Page 57 of Condemned By Pain
She moves to the switchboard, turns on the warm ambient lights, silences the music, then comes back to me.
“Where were you during dinner?”
“I was busy.”
“Did you eat?”
I nod.
She sighs. “And here I thought I’d have to feed you again.”
“You don’t want to?” I ask, amused. The memory of her reaction at lunch surfaces, pulling a smile to my lips.
She looks away, a faint blush coloring her pale skin. I fight the urge to cup her cheek and crush my mouth to hers. I know she wouldn’t resist. And that would make my damnation complete.
I’m not strong enough to live again, only to die more painfully. She holds the power to bring my dead world to life, and the same power to burn that life with her hatred. And she will hate me. The day I kill her father, she’ll hate me more than she could ever love anything.
She brings her eyes back to me. “Do you like it?”
“That’s a dangerous question, Princess.”
She tilts her head. “Why? Will it get me killed?”
I frown. I hate hearing the word kill—and me—in the same sentence from her lips.
“I don’t want to hear that again.”
“What?” She looks confused.
“Kill. Or death. From your mouth.”
She smiles. Steps closer. Lifts her arms and locks them around my neck. The soft skin of her fingertips grazes my neck, and every small hair there stands at attention. Her breasts press below my chest, I can feel her nipples through the fabric of our shirts. My dick twitches.
“I’ll take that as you don’t want me to die,” her smile never leaving her beautiful pink lips.
I can’t stop my hand from moving to her waist and pulling her flush against me. Her body presses further into mine. Her smile fades. Her pupils expand instantly.
I commit to memory every place where her body touches mine. Her waist in my palm, the leather of my gloves keeping me from feeling it in detail. Her lower belly pressing against my hard dick. Her soft breasts pressed below my chest. Her head reaches my shoulders; she tilts it back to keep our eyes locked. It must strain her neck.
I could pull her up, make her lock her legs around my waist so she meets my eye level. We could talk without her straining. But that would be a very bad idea. What I’m doing is already bad enough. I can’t make it worse.
“Yes, Princess. I don’t want you to die. And I don’t want you to say those words again.”
She rises onto her toes, tugging me down. I know what she wants. I want it too. Badly.
So I let her go, turn, and walk away.
Elowen
I watch him leave, my mouth hanging open.
This was a spectacularly bad rejection.
I close my mouth and sink onto Bruno’s bed, feeling utterly heartbroken. Bruno comes to me and sits beside me, watching me with his warm blue eyes.
“He was giving me mixed signals. I wouldn’t have taken the initiative otherwise,” I mutter, stroking his fur.
Bruno licks my hand.
