Page 49 of Blood and Roses

"Are you sure I'm not going to get you into trouble by being up here?" she asked as she tucked her hand down the inside of his loose shirt.

"Get into trouble by whom? I'm the boss, remember? If you are worried about Cecily, she will be gone by 7 am tomorrow and won't be home until the afternoon. Eli won't arrive until tomorrow night. I could spend all day in bed with you tomorrow if I wanted to." Balthasar ran his hands down her arms. "That idea certainly has its merits." He unclipped her hair and smiled. "You smell like cinnamon."

"Oh, no, my rolls!"

"Don't worry. I turned them off before I carried you up here." He kissed her neck. "I didn't want you rushing away when I had you right where I wanted you."

"Really? And where is that?"

"Right here, with me," he said as he kissed behind her ear. "I like the way your face changes when you look at my paintings. The artist in me feels very justified."

Rosa looked him up slowly. "I don't think your self-portraits really do you justice."

"You haven't seen my nudes."

Rosa let herself fall backward onto his bed. "Now would be a really good time to show me."

Balthasar leaned down over her,kissing her roughly with a bit of bite. He could hear her heart racing as he hooked his fingers into the top of her shirt and popped the buttons, exposing her lace covered breasts.

"I love that you live such an exciting life under your clothes," he said, kissing her chest. "Lingerie is one of the great human inventions."

"I'm glad you approve," she said as he undid the button of her jeans and pulled them off her slowly.

"I definitely approve." Balthasar moved back down over her, kissing her stomach, his fingers moving slowly up the inside of her thigh. She moved against him, hooking her legs up around his back. Her fingers tightened around his hair as his fingers slipped under the satin of her underwear and stroked her slowly.

His other hand glided underneath her back to unclip her bra, freeing her breasts for his wandering mouth. Rosa murmured something incomprehensible as he leaned over her, his mouthcatching her gasp as his fingers entered her. Her hazel eyes darkened as she gripped his shoulders, her nails running sharply down his back, feeding off his own excitement. She squirmed against him, her breath changing to ragged gasps as the orgasm gripped her. Only then did he tear the sides of her underwear and pulled the ruined scraps of satin from her body.

"Hey, I liked those," she complained breathlessly.

Balthasar gripped her by the hips, pushing himself slowly into her. "Don't worry, I will make it up to you," he promised as he moved inside of her, savoring the feeling of her hot and wet around him.

Rosa foughtthe sensations battering her as she watched Balthasar move on top of her. She bit his shoulder in an effort to keep herself from screaming. She felt powerless beneath him, his touch reducing her to a creature of burning need.

He rolled, and she was suddenly on top of him. In the past, she had always been too self-conscious to be on top, but the desire in his eyes banished her hesitation. Her hands gripped the strong muscles of his chest while she rode him, leaving red scratch marks from her fingernails. She leaned forward to kiss him, fighting for breath as his hands gripped her hips, pulling harder against him. Pleasure burned through her as she leaned back, pushing her hair out of her way. He sat up, holding her to him as he lowered her back underneath him. Rosa shut her eyes as her body trembled. He kissed her eyelids, her cheeks.

"Stay with me, Rosa," he whispered. "Stay with me." Her eyes flickered open again to try to hold his gaze until she was gone, drowning in him until neither one existed separately from the other.

Through a crackin the heavy velvet hangings, Balthasar could see the snow falling from the attic windows. It was hours after sunrise, but he didn't want to get up. If he had the choice, he wouldn't move for a month. Rosa slept, warm and naked beside him, the light picking up the red in her dark hair as he curled it around his fingers. The Wylt hair, its particular shade carried down with each generation. There had never been one to turn his head until Rosa. The timing and the object of his affections couldn't have been more complicated. As he watched her sleep, he knew that he was in love with her. Painfully and inconveniently.

After Jane had died, he never thought he would allow himself to love again. Something deep and fundamental had broken inside of him. He had closed down, not just to women, but the entire world. Time had passed in an endless series of flashes, blood, battles, and chaos as he chased one war after the other, disconnected to all around him. He had gone back to Eli after a tour in Afghanistan and had fallen into line as a dutiful son, heir, and sometimes his Minister of Justice.

It was a life lived underwater until Rosa was there, yelling at him and chastising him with drunken abandonment, that suddenly he was coming up for air. Re-connecting with reality had hit him like a cold slap in the face. He hadn't stood a chance, nor could he go back under.

Smiling against Rosa's shoulder, he wrapped an arm around her, guiding his hand over the sheet that covered her hips, around to the curve of her stomach before stopping to cup the heavy warmth of her breast.

He held her heartbeat under his fingers as it called out to him with its delicious rhythm. Balthasar meant what he said to her. He wouldn't bite her and know all of her secrets, but a part of him always wanted to. The thought of feeding on her, of feeling her hot life rush into his mouth while he made love to her, filled him with want.

Last night, Rosa had stopped being so self-conscious, letting herself get lost in the moment and her own desire, her teeth and nails marking him, both delighting in each other's pleasure and need.

She was glorious, and he knew he had no hope of resisting her.

Rosa rolled over onto her stomach, and his hand turned its attention to her neck and the sloping curve of her spine. He loved the way she was shaped, how her back had dipped the night before when he had taken her from behind. He had forgotten how passionate human women could be, but she seemed to have been blessed with an extra helping.

"If you keep doing that there is going to be trouble," she mumbled against her pillow as she turned to face him. She looked so delightfully sleepy that he had no choice but to kiss her face all over.

"You are very adorable when you are sleeping," he said.

"So we becameThe Hermit and the Sleeping Angelicaafter all," Rosa replied. She touched his few gray hairs at his temples. "Except you are older."

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