Her head fell forward as she sobbed. “How could you?” The words were weak, and she battled to reclaim her composure.
“I know I was wrong,” he said, tipping her chin to look at him. “I’d give anything to go back and make a different choice.”
She slapped his hand away. “That’s just it,” she seethed. “It wasn’t your choice to make. It wasmine, and you stole it from me.”
The helplessness on his face gutted her. “I know.”
“Did I mean so little to you that you could give me up so easily?” She hated the way her voice wavered. “There isn’t anything in this realm I would have let come between us.”
Caius grabbed her face and looked at her with such intensity that she had to close her eyes. “Open your eyes and look at me,” he commanded, and her lids involuntarily fluttered open. “I sent you back becauseI love you. When you hurt, I’m helpless, something I never want to feel toward the one person I’m supposed to protect. I would have done anything to take away your pain, and because of that, I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have made a decision that affected you without asking, and I will spend the rest of our lives making it up to you.”
“What if I don’t want you to make it up to me?” she croaked.
That wasn’t the case. He was ingrained in her very being, and she refused to let anything else tear them apart, but he had to understand how unacceptable his actions were.
He looked broken. “I won’t let you go without a fight, but if that is your final decision, I will watch you from the sidelines, taking the punishment I deserve.” His golden eyes were brighter than she’d ever seen them before. “And if you ever decide to take me back, I will drop to one knee wherever we are and make you mine in every way.”
She drew back, hurt invading every cell in her body. “You’ve said that before.” He reached for her, but she snatched her arm away. “You lied.”
They stared at each other in a stalemate, and while she was furious, all she wanted was him. The reminder that she may never see him again outside of the soulscape won out over needing to stand her ground. “Never do that again,” she whispered. “I won’t tolerate it, no matter how destroyed I am without you. I’d rather live a life of misery than a life controlled by someone else. You don’t get to make my decisions.”
Caius pulled her into his chest and buried his face in the crook of her neck. “Never again,” he swore like an oath and planted a trail of kisses along her jawline until his lips found hers. “Say you still love me.”
The agony and desperation in his voice were her undoing. “I love you, Caius, even when it hurts to.”
She pressed her lips to his, and his tongue caressed hers with a hunger that would never be satiated. Their hands wandered in a frenzy to compensate for the week they lost. A week. That’s all it’d been, but it felt like years.
They were racing against the sun, needing to take everything they could. She wanted to taste him, fuck him, feel him against her. This wasn’t the tender need one expected of two lovers torn apart. It was a primal need.
He picked her up and carried her to his desk, the only flat surface large enough to hold them other than the floor. Once she was perched on the edge, he maneuvered around the desk and swiped everything to the ground.
She twisted her body to watch him, and lust overtook her at the predatory gleam in his eyes. A wicked smile spread across her face when she remembered something she learned in her early twenties. She’d fulfill her first need: tasting him.
Her body slid to the middle of the desk, and she lay back, silently beckoning him to stand near her head.
His gaze traced every inch of her body, and his hand caressed her ankle. A single brow lifted as his hand trailed slowly up the inside of her leg. “I haven’t explored your body yet.” The low timbre of his voice sent a shiver down her spine.
She wanted him now. They’d been crazed only moments ago, and all she wanted was him in her mouth, coating her tongue, but he had other plans.
A trail of goosebumps followed his fingers, and his attention returned to exploring her skin. His touch was featherlight, and she couldn’t help but squirm as he neared the top of her thighs.
“I wonder,” he murmured. “If your pussy still weeps at my touch.”
“It’s only been a week,” she taunted.
“A single day without you is too long,” he returned, lifting his gaze to hers. “Seven might as well be a lifetime.”
The throbbing between her legs grew in intensity. She tried to squeeze her thighs together, but he grabbed her opposite leg with his other hand, stopping her. “None of that,” he tutted, running both hands slowly up her thighs.
She moaned and lifted her hips slightly. “If you don’t touch me now, I’ll do it myself.”
The whisper of a smile graced his handsome face. “Is that so?”
His words distracted her, and she didn’t realize his hands were on her panties until his finger hooked around the middle and dragged them down her legs.
“Caius,” she breathed, unable to stay still.
“Patience, Miss Raven.” His voice was her own personal aphrodisiac. Soon, his hands trailed up her legs again, and when he got to the apex of her thighs, his fingers dipped to her entrance and ran up and over her swollen skin at a torturous pace. “You’re fucking soaked,” he groaned.
