Page 45 of Beautifully Damned
When his mouth returns to my nipples, his tongue circles, then sucks. I writhe beneath him, moaning. But when he starts trailing down, lower and lower, a wave of insecurity crashes into me. I close my legs slightly, instincts kicking in.
I’m not the curviest. I’m not toned. Not soft in the right places or sculpted like the women I imagine have passed through his bed. I’m just…me.
He bites the inside of my hip. “Beautiful,” he murmurs. He spreads my legs wide and pins them there, forcing me open beneath him. I’ve never felt more exposed. But when his mouth meets me there, everything inside me shatters.
I see stars. My hands fly to his hair as pleasure tears through me. The orgasm hits before I can beg for it, and it’s nothing like the quiet, sad little climaxes I tried to reach alone in the dark.
“You’re so responsive, little lamb,” he says, tongue still lazy against me. “So fucking pretty. The prettiest I’ve ever seen.”
That stings. I stiffen. “Don’t mention other women when you’re in my bed,” I snap.
With my folds still in his mouth, he lifts his head just enough to say, “Ask me how many women I’ve gone down on.”
“No,” I mutter. “Not doing that.”
He bites down gently on the sensitive skin just beside my entrance. I yelp.
“Ask,” he commands again, dark and amused.
I roll my eyes, grumbling, “Alright. Oh, mighty king of the underworld, most desired bachelor of them all—how many women have you kissed between the legs?”
He laughs. “None. Only you.”
My entire body sinks into the mattress as a rush of possessiveness floods my system. He climbs back up my body,kissing his way to my lips. I can taste myself on his tongue, and I don’t care.
His hardness brushes my heat, and when he pushes in, pain rips through me. I cry out, instinctively trying to twist away, but his arms keep me in place.
“Don’t run from me, little lamb,” he whispers against my throat. “Don’t run. I promise it’ll feel good soon.”
I stop resisting. He starts to move, slow at first, then deeper, and the pain gives way to pleasure. He groans into my neck. “That’s it. Take it. Just like that.”
And I do. His hand slides between us, fingers circling my clit. “Give it to me,” he growls. “Come for me, little lamb.” I shatter with a cry, my body arching into his, every nerve alight. He doesn’t stop until he follows, spilling inside me.
Later, when we’re tangled in the sheets and drenched in sweat, he pulls me close. And in his arms, I let myself believe—just for tonight—that maybe this darkness between us could turn into something more.
But morning doesn’t bring peace. It brings a nightmare.
?Chapter XXIX?
Ayla
I wake up to an empty bed. The sheets are cold where he used to be. My hand searches anyway, but there’s nothing.
The clock on the nightstand reads 11:03 a.m.
I overslept. Couldn’t he have woken me up? Said something? Anything? I didn’t expect breakfast in bed or rose petals scattered on the floor. But I at least expected a “Good morning.”
I force myself to sit up. The pain between my legs pulls me back into last night, and shame trickles in like poison. I limp to the bathroom, drawing myself a bath. The water fills the tub, and I step in, hissing when the heat hits the raw parts of me.
As I sink under, I let myself cry under the surface, tears mixing with the water until I can’t tell where one ends and the other begins. I did it. I’m no longer a virgin. But I feel emptier than ever.
My heart burns in my chest. Last night, I tried to lie to myself that it was all just desire, that it wasn’t love that made me give myself to him. But I can’t lie to myself anymore.
I love him in the way that ruins a girl. And I know he’ll never love me back.
I break the surface, gasping for air, lungs screaming. I sit there until the water turns lukewarm. Then I shower, roughly scrubbing away every reminder of him.
When I’m dry and dressed, I make my way down to the kitchen. Elena turns when she hears me. At first, she smiles. But then her expression falters. Her gaze drops to the purple hickeys on my neck, then to the way I favor one leg, then to my face.
