Page 45 of Blood and Roses

"It's one of Eli's only rules...and..."

"I'm sorry. Forget I implied... I misread..." Rosa cringed.

"No, you didn't misread anything. It's not you at all. It's just too dangerous."

"I'm not afraid of what you are," she said, looking over her shoulder at him.

"Youare the one that is dangerous," he interrupted. "You are a distraction and would be a weakness, something they could use against me should the treaty go poorly. I won't risk your life like that." He kissed her bare shoulder before he lifted her robe back up. "I'm sorry."

Before she could reply, he was gone, the door closing firmly behind him.

"You idiot, Rosa," she muttered as she stared at the fire, wondering how she would face him again.

Eventually, she got the courage and went to look at her painting. He worked so quickly that to her untrained eye, it looked near completion. There was a gleam in her eye that she didn't fully recognize. She'd been looking at him with open passion and desire.

A sharp pain pierced her chest, growing stronger the more she stared at the portrait. He would have known she wanted him, heard it in her heartbeat every time he was near her.You silly, naive girl.How ridiculously good you are at lying to yourself about your own feelings. She drank his wine, her shoulder burning where he had kissed her.

Tears pricked at her eyes, and she hastily blinked them away. "Get it together, Rosa. He's only a guy."

She looked at the painting a moment longer before switching off the hallway light.

Outside, someone knocked on her door. Putting down the glass, she tightened her robe around her and opened it.

Snow stuck to Balthasar's hair and on the shoulders of his coat. His dark eyes filled with unexpressed emotion, and she looked away under their intensity.

"I'm not angry, Balthasar, so don't think you have to come and apologize," she said quietly, fiddling with the tie of her robe. "I'm not offended that you aren't interes?—"

She didn't have a chance to finish as he grabbed her around the waist, pulling her up to kiss her violently before releasing her just as quickly.

"You don't understand, Rosa," he whispered breathlessly, his eyes filled with fear. "From the moment I saw you step out of the car at Gwaed Lyn, I have craved to be with you. If I let it, this fire will burn me up completely. I can't allow it, not now, not again."

Rosa gripped the collar of his coat, bringing him back to her mouth before he could back away from her. Strong arms lifted her, pushing her up against the wall. Her legs wrapped tightly around him as his hand shot out, slamming the door shut against the world.

Her hands pulled at his coat, letting it fall to the ground in a heap. She gasped as his mouth found her shoulder before moving back up her neck.

"What about Eli's rules?" she asked between kisses.

"Eli's rules can go to hell," he said as her hands pushed through his hair.

With his impossible strength, he carried her up the stairs to her bedroom. His shirt buttons tore as she fought at the fabric that separated them. He placed her down on the bed gently, smoothing her hair back from her face as he kissed her slowly, testing the softness of her lips. Blood pounded in her ears as his hand ran under the edge of her robe and along her thigh. Tentatively, she moved her hands down the scars on his torso, admiring the feel of the hard muscles underneath. He moved to kiss her collarbone and chest, his hand resting on her hip.

"May I?" he asked as he gripped the tie to her gown. She nodded, too nervous to move as he unwrapped her slowly as if to savor the moment. His face was smug as he looked down the shape of her body. "What did I tell you? Made for seduction."

Rosa's relieved laugh was smothered as his mouth found the curve of her breast. Her hands gripped his bare shoulders tightly as he lifted her up onto his lap. Rosa touched his face, running her fingers along his cheekbones and kissing them as she had longed to do. She had dreamed of this moment, the reality outweighing anything she could have imagined.

"You are so lovely when that mask is down," she whispered, kissing his temple.

"I'll leave it down, but only for you." Balthasar smiled, sweet and genuine as he twisted his fingers in her hair. The tender moment passed, and Rosa was kissing him again, pulling him down to her in a driving hunger to have his weight resting on top of her, inside her. He met her demanding hands as she relieved him of the rest of his clothes. He smoothed the hair from her face.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" he asked, the confidence he always exuded abandoning him.

She kissed him roughly. "You know that it is. You can hear it in my pulse, the tremor in my voice... You painted it in my eyes."

"Yes, but I must ask," he said, his hand moved to grip her hip tightly. She brushed her fingers down his spine.

"You don't have to question my motivations. I want you like I haven't wanted anything else in my whole life," Rosa said as her legs wrapped around him, bringing him down on top of her. Balthasar didn't ask her again but covered her face and mouth with soft kisses.

She cried out as he entered her, moving steadily as she held onto him. His eyes pinned her with a look of passion that mirrored her own. It wasn't just his masculine beauty that shewas drawn to, but his complicated heart and mind, his words and art behind all of his physicality, that sent pleasure coursing through her. She felt possessive of him, wanting to hold onto the stolen moment forever.

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