Page 19 of Ferocious Nightmare

She didn’t respond, and the air flickered with tension as I drug my lips to the crook of her neck. Her breath hitched as she inhaled, and I could see the points of her nipples harden through the thin material of her dress.

Of course, she wasn’t wearing a bra.

Freckles dotted her skin like kisses from the sun, and I counted each one in my head as I pressed my lips to them.

I lowered one of my hands down her side and to her belly, pulling her closer. She grasped my hand, her fingers digging in between mine to clasp them tight.

Her body was both soft and firm, molding easily against mine, so pliable, so willing, so…inviting.

Her fingers tightened, hesitating, then she pulled mine up towards her breast.

I closed my palm over it, breathing out against her ear, “Aster.”

“Touch me, Coulter.”

My fingers itched to squeeze. To touch. It had only been a few days and I was already losing our bet.

I needed to stay in control.

If I lost it, I wouldn’t be able to outmaneuver my father. I was in the battle for all our lives, and the only way to win was to be a hundred percent focused on the right things.

“I can’t.” I opened my hand and laid it lightly on her hip, putting some space between us. She pulled in a breath, but didn’t answer me.

Clearing my throat, I moved on. “Thanks to your rebelliousness, my father now has his eye on you.”

“Thanks to nothing, Coulter. It’s not my fault that he’s a creepy dick.”

“True. Regardless, we need to figure out a way to keep him away from you until we can destroy him. I’m going to explain everything to you—”

“Thank Dios! The man knows how to communicate.”

“But,” I continued, ignoring her sarcasm, “you have to swear on your father’s life that you will never repeat another word to anyone else about this."

“You mean I have to hold back at my next ladies’ night? Shoot.”

“Aster,” I warned.

“Seriously. Who would I tell? The only person I hang out with is Dante, and he’s paid to hang out with me.”

“He likes to hang out with you,” I tried to defend him. Or her. Or me. I didn’t know who, but I was defending someone.

“Sure, sure, sweetheart,” she pat my hand patronizingly. The nickname rolled off her tongue with such saccharine sweetness that it had the opposite effect of what she’d intended. Desire made my fingers tighten on her hips. I wanted to pull up her dress, bend her over the hood of my car, and spank the innocence out of her.

There was no room for that kind of softness in our world and yet, her refusal to give up that sweetness pulled me under her spell like a drug.

“Aster.” My voice was a low growl. “This is serious.”

“Fine, fine,” she breathed out a laugh. “I swear I won’t tell.”

Satisfied, I took in a deep breath, dreading this conversation. But the only way to get Aster on board was to explain everything. “Years ago, my father manipulated our lives, and the result of that was Lily's death." She stiffened. "She died in my arms."

"Oh, Dios, Coulter, I didn't know." She tried to turn around again but I forced her still. I didn’t want to have to look into her eyes to tell her about all this.

"Years later, once again, he manipulated Bourbon and my life, bringing Rose into it. The result of that was a blessing, and Rose and Bourbon fell in love." She nodded, as if she agreed. "My father couldn't handle that. For the first time in a very long time, Bourbon rebelled against him, all because of his love for Rose. My father couldn't have a rebellious son, not in our world. He also knew that killing Rose would only make a stronger enemy out of Bourbon so, instead, he took you.” I straightened, forcing the next words out of my mouth, "That's when I discovered that he'd raped Lily before she died. And I think he did it more than once."

Aster was still. As still as a statue.

“I don’t trust him not to hurt you.” I snarled, angry just thinking about it. I pulled a knife from my pocket. "From here on out, I want you by my side, always." I handed her the knife. "And if, for any reason, you find yourself alone with him, I want you to use this on him if you don’t have a gun.”

---