Page 1 of Ache
Prologue
Juliet
Age 16
“And what princessare you pretending to be tonight?” Tage slithers into my bedroom window like the cat burglar he is. It’s dark. He’s late. I’m impatient.
“When I'm with you, I’m not a princess, I'm a Capulet.”
“So, I'm calling you Juliet?” He creeps across the room.
“That will do.” I giggle softly as he skims across the top of my bedcovers and delivers a possessive, heart-stopping kiss. I thread my hands in his short, dirty-blond hair and hold on for dear life. I live for these clandestine moments. These secret rendezvous that are as dangerous as life and as imminent as death. Tage and I live in a perilous universe where violence rules and power reigns. We aren't supposed to know each other. Our paths were never intended to cross. He isn't supposed look at me or talk to me, let alone touch me. I'm the Lladró in the glass curio cabinet left to look out over the world, alone. Separated, a precious porcelain figurine to be admired by one man, and one man alone.
“Did you miss me?” Tage asks as he sheds his leather jacket and then his shoes.
“Are you seriously asking that question?” I pull off my shirt and reveal my little pink, lace bra.
“I like to hear the answer.” He covers me with his big, broad body.
“You know I did. I live for you,” I squeak like a church mouse.
“I live for you,” he professes, pressing his mouth to mine, swiping his tongue between my lips. An electrical charge passes through my entire body. It's a feeling only Tage can bring forth.
The first time he kissed me, I understood what it meant to be alive. For so long, I have been a doll. Propped in my pretty pink cage and hidden away from the world.
If anyone found out he was here, knew what we were involved in, or taking part in, he’d be executed like a prisoner of war. On the spot. No trial or jury, just guilty.
Tage knows the risks. He knew them the moment he laid eyes on me. He knew them as he silently stalked me for months. He knew them the night he crawled into my window and stole my first kiss. He knew them the night he took my virginity and uttered the words “I love you” — and he knows them now. We both do. Our relationship is treacherous, but it's undeniable. Incontestable, irrefutable. It's the air, and we suffocate when we’re not together.
“How’s my caged little bird?” Tage hooks his thumbs into the side strings of my panties. They’re dainty and made entirely of lace. Much too mature for someone my age.
“She wants to be set free.” I wiggle beneath his imprisoning body, helping him to rid the restrictive material as much as I can.
“Soon enough.” He smothers me with a kiss while forcing my legs apart.
I fly higher and faster than a fighter jet as his essence seeps into my soul. As he brings me back to life. As my heart begins to beat and the apex of my thighs begins to pound.
I inhale fresh air for the first time today.
“I missed you,” I sigh emphatically.
“I missed you, too. Every goddamn second.” Tage’s breathing quickens as the bulge beneath his zipper hardens rapidly. I love the pressure. The feel of the hard rod smashing against my pelvis.
I snake my hand between our bodies and pull at the button of his jeans, tugging until it comes loose and the whisper of metal teeth hisses.
“Ah,” Tage groans gutturally as I stroke his erection. He taught me what he likes. Showed me how to touch him and what he’s capable of when touching me. “Have you been taking your pills like a good girl?”
“Yes. Everyday, just like you told me.” I hide my birth control in the lining of my mattress, right where he showed me.
“Good. Good girl. My girl.” Tage kisses me between rasps, firmly, possessively, as he pushes his jeans down past his thighs.
“Are you wet for me?” He nudges the head of his erection against my entrance.
“Yes,” I moan. “I’ve been thinking about you.”
“And touching yourself?” He slides in just slightly.
“Yes,” I huff. “Like you wanted.”
