Page 42 of Blood & Lace
The silence that surrounded us sat heavily on my shoulders. I was disappointing him again.
"I made breakfast. You should eat." I stood up, placing my hands behind my back to busy them.
Onyx pushed away from the table and stood. He moved around me, no words came out of his mouth, not even a French curse was shot my way as he went to the kitchen.
"Onyx?" I followed behind him like a lost puppy waiting to be acknowledged. "There's French toast and pancakes if you don't like toast. A veggie omelet and scrambled cheese eggs. Oh, a fruit and vegetable tray. I made sure to cut everything myself. Oatmeal; I did a fruit one and a brown sugar flavored one just in case you weren't interested in the berry tasting one. Although I know you like fruit, I was trying to give you variety." I was rambling the longer Onyx didn't speak to me. It felt like I was stuck in a corner with no one or nothing near me. "Onyx—bella, please."
My husband stopped with the milk in hand, a box of Fruit Loops in the other. He wouldn’t eat that when I’d prepared him a perfectly well-balanced breakfast. Would he? I mentally swore to trash every box of Fruit Loops I came across if he chose them over me. He looked over his shoulder at me. I got his attention for five seconds before it was snatched away again.
I groaned as my stomach flipped. That wasn't enough.
"Onyx." I inched closer to him until I could feel the heat radiating off his body. Still that wasn't close enough, I wanted totouch him again, to be skin to skin. As he poured the cereal and milk into a bowl, I moved closer. "I'm sorry."
A loud clunk echoed around the room as Onyx slammed his bowl down. "No, you aren't. And fuck your sorries. You don’t mean it."
I placed both hands on the counter on either side of him. It was all I could do to keep myself from touching him. "I am. I don't want you upset with me."
"Lucero." Onyx twisted around and tilted his head back to meet my gaze. His perfectly groomed eyebrows were pinched together as he glared at me. Even angry, he was more stunning than any piece of art I’d seen. "You could fix this, make me happy if you?—"
I covered his mouth before he could finish what he planned to say.
Anything but that, please.
"You agreed to stay married while we search for who framed me. Let me have this. Please, bella." I'd get on my knees if I had to.
Onyx tugged at my hands. "You're not listening."
Not on this I couldn't. "I'll be good, so please stop asking me to do the impossible." I dropped down to my knees and circled my arms around his legs. His thighs pressed firmly against my forearms. The silk fabric of his sleep shorts tickled the fine hairs on my arms. The delicate sweet scent that seemed to cling to every inch of him wrapped around me and coaxed me closer. I buried my face against his abdomen. It still wasn’t enough. I nosed his shirt up until his bare flesh pressed against my lips.
He was even warmer than I remembered. I never wanted to let Onyx go. I wanted to open my mouth and run my tongue over any piece I could touch.
"Please, Onyx. You're all I need, all I have."
"You have a family."
"I want you." Yeah, I had siblings and parents who adored me but that was the hand I was given in life. I was fortunate, and I loved my family to pieces, but they weren't Onyx. They weren't the man I chose to be my world.
His hand hovered over my head, and I closed my eyes, waiting for his fingers to push through my hair and his nails to scrape over my scalp. When nothing happened, I was left wanting.
"Don't you have work to do?" Onyx asked.
"No." Just as the word left my mouth, my phone rang. I'd fully planned to ignore it but Onyx dislodged himself from me and grabbed it off the counter.
"It's your brother."
He didn't need to tell me which one. Any of them could be calling for one reason or another. The results would be the same: They'd pull me away from Onyx.
"Go."
"You haven't eaten yet," I argued.
Onyx blew out a breath and put the milk away. "I will go eat some of the breakfast you made if you go."
"When I get done, will you be home?"
"I have my own shit to take care of."
Not another three days. I couldn't handle being apart for so long. What made it worse was not knowing where he was and what he was up to. Anything could have happened.
