Page 10 of Monsters Wear Crowns
It was suddenly hard to breathe. He was so close to me, yet I didn’t move away. He inclined his head slightly, and even with the hood shadowing his face, I felt the weight of his stare. “You should go inside,” he said softly. The roughness of his voice sent a shiver through me. “Before I forget why I’m only watching.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why are you?” I whispered. I hated how breathless I sounded, how my fingers trembled around my glass. “Why not…more?”
For a long beat, he didn’t answer. The waves crashed against the shore below us, and the wind tugged at my robe, cool against the heat rising under my skin. Then his fingers brushed the railing again, and his voice dropped lower.
“Because when I take you,” he murmured. “It will be when I want to.”
My heart stuttered. The glass slipped from my fingers. It hit the balcony floor with a sharp shatter, spilling red across the stone. I barely noticed. My breath caught somewhere between panic and...arousal.
His head tilted again, and the softest sound of amusement slipped from him. “You’re trembling, Adela.”
I was.
“Are you afraid of me?” he asked, and there was genuine curiosity in his voice as if my fear fascinated him.
Yes, I wanted to say. Of course, I was. I would have been anidiotnot to be. But when I finally found my voice, the word that slipped out wasn’t yes. “No,” I whispered. And it was the truth. I saw the sudden shift in him. The way his body went still like a predator catching the scent of something very, very tempting.
“That,” he murmured, “is a mistake. If you knew who I was, you would.”
I swallowed hard. “Then why don’t you show me how afraid I should be?”
The air between us snapped.
And for one terrifying, exhilarating second, I thought he was going to do it. He leaned in–his hand flexing on the railing–and my pulse thundered in my throat. But then, he smiled. Just a ghost of it. And stepped back.
“Not yet,” he said softly. “There’s a time for everything,little doe.” Then, without another word, he turned and disappeared into the darkness of his room.
I stood there, shaking and breathless, staring after him long after his door slid shut.Little doe.
When I finally went inside, locking the balcony behind me, I knew one thing for certain. I was so fucked in the head for how my body reacted to him.
***
RAFE
I shut the door behind me, my breath ragged, my pulse hammering in my skull. My body felt like a live wire, every nerve raw and frayed from being so close to her. I could have had her. I should have had her. I dragged a hand through my hair, exhaling through my nose. The fucking restraint it had taken not to jump that measly few feet between our balconies and press her against the glass. To pin her beneath me and take what was already mine.
Adela.
I whispered her name under my breath, tasting it, feeling the shape of it on my tongue. She had no idea what she did to me. Vincent had yelled at me earlier for booking this last-minute flight, bitching about how reckless I was being. That Moreau was already on my ass, that I was stretching myself too thin. But I didn’t give a fuck.
I had to see her.
I had to watch her away from the pressure of work, away from the fortress of her penthouse. Here, she was softer. More relaxed. Dressed in silk and lounging on a balcony with a glass of wine, letting her guard slip just enough for me to catch a glimpse of the woman underneath.
And that body.
Christ.
The things I wanted to do to her. She was toned but soft, her thighs thick enough that I wanted to leave imprints on them with my teeth. Her ass had the perfect curve, the kind that begged to be grabbed. Her breasts–at least a D-cup–strained against her robe when she moved. A fucking goddess. I was obsessed with her. At first, this started when I realized I’d needed more protection because of this stupid war I started with Moreau. But then…I was mesmerized. She captivated me.
I forced myself to move, to tear my gaze from the balcony door and head for the bottle of whiskey on the dresser. My hands shook as I poured a glass, my jaw clenched so tight I thought my teeth might shatter.
This was torture.
Knowing she was just a few feet away. Knowing I could be inside of her right now if I wanted. I took a slow sip, the burn spreading through my chest, grounding me. I’d think about her tonight. I’d imagine how she’d sound when I finally took her. How she’d whimper when I buried myself inside her. How she’d gasp when she realized just how much I wanted her.
