Page 49 of Caged By Dance and Desire

“Hasannah. I have lived for almost five hundred years. There is no hurdle you could throw at me that I couldn’t overcome.”

“Some things aren’t meant to be overcome. Some things have to be endured.”

“Then I’ll endure them with you, cygnet.” His fingers caressed my face. “Nothing but time and actions will prove it, but for now you still have my words.”

The arm around my waist shifted, and he slipped his hand under the low hem of my dress, the other tilting my head to the side. I didn’t resist.

I should tell him now. Tell him that sexual intimacy would always be difficult/intermittent at best, nonexistent at worst. Start the Phases and get this over with.

Which ones had we passed already?

Oh, yes.

Phase One: He Shows Sympathy and Understanding. √

Phase Two: He Insists He Is Not Like All the Others. √

Phase Three: (Bargaining) He Insists More Sex Makes Everything Better or It Can’t Hurt That Bad, You Must Be Exaggerating.

AKA: Gaslighting √√

To be fair, Andrei hadn’t dived into the dark second half of Three yet. He still mostly hovered between One and Two. But my Phases had yet to fail me.

“Anah?” His lips grazed my neck the same time his fingers grazed my clit.

No. I didn’t want to speed the Phases along. Mostly because this time I might be trapped in them rather than walking out.

Seven wasn’t an option, so Four through Six would behell.

He suckled at my neck, teeth grazing my skin as his fingers worked to bring me to a peak.

I grabbed the back of his neck, holding on, my hips undulating against his fingers as I gasped, breath coming faster and faster, my vision going dark as I closed my eyes.

My hitching moans filled the air, Andrei's deep throated sound of contented encouragement vibrating against my skin.

As my body fell over the edge, sharp teeth pierced my neck, his mouth pulling at me, the sensation hypnotic, a shimmering heat from where his mouth suckled weaving down to join where his fingers continued to work me to a frenzied peak.

Someone moaned, and I collapsed in his arm, nothing left in me to hold myself up.

Andrei continued to pleasure me, continued to suckle at my neck, his body tensing against me, the sounds he made no longer contented but primal.

He pinched my clit just as his teeth dug deeper, and I fainted.

I roused moments later, more than a little flustered.

I'd fainted.

I'd fainted like some ebook heroine who'd been overwhelmed by pleasure.

Nha d?u ng?c.

Andrei attempted to appear concerned. . .if a smug, self-satisfied masculine grin meant concern.

Until I wiped the grin off his face, pushing out of his arms and to my feet. “I need a few moments to compose myself, Andrei.”

Today he’d made me come more times than I had fingers to count. I’d experienced pleasure without pain, and he hadn’t insisted on reciprocation. This was upending every pattern I counted on in order to see bad things coming, and I needed to rebalance.

He was High Fae, not a human man. The Phases were starting out so much better, but would end so much worse. But maybe, maybe I could. . .trust him? Maybe this wouldn’t end badly? He couldn’t lie, which meant he believed all the baloney he’d been telling me. But men always believed their own lies. That was part of Phase One and Two also.

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