Creatures ok anthology, p.20
Creatures of the Dark Anthology, page 20
A sob tore itself from her throat, and she buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking. Alexandre ground his teeth together so hard his jaw hurt, but he gentled his touch and rubbed circles across her back until she composed herself again.
“What happened then?” he prompted.
She blew out a breath. “My mother convinced him to send me to a boarding school. It was an all-girls’ Catholic school with a very good academic reputation, she said, and all the best families were sending their daughters there. She played him right, he always wanted the best—not for my benefit but because he wanted people to think that we were crème de la crème.” Relaxing back against him, she flicked a hand through the air. “It was a horrible little school with horrible little girls who tormented each other all the time. But they were nothing compared to my father. So I endured and I learned. I found that I liked numbers, and my teacher noticed it and suggested to my parents that I should enroll in a mathematics course at l’Université de Québec. Then it became clear that my father had no intention of letting me attend a university. In his opinion, women were only good for housekeeping and breeding.”
Alexandre jerked at that, turning to face her despite her earlier words. “I’m sorry, I didn’t—” he began, but she put a hand over his mouth to shut him up.
“It’s okay,” she said, removing the hand and pressing a kiss to his cheek. “You didn’t know. But now you understand why I feel so strongly about this.”
“Yeah,” he grumbled. “But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t an ass to you.”
She lifted one shoulder but didn’t object to his statement, her eyes sparkling again. And he was too relieved that her mood was improving that he didn’t even mind it.
“Is that why you agreed to my proposal?” he asked, finally certain he understood.
Her cheeks flushed pink as she nodded. “It was the only way he’d allow me to escape. I’d considered getting pregnant with someone just so the man would have to marry me, but that seemed unfair to the man.”
At the thought of her sleeping with another man, Alexandre’s blood pressure rose, but he did a credible job of breathing through his anger and didn’t so much as tense a muscle. He suspected he would be doing a lot of breathing exercises in the coming years.
“I was also afraid he’d blame my mother for it,” she added. “And then you showed up.” She smiled at him, and his heart skipped a beat. She was so beautiful, it hurt. “You wanted to marry me, you were from a prominent clan and pure-blood, you had everything my father thought was important. But you needed my money. It was the perfect bargain, and I didn’t have to feel guilty that I was using you if you were using me, too.”
“That’s a harsh way of putting it.” It was the truth, but damn, it sounded sordid when she put it like that.
“I know.” She moved so she was kneeling next to him on the couch, and she was small enough that her eyes were nearly level with his in this position. Putting both her hands on his cheeks, she leaned in and pressed a warm kiss on his mouth. “But you have to believe me when I tell you that I haven’t regretted my decision for a second.”
With a sigh, he wrapped his arms around her and gathered her close. She allowed him to pull her into his lap, where he held her, his chin resting on the top of her head. “Me neither.” And he hadn’t. They’d known each other for mere weeks, but nothing had ever felt so right as holding her in his arms.
“You offered me freedom,” she whispered against his shirt. “I will never forget that.”
He smiled, thinking of how he valued the same thing. Out here in his home village, it was what he cherished the most.
She fell asleep in his arms that night, and he carried her to their bed, careful not to wake her. The moment he laid down next to her and drew up the blankets, she rolled to face him, and her hand slid across his chest. He chuckled quietly, loving her unconscious possessiveness.
He didn’t fall asleep immediately, too busy mulling over the confession she’d trusted him with. And when he finally drifted off, he had a solid plan thought out, but couldn’t bring himself to wake her in the middle of the night. He would tell her in the morning.
***
It turned out his wife had no issue with waking him up in the middle of the night. He blinked at Christine, the outline of her barely visible against the darkness of the room, and realized she was looking right at him. Then he registered that she was slowly running a finger over his arm, and the soft pressure of her fingertips sent a shiver down his spine.
“What’s up?” he murmured, lifting a hand to brush the soft strands of hair from her cheek.
She nuzzled into his palm, pressing her lips to it, and Alexandre became aware of a warm, sensual scent rising from her skin. It fanned his own need for her which seemed to always simmer under the surface, until his cock hardened under the sheets and his heartbeat picked up.
“I had a dream,” she told him. Her finger trailed up his arm again, her nail scratching over his skin and raising goose bumps, before she passed his shoulder and slid the pad over his collarbone. She shuffled close and pressed a kiss into the hollow of his throat, and her warm body was suddenly half wrapped around his.
Alexandre swallowed, and she licked his Adam’s apple. “What kind of dream?”
“We were both in it,” she whispered, revealing the information like it was a delicious secret, and Alexandre leaned forward. He found her hip below the covers and was disappointed to find that she was still fully dressed, as she’d been when he’d carried her to bed earlier in the evening.
“Were you wearing this many clothes in your dream?” He really hoped she’d say no. Even if her dream wasn’t very dirty, her body was sending him signals of its own, and his body was responding. When she shook her head and bit her lip, he groaned. “Would you consider, uh, reenacting this dream for me?” She ducked her head at this, burrowing back under the covers, and he grinned. “Was it that bad?”
She mumbled something unintelligible into her pillow, so he poked her in the ribs. Twitching and giggling, she faced him again and repeated, “I said, ‘No, it was that good.’”
Christ, she was killing him. He considered just shredding her clothes and licking her all over until she was breathless with wanting him, but this was her idea—she’d woken him up and clearly had something to share with him. So he waited.
His patience was rewarded a moment later when she shuffled under the covers and then dropped a piece of clothing over the side of the bed. “This is just to show you what my dream was about, okay?”
He nodded, dying to flip back the sheets and see what she was doing. If pretending this was a repeat of her dreams would help her overcome her shyness, so be it.
Her panties joined the clothes on the floor, and Alexandre groaned, palming his cock through his boxers. Her eyes went wide when she noticed what he was doing, and she sat up to unbutton her neat little blouse with trembling fingers.
“What was I doing?” he asked, his breath coming faster.
She was only wearing a bra now, and as she reached back and undid the clasp, he thanked whatever deity had put that dream inside her head tonight.
“You were lying on your back,” she breathed, sliding the bra off her shoulders, and suddenly she was sitting in front of him, naked, with her legs tucked under her bottom like a goddess. But in the dark, her eyes glittered, and her scent, oh, man, her scent was driving him insane.
He didn’t waste time stripping off his boxers and flipping onto his back. He lay there and silently begged her to touch him.
“Show me,” he muttered, fighting to keep his hands at his sides.
She crawled closer, settling herself at his hip, and tentatively reached out to touch his cock. The darkness was so complete they were feeling more than seeing each other, and now his every nerve ending seemed to have focused itself on where she stroked her warm palm over his length.
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” she whispered. “Dreams skip over details like these.”
Through gritted teeth, he managed to say, “Harder. Grip it harder.”
She obeyed, her fingers closing more firmly around his cock, and Alexandre fought to stay in control, to let her explore.
“What else?” she asked. “Tell me how to… Tell me what you like.”
Holy hell, he’d died and gone to heaven. Her touch was electric, and she was getting turned on just by touching him, he could tell. “You could…” He paused, unsure. Would this freak her out? Maybe they could save that lesson for another night, when she’d be more comfortable around him…
“Aah!” he yelled, his hips shooting off the bed when her warm tongue touched the tip of his cock.
She jumped back, letting go of him. “I’m sorry! I didn’t— I thought—” Her hands flew to her mouth. “What did I do?”
He sat up, taking her hands away and kissing her. “Nothing. It’s what I was trying to suggest. But I didn’t think you’d want…” He kissed her again, unable to stay away.
“So you liked it?” she panted between kisses, her fingers clutching at the back of his head. Somehow, she slipped into his lap, straddling his legs. She was like a little octopus, wrapping herself around him until he no longer knew where his body ended and where hers began.
“I loved it.” He pulled back to look her in the eyes. Their position meant his erection was cradled between her legs, and he was having a really hard time not lifting her hips and burying himself inside her. “I feel like we’ve gone off script. What happened next in your dream?”
“Nothing that could top this,” she said, rolling her hips against him. “So you want me to, um…you know?”
Alexandre tilted her head to the side and pressed kiss after kiss on her neck, on the underside of her jaw. She was so sensitive there, responding to his every touch like she was made for him. “Do I want you to lick me? Suck me? Yes.” He bit down gently on her shoulder, and she let out a whimper, her thighs squeezing his hips. “But later. Right now, I just want inside you.”
He meant for her to get a condom, but she reached a hand between them, grabbed his cock, and sank down on it before he had a chance to object.
Throwing his head back, he groaned, and his arms convulsed around her at the first touch of that wet heat. She gripped him so tightly, he had to hold her hips in place and just breathe, on the verge of losing it.
“Come on,” she gasped, trying to move and straining against his grip. “That’s not fair.”
“Give me a second, woman,” he growled. “You kind of sprung this on me.”
She put her palms on either side of his face and pressed her forehead to his. “Just let go.” She squeezed him inside, clamping down on his cock, and he closed his eyes at the sensation.
“But we’re not…” God, why was he arguing? This felt so right. “I’m not wearing a—”
“I know.” She nodded, their noses touching. “But I want this. Do you?”
Alexandre opened his eyes to meet her gaze, and her blue eyes looked silvery in the darkness. The scent of her skin wrapped around him like a seductive embrace, and he couldn’t find a single reason why this might be a bad idea.
“Yes.”
Her smile was a thing of beauty. She kissed him, her tongue darting out to touch his, her nipples hot points rubbing on his chest. Alexandre invaded her mouth, lifting her chin to claim her more completely, and released his hold on her hips.
She took immediate advantage of that. With a quick shove against his chest, she sent him tumbling back onto the pillows, and then she was rising above him, almost slipping off his cock as she lifted her hips, then rolled them back down. It took her two, three tries to find her rhythm, but when she did…oh, she was a fast learner. He held on to his sanity by a thread, clutching her thighs, her waist, showing her how he liked it, but she lowered herself to her elbows and claimed his mouth for a messy kiss, teeth clashing against his.
The first telltale spark of pleasure danced down his spine; he knew without a shred of doubt that this would all be over in minutes. So he slid his palms up her body, flicking his thumbs over her nipples, making her moves stutter. He chuckled—finally, he’d found her trigger. He tugged on the stiff peaks, rolling them between his fingers, then propped himself up on one elbow and dragged her down so he could put his mouth on her.
A pull, a flick, and then a gentle bite—and she unraveled on top of him, her back bowing in pleasure, her hair all over her face, her scream echoing through the empty cabin. Her hot walls closed in on his cock, rippling with pleasure, and he lifted her hips one last time, then raised his own up to meet her, and he was gone, coming inside her, the sensation so blindingly amazing that he roared her name, uncaring of who might hear them.
This was so good, it couldn’t possibly be real, and yet here she was, still attached to him, her fingers running gently through his hair, the sticky warmth between them the proof that he hadn’t just dreamed the entire encounter.
Would it always be this spectacular? Would they still wake each other up for sex after a year, five years, a decade? And what if it was just sex? Could he spend his entire life with Christine, seeing how he felt about her—and know that for her, sex was just that, sex, and not a fucking sacred experience with a woman he was falling—
“Christine?” he whispered, having just come to the realization that left him speechless but also curiously eager to babble nonsense in her ear.
But she didn’t respond, and her slow, even breathing told him she’d fallen asleep, sprawled on top of him. He gently moved her to his side, then tiptoed out of bed and to the bathroom, grabbing a towel to clean himself and then her. She murmured something but didn’t wake, but when he laid down next to her and drew up the covers, she attached herself to his side and sighed, her breath tickling his skin.
Pressing a kiss into her hair, he murmured, “Bonne nuit.”
Chapter Fifteen
Christine
“Let’s rescue your mother.” Alexandre’s face was so close to hers that his dark eyes looked unnaturally big. Christine moved back an inch and blinked away the sleep.
It was early morning, she could tell by the low light coming in through the windows, and her first thought was that he was in so much trouble for waking her when she could have slept for hours more. Then she remembered the previous night’s conversation, and his comment suddenly made sense.
She sat up in bed, still naked. She must have fallen asleep right after their…midnight encounter. He wasn’t wearing clothes either, naked chest on full display as he put his arms behind his head and grinned at her ogling.
But there was something about her mother…
“What?” she asked.
“I said, let’s rescue your mother. Now that you’re here, married, your father can’t hurt you anymore.” He wasn’t grinning now, his gaze growing intense and dark. “She can divorce him and come live here.”
Christine wasn’t proud of it, but his words made her burst into tears. “I’m sorry,” she blubbered, heaving big, gulping breaths, “that’s the most perfect thing you could have said.”
Alexandre’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead, but to his credit, he merely found her a box of tissues and waited as she got herself back under control.
It took them most of the morning to formulate a plan, and then Christine spent another hour crying into the office phone, explaining everything to her mother, who agreed. They’d need to find a good, discreet attorney, and Christine would surely have to testify at the hearing. But it was the first step in the right direction, and she had Alexandre to thank for that.
Hanging up, she noticed the office door was ajar, and Alexandre’s mother pushed it open with an embarrassed expression on her face. “I overheard, I’m sorry,” she said, coming into the room with a cup full of wild strawberries that she pushed toward Christine like a peace offering. “But if you or your mother need anything, I would like to help.”
The Thibaults, it seemed, were fairly serious when it came to protecting their own. And with her daughter still missing, Danielle said she needed something to focus on anyway. Whatever her reason, it made Christine feel accepted, and she was a lot less worried about the Thibault matriarch now that Alexandre had assured her that her husband wasn’t violent toward her.
Summer rushed past after that, with days spent poring over financial records and tax forms, calling attorneys, and meeting clan members. But the nights were reserved just for Alexandre; they explored each other, missing out on sleep, then taking midday naps when they needed them, which happened more and more to her.
It took her a while to notice, but Christine woke up after one such nap to realize she hadn’t had her period for a while. At first, she thought it might be all the turmoil and stress making her late, but if her calculations were correct, she could be pregnant.
Touching her belly, she prodded it gently with her fingers. It didn’t look any different than before, but then it wouldn’t, not this early on. What she needed was a pregnancy test, but in a village this small, asking around if anyone had one handy would mean everyone would know about it by lunchtime.
She should tell Alexandre first. She wanted to share the news with her husband, to trust him like he’d trusted her. But he wasn’t there; he’d gone into Saguenay that morning with a small contingent of soldiers to pay a visit to the accountant who’d been fudging the clan records. As soon as he returned, though…
Walking up to the big lodge for lunch, she saw little bear shifters playing in the clearing next to the village school. She saw them every day, but today, she looked at them with new eyes. Would her child soon be playing with them? Her heart leaped at the thought: this was a good place to grow up in. Her child would be loved and protected, never hurt. She’d make damn sure of that, as would Alexandre, she was now absolutely certain of it.
With Alexandre gone, it was just her and Danielle for lunch. Her mother-in-law cast an embarrassed glance toward their living quarters, from where a faint snoring could be heard.
