Chapter 21 You feel it too
LYS
“Hey… what’s wrong?”
Sniffing quickly, I wiped my face before Finn got to me. But his brows knotted in worry when our eyes met.
I shivered.
“Lys?”
“It’s the wind.” I turned my back to him, staring at the lake.
I struggled to keep my mind blank, and ignore my unsteady heartbeats.
Pretend it wasn’t suddenly a challenge to continue breathing around him.
Because every breath introduced his scent to my lungs. Warm musk and cedarwood.
That scent that reminded me of how close he was last night before I could feel my body. How close he was now when I could feel my body.
How he featured in my erotic dreams. How I could not stop thinking about him when my men touched me.
Now, my skin was hot. Tingling with awareness that his eyes were pinned on me. Unapologetically drinking in the sight of me.
“You feel it too.” His voice cut through the darkness, and my heart stopped.
But I kept my eyes pinned on the shimmering lake. It was stupid to have come out here.
I had come here to cry in private, to avoid being alone with the man I had hurt terribly in the past, only to run into the man that made me want to…
Goosebumps covered my skin.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I started to breathe through my lips. Rhea paced inside me, pressing against my skin. An echo of my distress.
When was the Dragon going to return? It was already morning.
He seemed to be the anchor in this place. The one who kept everything and everyone under control and running smoothly.
His perpetual anger kept me on my toes. Made it easier for me to keep my head, and my heart.
Obey, but never surrender.
“Look at me, Lys,” Finn said, and my shoulders quivered. He was standing close. So close.
I had no idea he had moved closer. But I stubbornly kept my eyes away from him.
This was wrong. So wrong.
But it was this house. This house and its owners and all the things they were introducing me to. I had no idea it was possible to be this wet between the legs, or that my nipples could harden so much they hurt.
“Lys.”
I let out a shuddering breath at the feel of his finger beneath my chin, gentle but insistent. He turned my face till I was staring into those aqua-colored eyes.
My knees weakened.
“I…” he stopped.
His gaze burned as he bit his bottom lip, then let go again.
“I haven’t slept since last night.” His words tripped over each other, breathless. As breathless as I was, “I keep reminding myself of all the reasons you’re off-limits. You belong to them. The men who pulled me out of hell.”
My eyes closed. He told me. He told me all about it.
He cradled my cheek, and my body jerked against him. “You’ve got witch’s blood in your veins. That’s supposed to scare me off, right? That’s supposed to make me run for the hills. Blood that could corrupt a vampire.”
I nodded, hurriedly pulling away.
But his arm curled around my waist and yanked me back to himself.
“Finn.” I whispered as Rhea shifted low in my abdomen.
It should not be this difficult. I should pull away already, turn around and head back to the mansion, to the men who owned me now.
The men who went extra miles to give me my body back. Who have acted opposite of the monsters the world claimed they were.
Treated me like a princess up till this point.
His palm flattened on my back, and I inhaled.
“Shh.” He cooed before I could speak.
Leaning in, he brushed his nose against my cheeks, down past my ear, and deeply inhaled the scent of my hair.
My body trembled against his, my skin on literal fire from trying to hold back.
“Sweet Lys.” He whispered. “Is it… possible to fall in love in one night?”
“H-aa-a,” I trembled to his tongue against my ear, warm, exploring, sending sparks up my spine and down between my legs.
It was new. Almost terrifying. But I did not want it to stop.
“Do you think it’s possible to meet a woman for the first time…” He lowered his head, and sucked on the skin of my neck. “And fall in love right then?”
I clutched his shirt, fisting tightly for balance, pressing myself to him because my legs could not hold me up any longer.
I should be scared.
He was a vampire. A vampire who had barely mastered control, and his lips were fastened to my neck, sucking on it like he had done in my dream, sending waves after waves of current through me.
Sensations that made me want to drop to the lawn and part my legs for him.
“Finn.” My whisper was barely audible this time, a whine. My nipples were like pebbles under my shirt. “We cannot. I want to, but we cannot.” My words rushed out in a breathless torrent.
He pulled back, breathing as heavily as I was. His eyes burned, switching between their natural color to the pale yellow of a vampire.
Moon above. I would give anything right now to fly at him again, to rub our skin for friction.
Finally, he gave me a nod and turned to face the lake with a deep exhale.
“Why were you crying?”
I was tempted to lie about the wind again, but stopped. “I’ll not be going to the EuroTour, or even Korea.”
His head swiveled back to me. “Why? I thought everything would return to normal now that you can walk again?”
I swallowed, and stared down at my feet. That had been the plan. I told him that last night because I believed that was what would happen.
“Kade had refused any more practices with me. I got a stupid nosebleed, and it freaked him out. He says I need to rest.”
“Who’s Kade?”
There was something in his voice that made my head jerk up. “You’re jealous?”
He winced, sucking on his bottom lip as he pushed his hands in his pockets and turned to the lake again.
“Like I told you last night, Lys. I’m the worst lover you’ll ever find.”
I wanted to say something, to shun him for speaking that way about himself. But as usual, words failed me.
He told me last night how people in the past had run for the hills in the face of his emotions.
Finn was very passionate. It had taken me just a few hours last night to notice that. He wore his heart on his sleeves.
If he felt something, he said something.
My heart broke for him now. The next twelve months were going to be hell for him. Watching me with both men every day.
I was tempted at that point to confront him about what Hale said earlier, but I swallowed past it.
My heart. I had to guard my heart if I hoped to beat the ritual and leave this place alive.
He turned to me suddenly, closing the distance till nothing separated us.
I stared at his chest, unable to bring myself to look up. His head began to lean closer, and I closed my eyes.
When he touched my forearm, I inhaled sharply.
Slowly, he caressed upward, sending needles of pleasure around my body that made my skin heat up.
That made my lower belly ache with a need I had not felt in four years.
“It’s impossible to keep my hands to myself anyway.” His palm cupped my neck from the side, “Let me be your dance partner, yeah? I’m rusty, and I don’t know a thing about ballet. But I’ve got rhythm."
I smiled, opening my eyes. “Really?”
“Really, sweet Lys.” He flashed me his rare smile. “We’ll meet here whenever you’ve got time… and dance.”
“I’d love that.” I was grinning in excitement now.
With his help, I could perfect my routine and tell Kade to practice with Carolina. This way, we would not have to miss a day.
Finn’s gaze was intent on me now, staring deep in my eyes.
“What?” I giggled shyly at such a direct stare.
“Forgive me.” He palmed my neck, and crushed his lips against mine.