Page 14 of Kissing the Kelpie

His hands close around my wrist, stopping me. “You mustn’t take this off. If you do . . .” His large eyes turn into two pools of concern.

“If I do what? I’ve lived this long without it. I’ll be fine,” I insist.

He shakes his head. “It’s me. Please, I don’t want to hurt you.” His lips pepper gentle kisses along my neck.

My fingers tangle in his long blonde hair again, pulling his head toward me even as my words try to push him away. “You make no sense. If you don’t want to hurt me, stop saying it, and don’t do it.”

Pausing, he nods, then shakes his head, looking again at my wrist. “I won’t, as long as you wear this. It will keep you safe and protected, not just from me, but in case someone else finds you or something unexpected happens.”

“You don’t need to worry about me.” He’ll relax and feel better when I tell him about the leshy watching over me and the animals prepared to attack anyone who thinks of hurting me. Who am I kidding? He’ll run for the hills. Any sane man would. Still, I should warn him.

“There’s something you should know. I’m safe here, as long as I stay in the forest. You don’t need to worry.” I look up in the trees for Safra. It will be easier to show him than to explain. That’s strange. She’s gone. I don’t see her. Anywhere.

To make matters worse, he’s working my body into a frenzy again. His fingers trailed down my center to the little hub of nerves between my legs. My hips shift as he circles my clit. Stupid body. It’s gone so long without, it doesn’t realize I need a break.

Heat and dampness gather at my apex, but my hips are tired. I’m wiped out, and his erection is growing against my side. I glance down at what I can see of his lower torso. He can’t be as long as it felt like he was.

Instinctively, my hand reaches down to stroke his velvety soft member. Or maybe he can. It has to be a foot long. I feel him grow and thicken in my hand. How can he recover this quickly? No man I’ve ever been with had this kind of stamina.

“I can’t help but worry about your safety. If I plan to father your young and stay mated with you, I need you ready for me and protected.”

“What?” I ask, annoyed.

How dare he presume I want kids or that I want him around for the long haul! At first, I thought the old-fashioned-style clothes and language he used were endearing, but hearing his ideas leaves me thinking he’s either the most chauvinistic man I’ve ever met or not from this century. Women are more than baby-making machines.

I certainly am. Aren’t I? Life here is a long haul from the life of a high-profile lawyer I hoped for.

My thoughts wash away as he takes handfuls of my sore breasts and crushes them. His tongue laps over my nipples while he slings his leg over mine, rubbing his knee between my legs. Feeling like a blob of jelly, I quiver. He pushes my leg out further, making room for himself before climbing over me.

“For anything,” he says, reaching his hand under the small of my back and dragging me down under him. Feeling his tip at my entrance, I can focus only on feeling him enter me.

Again, I remember the bracelet. It’s enchanted. This thing is what’s making me act like a stranger: lacing into my daughter and facing off with Em. Not to mention allowing a strange man, and I mean that in multiple ways now, to take advantage of and ravish my body as if I exist only for his pleasure.

“You’re using this thing to control me,” I rush out in a single breath. “That’s why I let you take advantage of me and abuse my body!”

He looks like I stabbed a knife in his heart. Holy cow, what the hell is wrong with me? Why did I say that? He did no such thing. The pained look on his face makes my chest hurt. He backs off me and shakes his head.

“You wanted this. You wanted me before I ever gave you the bracelet.”

I’m an awful person. I’m being hurtful to him on purpose because I’m hurting and can’t come to terms with my destructive behavior. I know it has nothing to do with the bracelet. It’s guilt over having sex with a man that isn’t Mike. My heart aches so much it feels like a shrapnel-laced bomb exploded inside me. In response, I’m trying to transfer the pain onto Finn.

“I’m the man you dream about when you touch yourself.”

How can he possibly know this? There’s no way he can prove it.

“You’re not. That’s ridiculous.” I can’t stop myself now. Why can’t I shut my mouth?

“You wanted me to come back.” He gathers my hair in his hand, and my body ignites, my swelling breasts and enlarging nipples giving me away. Why am I so turned on? I wasn't afraid before, but I just gave him ammunition to use against me. “You wanted me to pursue you.” He whispers as if it’s a dirty secret, which, in truth, it is.

“You don’t know that. You can’t possibly.”

He nods, “I do. I saw it in your dilated pupils when you looked at me the first time. I felt it in the change in temperature around the spring. Your desire perfumed the area for a mile radius. You wanted to couple with me,” his teeth scrape against my bottom lip. “From the night we met.”

My pulse speeds to an erratic beat. “We never even spoke.”

He raises an eyebrow, “Do you need to speak to someone to hunger for them in that way?”

I shake my head. “Fine. Stop making it sound nice and virtuous. I wanted to fuck you. Okay, Finn. I wanted it, and you gave it to me down and dirty. We fucked like animals. Fast and hard.”

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