42
Ansel
Iexpected Regina to get up after my reaction to her declarations. So, when her arms wrapped around me from behind, I froze. She buried her face in my neck, kneeling behind me, and I was fucking done for. A stunning force immobilized my body before Regina’s warm breath washed over the skin of my neck and caused a chill to ripple over me.
“Ansel.” She let my name linger in the air before she placed her mouth to my ear. Her arms tightened around me. “I love you.”
Suffocating tension grew thick enough to stifle my breath before my heart exploded. Three words. Eight letters. They were a combination of words and letters that had never been spoken to me in that delicate way. In that loving manner. In that meaningful tone. There was so much intense power behind those words that they’d reduced me into a mindless vessel powered by emotions.
Every hair on my body stood up. Every nerve ending shorted out by an overabundance of energy. Every neuron in my brain sparked too fast. My heart dropped into my stomach, and a tornado was in there ripping it to shreds.
“What…we…” My attempt to utter a response faltered because no words would form. Gasping, I choked on my own breaths. It took me a moment to realize that I was shaking as this beautiful woman’s love flowed into my body.
As my body shook, uncontrolled, my mind followed, my heart fluttered, and my brain quaked. She’d unleashed too much, and I couldn’t handle it. I couldn’t handle the intensity and angst of such a deep connection.
I had no idea words could do this to a person. However, words spoken by the right person could wield the power of an army because I’d been slain. The depth of those three words had cut so deep they immobilized me. Speech muted. Held captive. I couldn’t even gather myself enough to move away from her.
No one had loved me like this. How could they? How could she? I wasn’t the man you loved. I wasn’t good for anything but the devil’s work: killing, sex, and salacious acts that others avoided.
There was no need to glance into Regina’s eyes or search for certain telling indicators to know that those words had traveled straight from her heart. The power of them radiated through me and filled my body and mind to max capacity. One coherent thought surfaced. This can’t be real.
“Shit. Regina. Fuck!” Fell from my lips in a harsh whisper. Not the thing you say to a woman that just admitted she loves you. My face was scrunched with confusion and nagging emotion. I couldn’t focus on anything because I was too busy keeping my thoughts contained. Regina’s grip grew tighter around me.
“Don’t worry. I don’t expect you to say it back. I know you don’t love me back, Ansel. You may not be able to give me love, but you have given me everything else. I’m willing to accept the way it is…” her words trailed off.
What was she saying?
“Let me have this, Ansel. I’ve never had someone to love before. You don’t have to do anything in return. Just let me love you. Okay?”
Her soft lips fell on the back of my neck, and my eyes slammed shut from the powerful impact. My ass was stuck. Half of me desired everything Regina offered, but the other half didn’t want to ruin her life. Did I have feelings for Regina? There’s no way in hell I couldn’t have them. Could I give her as much love as she poured into me? I doubted it.
Regina spoke words that my heart sang in silence, but she’d crossed a bridge I wasn’t ready to cross. Her face nuzzled in my neck and shoulder and her arms remained wrapped around me. Her warm, soft body melded into my back.
This woman.
Her embrace was so warm and inviting she had me sinking into that overwhelming sensation. The embrace swallowed my body, warmed me to the core, and comforted me into a relaxed state. I floated atop happiness, glided along joy, and breathed in pure love.
My eyes popped open, and I shook off the heavy wave of feelings she’d stirred. Her warm lips caressed my neck, and her soft pecks sounded before she buried her face against my skin, inhaling me deeply. Her arms adjusted around me, and my eyes closed at the sensation of her heart pounding against my back.
“Regina,” I called lightly.
“Yes,” she answered, her warm breath sliding over my skin. It felt good to have someone want me like this, but I couldn’t allow it.
My hand tightened around her forearm, intending to separate her from me. “I’ll fucking kill anybody that touches you. You know that right?”
She squeezed, and her low murmur sounded. “Um hum.”
I believed she knew that this was the best I could offer her right now. I attempted to pull away, but she wouldn’t release the grip she had on me. I was about to make a dick move because Regina was scaring the fuck out of me.
“Let go, Regina,” I stated, my tone low and unsure.
I didn’t sound like myself. My words weren’t arrogant and sure. They were weak and filled with uncertainty. What had this woman reduced me to?
The front of her body was glued to my back as she gripped me from behind. Her arms were around my neck like vise grips as she squeezed me so hard her nails dug into my shoulder. She nuzzled her nose in deeper, her warm breath heavenly against my skin.
Regina knew I was uncomfortable. There was no way she didn’t sense it in the light tremble of my body. She kept my ass in place so that I could wallow in it. She wanted me to experience the love she had for me. She forced me to feel what I’d been denying. I’d lived my life surrounded by beasts of all manners, but Regina was the most vicious of them all. Her weapon of choice was one I couldn’t fight, didn’t know how to fight.
She breathed me in on a deep inhale, unwilling to let go. I didn’t want her to let go, but I had no right to bask in this priceless gift and not be willing to reciprocate it. The connection we shared was magic. The raw emotion of it was the medicine that healed wounds, the answers that righted all wrongs, and the clues that solved every problem.