“I figured he’d ask you.”
I plopped on the nearest boulder and wrapped my skirt around my knees to dip my toes in the water. “I feel like a horrible person. Roderick would have grown bored with me. I’m not cut out to be a manor wife.”
“Is that so?” Alaric cast a glance my way.
“Why didn’t your father send you off to war instead? You’re the troublemaker,” I grouched.
A wry grin crossed Alaric’s face. “You aren’t wrong, but I’m the eldest. That affords me certain privileges—or responsibilities, depending on how you look at it.”
“He’s kinder than you, that’s how I look at it.” I didn’t know why I had to reinforce to Alaric that he annoyed me right now, but it felt appropriate, considering it was his fault Roderick was gone.
“Father wants me to take over management of Leith and its land. He’s teaching me the family business, as long as he doesn’t gamble it all away first.”
“Or drink himself into an early grave,” I added.
“I offered to take Roderick’s place. Bet he didn’t tell you that, did he?” I shook my head, eyes wide as I realized that, of course, Alaric cared for his brother enough to take his place in war. “Never did have a kind word to say about me. Guess we both come by it honestly, though.”
I sighed, letting his words sink in as I watched Alaric’s back, his broad shoulders more imposing than his brother’s. The dark, almost kohl-lined eyelashes that used to draw me in now just seemed overdone and indicative of all the moodiness that emanated from this man. What I used to find charming now felt more depressing. I missed Roderick’s lightness. I missed the way he made me feel happier, more hopeful, like I walked on air. I missed Roderick.
“Why didn’t you marry him?” Alaric finally broke the silence. He was near me now, the wide stretch of his muscled form imposing. He stole the air from my lungs with hurricane force when his palm slipped around the back of my neck and he drew my earlobe to his lips. He sucked once, leaving me shuddering when he grated his teeth along the line of my neck. “I thought you’d say yes. I thought you’d do anything to be a part of this family. Tell me why you denied my brother his wishes. I need to know.”
“Why?” My gaze caught his. “I—” Tears filled my eyes. “I wish I would have if it would have meant not losing my best friend.”
Alaric shook his head. “He wouldn’t have made you happy.” Alaric’s palm squeezed at my neck before his rogue fingertips pressed at my collarbone. He splayed his palm across my chest, the pad of his thumb brazenly close to my nipple. It ached and pebbled with his dominance. I imagined the feel of him pressed against me, pleasure unfurling at the thought.
“You made the right decision.”
“How can you say that? He’s your brother. If I were enough to make him stay—well, I should have.”
Alaric shrugged. “It’s time for him to grow up.”
I shook my head, anger balling itself in my throat. “You’re a cold bastard.”
“Not cold, Olympia, just a smart one. Marrying you would have been easy. He would have been the lucky one, despite what my father says. It’s you who would have lost yourself, being married to such a simpleton.”
“You’re cruel.” I accused.
Alaric’s palm twitched against my bare chest before he drew his fingertips down the dip of my cleavage. A flood of sensation swelled, and I forced my thighs together to relieve the beautiful ache his touch left.
“You don’t love him.”
“I thought I did.” I defended.
“Only in the way a sister loves a brother. He could never make you feel anything beyond lukewarm affection.”
“Says who?” I bristled.
His grin twisted wickedly as he hooked his finger in the neckline of my bodice and yanked. The rounded flesh of my breasts was revealed to him, and he bent, swiping his tongue along the tender skin as he lifted the folds of my dress with his other hand. I groaned and arched into his waiting form when his thumb skated along the damp flesh of my inner thighs. My heat throbbed, muscles trembling with anticipation when his teeth caught my bodice and he tore the fabric.
I gasped when the palm that’d been at my breast moved to the dip of my back and pressed me deeper into him. I felt every rock-hard inch of him, my heart hammering in my ears as his fingers slipped beneath the barrier of my undergarments and stroked my core for the first time. My eyes fell closed as a sigh slipped past my lips.
“He can’t make you sing like I can,” Alaric murmured before crushing me against his lips. My mouth opened for him, welcoming him in a way they’d never wanted to with his brother. “I’ve been dreaming of your taste on my lips. Telling myself you’re too young for a man like me, too pure and untouched by the world.”
He bit his bottom lip, and something greedy flashed in his eyes…and then something else. Something like hunger. Forme.He pulled me flush against his body and held me there firmly. Our thighs, our hips, our torsos were aligned tightly. He wrapped one hand around the back of my neck and pulled me to his lips, and suddenly, we were crushed together and kissing fiercely. I could feel the angry way his tongue twisted with mine; this was the outlet for his anger. His sense of helplessness. His frustration with me for being caught up in all of it. His passion fueled my own. I threw my arms around his shoulders, and he locked one of his powerful hands at my hip, forcing my legs around his waist with the other. A throaty groan escaped him as I held his head tighter to my lips, returning his kiss with just as much ferocity as he was aiming at me.
I ground my core into his hips and rocked rhythmically. My fingers fumbled with the buttons of his woolen pants. Our lips still attached, breaths panted between us as Alaric fumbled and then pulled my panties off me. I felt him rip them with his final tug. He pressed the palm of his hand between my thighs, applying the delicious contact my virgin body craved. He slid one finger through my slick heat and then thrust into me slowly. I bucked and groaned with pleasure at his long finger invading the most tender parts of me. He was doing it so roughly, with such unbridled passion. His lips met mine, and I came instantly around his finger in waves of bliss. I mewed like a kitten when Alaric pushed his pants down around his thighs and thrust inside me before I had time to ride the high of my very first orgasm.
I hummed at the instant fullness, then yelped as he pressed deeper before our hips rocked together in a demanding rhythm.
