SWNOVELS : Chapter 24
Fiona
“I’m sorry.” Alexander winced as he sat up in bed and slid over to the edge.
“This was not your fault.” I shook my head, thinking about saying more but deciding against it.
He had thanked me, down in the dungeon, for standing up to his stepmother in his defense. But I had yet to thank him for the beating he’d taken to spare me any consequence for the events that followed.
I had decided that I didn’t need to give him any more encouragement. I was here at Alexander’s side, after all, tending to him like a nurse as he recovered from his injuries. I was showing my gratitude in actions and doing my duty as his Luna. Surely that was thanks enough.
“No, that’s not what I meant.” Alexander looked me in the eye. His face was serious, with a look of slight embarrassment. “I meant… I’m sorry that I kissed you.”
I looked away, blinking back an unwelcome flush of moisture in my eyes. I gave a single nod that he understood was an acceptance of his apology and a request not to talk about it anymore.
He ran a hand across his face, scrubbing at his furrowed brow, and said, “It won’t happen again.”
We hadn’t talked yet about the kiss. The kiss that I had made clear to him I did not want to happen. But in his defense… I hadn’t stopped him when I could have.
I didn’t respond. I finished re-dressing the wounds that had bled through the bandages overnight and took the bloody trash to the bathroom, where I tossed it all in the bin.
I stood and looked at myself in the bathroom mirror. I didn’t look great. The past day’s mascara was smeared under my eyes, and I noticed a rust-colored smudge on my neck that I realized was a bit of dried blood. I almost let a cheerless laugh tumble out of my lips as I wondered absently whether it was Alexander’s or his half-brother’s blood.
Shaking my head, I closed the bathroom door behind me, stripped naked, and started running the hot water in the tub. I’d been taking care of Alexander all night, and now I finally needed to clean myself up. I filled the tub with lavender bubble bath, and finally started to feel a little bit of peace in both my mind and body as I sank down into the fragrant water.
It worked wonders to recover my mood, and I was sleepy by the time I got out of the tub and dressed in a nightgown I had hanging on the back of the door. I opened the door, letting the fragrant steam flow out into the bedroom, and remembered at the last moment to grab something off the counter on my way out.
Alexander had changed positions in the bed again. It was like that all night. I could only imagine how difficult it must be to try to find a comfortable posture when half your body is thrashed to bits. Now, he was lying on his side, stretched out and holding a pillow against his chest. His eyes fluttered open as I approached the bedside.
“Let me put a little more of this on you.” I held up the amber bottle of salve I’d grabbed from the bathroom. Alexander smiled a little closed-mouth smile and nodded.
I went over to his side of the bed and covered my hands with the thick, waxy substance, which I rubbed between my palms until it warmed and softened. Some of Alexander’s wounds were still open and oozing, but some less badly injured areas were just scraped up.
His golden skin was hot to the touch, and every bit of his body was hard with defined muscle. I ran my slippery fingers over his neck and shoulders, drenching his blood-crusted skin with the healing salve. Watching it soak into his dry and tattered skin was satisfying. I traced the shapes of his chiseled back and shoulders with my fingertips and started feeling like I was in a trance. My hands came away covered in a wet, fragrant red film.
He laid still, being a good patient, until I got up and walked away. I washed my hands in the bathroom and gave myself another glance in the mirror. The bath had done me a lot of good and I was looking more like myself, with some color coming back into my eyes. I pulled my hair loose from its bun, letting my silver curls cascade down over my shoulders, combing them with my fingers.
Alexander hadn’t moved an inch since I left him. And his eyes were now serious and locked on me as I approached the bed and slid down under the covers beside him.
I met his honey-colored eyes and started to melt. I wanted him badly. I wanted to be mad at him, because of last night. The kiss.
But all I wanted was him. I wanted him on top of me. Inside of me. And my mouth watered as I remembered the kiss. It hadn’t been like I expected. It was like I almost blacked out. A shocking moment of sudden, unimaginable, leg-shaking euphoria. That’s why I couldn’t fight him off, make him stop. It felt too good. But I still didn’t want him to do it again. It wasn’t right. This…
He put a hand on my stomach, sliding it gently over the silky fabric of my nightgown, and it came to rest in the crease of my hip.
This wasn’t love…
The look on his face was pure hunger. The smell of him, and that way he was looking at me, were enough together to heat me up. But his hand, now sliding down my thigh, was pulsing heat into me, healing and energizing my body, too.
This was only lust… only an animal kind of desire that I’d never felt before. Never even imagined possible. But that was all it was.
A soft moan escaped my lips as Alexander’s hand came to rest between my thighs, where I was wet.
That got him really excited. He quickly closed the space between us, rotating me onto my side and cradling my body in the length of his. I only had to part my legs a little and his pulsing, rock hard passion found it way between them.
I’d had enough waiting. Enough lying beside this golden God at night, pretending I didn’t care if he touched me or not. Enough wanting him and not getting what I wanted.
I reached between my legs and guided him inside of me. My eyes closed, suddenly too heavy to keep open, as he filled me up and I arched my back, breathing into it.
He pushed my nightgown up and ran his hand gently around the curves of my breasts, stroking and teasing my hard nipples. The thrumming of his heartbeat pounding in his chest told me how much he liked to touch me there.
I reached back and pushed my fingers through his tangled hair as he pressed his mouth against my neck, panting into my ear, driving himself deeper and deeper inside of me.