Chapter 85 THE NINETEEN MINUTES
DAVID’S POV
The noise of the gala was a dull roar behind the heavy oak doors of the private anteroom. I pulled Brittany inside, my hand locked around hers, and the moment the latch clicked shut, the world stopped spinning. We were in a small, dimly lit space filled with the scent of old wood and expensive wax. I checked my watch. We had nineteen minutes before the world expected us back on the floor, and nineteen minutes was all I needed to ground myself in the only thing that was real in this building.
For the first time since the morning after the masked ball, there was no strategy. No cameras were watching us, no enemies to outmaneuver, and no maps to study. It was just us. Brittany stood in front of me, her breath hitching in the quiet air, and her eyes were bright with a fire that I had helped kindle.
"I have spent my whole life being a Blackwell, Brittany," I said, my voice sounding thick even to my own ears. "I have spent every waking hour calculating my next move and guarding my heart like it was a state secret. But I need you to know something. I love you. I have loved you since the moment you looked at me and didn't see a bank account or a title."
It was the first time I had said those words out loud to any person in my adult life. Saying it felt like breaking a fever. Brittany looked up at me in the low light, her face softening in a way that made my chest tighten. She reached up, her cool fingers tracing the line of my jaw, and I felt the walls I had built for years finally crumble into dust.
"I love you, David," she whispered. She didn't say it as a response to me. She said it as its own sentence, a declaration of her own choice.
That was the difference between obligation and choice, and I felt it in my soul. Thanks to her hands and her blood and her stubborn, brilliant, impossible self, I was fully open. I didn't want to be the cold prince anymore. I wanted to be the man who deserved her.
"We have nineteen minutes," I murmured, pulling her flush against my body. "And I want to spend every single second of it reminding you who you belong to."
What followed in that anteroom was not frantic or desperate. It was deliberate and reverent. I didn't waste a second. I reached for the zipper of that extraordinary gown, the one that had sent Adam into a panic, and I lowered it with a steady hand. When the silk pooled at her feet, leaving her in nothing but her lace stockings, I felt my pulse jump. She was a masterpiece, and she was mine.
"Ohh yeah... fuck me! Yes, just like that!" The words tore from her throat the moment I lifted her onto the small velvet settee and moved between her legs.
I didn't use a condom. I wanted to feel every bit of her heat against my skin. I grabbed my heavy, throbbing dick and rubbed the head of it against her wetness, teasing her until she was sobbing and begging for me to claim her. Then, I leaned into her and shoved my cock all the way inside in one deep, brutal thrust.
The size of me made her scream in pleasure. I stretched her completely open, filling every inch of her body, and the pleasure was so intense it felt like a drug. I started to fuck her hard and fast, my hips slamming against hers with a loud, wet sound that filled the small room. We were in our own world, a pocket of privacy where the Blackwell name couldn't reach us.
"David! Fuck! Yes!" she screamed, locking her legs around my waist to pull me in even deeper. "Give it to me! Fuck me harder!"
Every time I lunged forward, I hammered against her v-spot, sending electric shocks through my body. I was covered in sweat, our skin sliding against each other as I fucked her like a man possessed. I wanted to mark her, to leave my scent on her skin so that when she walked back out there, everyone would know she was taken.
"You like this, don't you?" I panted, my voice cracking. "You like being fucked by a Blackwell who actually loves you?"
"Yes! Fuck, yes! I want all of it!" she yelled.
I pulled out with a wet pop and flipped her over onto her hands and knees. I grabbed her hips with my big hands and slammed my cock back into her. It went even deeper this way, hitting the very back of her with every shove. I began to fuck her with a primal rhythm, my balls slapping against her as she moaned in extreme pleasure. I was shaking all over, my insides clenching tight around her.
"That's it, Brittany... take it all," I groaned.
The climax hit her like a ton of bricks. Her whole body started to shake, and she muffled a scream into the velvet as her muscles clamped down on my throbbing cock. A second later, I let out a low, animalistic roar. I shoved myself in as deep as I could go and held her tight while I blasted my warm cum deep inside her, marking her as my own in the dark.
We stayed there for a moment, tangled together in the silence. When we finally stood up and adjusted our clothes, we both knew we were changed. This had nothing to do with strategy and everything to do with the fact that some things, once felt, cannot be taken back.
We emerged into the corridor to find Sophia standing outside the anteroom door, her cane across her knees and her expression completely neutral. She looked at us both for one second and said: "Adam just started and Harrison just left the balcony box."