, but you know you deserve a girl who matches your looks.”
He shook his head. “I’m looking at the most attractive woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
“Stop you’re just—”
“No, I’m not.” He leaned forward and took my hand in his. “Do I strike you as a man who just says things to placate another? No woman compares to you, Katerina. When you leave, all I can think about is when you’ll be home again. Whatever physical flaws you think you have, I don’t see. Even before we met, when I imagined my ideal mate, I saw you.”
He cupped my face with his hand, the other settling on the curve of my waist. “The same figure. Your long hair. Perhaps not every vivid detail, but I craved you. When I finally saw you in the flesh, it was like my every fantasy came true.”
Tears pooled in my eyes as I listened to him. “But I’m...I’m...bigger than...”
“Why do you assume that’s ugly?” he asked softly. “Who told you that lie?”
“Everyone,” I croaked out. All my life. Everyone at school, growing up. Comparing me to my perfect younger sisters.
Every boyfriend. The media. Magazines. Society.
He didn’t say a word. He simply drew me into his arms on the sofa, and I broke down into sobs. The pain of past rejection, the pressure to live up to a standard I wasn’t genetically designed for, the relief and love he felt for me... it all was too much to hold onto. I released it all into his chest. When I finally stopped sobbing and my face was wet and hot, he lifted my face toward him.
“Better?” he asked.
“Yeah.” I wiped at the tears, needing to blow my nose.
Now I really must look ugly. “I need a tissue. Give me a minute.” I grabbed for the Kleenex box and mopped up my face.
When I finally felt like I’d gotten control of myself, I sat down beside him once more.
Then Lucian leaned in and kissed me. Soft and first, but as his lips touched mine, heat exploded between us. That same hunger and need that I felt the night of Sarah’s wedding. It would be so easy to just fall into that same heat and pleasure. But I was scared.
“Tell me I can trust you,” I whispered against his lips. “That you aren’t going to break my heart.”
“You can trust me,” he said softly. “I’m not going to hurt you. My word is my bond, and ours is forever.”
Swoon. I pulled him in for another kiss, pressing my chest against his, ready to have him right then and there. He did something that surprised me.
He picked me up. Correction, he lifted me up into his arms and I was being held in a classic damsel on a romance cover pose. Never before in my life had any guy ever attempted such a gesture of affection, let alone achieved it so easily.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and gazed lovingly into his dark eyes. My heart was already his, completely open and vulnerable. Lucian could do whatever he wanted to me and then some—for better or worse.
I was smitten, head over heels, and it was dangerous.
Lucian carried me to the bedroom, sat on my bed, and stroked a few strands of hair out of my face. “You’re breathtaking. So beautiful. Would you stand so I can see all of you?”
“I...okay.” I crawled off his lap and stood in front of him, awkward and shy.
