Page 12 of Created in Chaos
“Pretty boy,” I reply in kind. The edge to my tone has long since left the words, likening them to a term of near endearment.
One side of Lucian’s lips curls, just enough to be noticeable, but then his features shift back to his placid expression and he lowers himself onto the sofa right next to me, all sinew and grace, filling my senses with the warmth of his skin and the smell of sunshine dampened slightly by the scent of his expensive cologne.
“Were you at the beach?” Do I sound sad? I shouldn’t be, but the thought stings a little.
“What makes you ask that?” he questions without giving me an answer.
“You stink,” I lie, which makes him really smile.
“You lie,” he counters knowingly, then decides to bring his face closer to mine, as if he may try to kiss me, but I know he’s only teasing. He hasn’t done more than a sweet brush of his lips against my forehead since the hospital.
I can actually feel the heat of his skin imploring me to touch him and risk getting burned. I don’t know how I resist. I watch, entranced, as he lingers mere millimeters away from me, but he displaces all the oxygen, making my heart thud. The desire to drag in a deeper breath so I can catch his scent again nearly overwhelms me.
“You smell delicious,” he rumbles, then licks his lips as if to prove his point. The answering flutter in my stomach has me letting out a shaky breath that he notices, and I’m rewarded with the brush of his nose along mine in a sweet nuzzle right before he takes a hold of my bottom lip with his teeth and nibbles.
The flutter shifts lower, and my nipples actually tingle with arousal. I like this so much, something has to be wrong with me, but I don’t really think I care.
He releases me too quickly, and I sway forward, caught up in his allure and presence. “Want more, lamb?” His eyes roam over my face. In the past, I would have assumed he was looking for a weakness, a soft spot to strike, but I can’t deny the heat in Lucian’s gaze and touch any longer. “Come and get it.” He leans back a little more, making sure I would have to put effort into seeking him out.
I almost lean away, putting that ever present space between us, but then I think about everything he’s done for me, about the meeting tonight, and how much could go wrong, and I decide fuck it.
Lucian’s eyes widen as I almost throw myself at him, pinning him to the couch with my body. I start to drop my mouth to his with the same urgency, but I pull back at the last second, ghosting my nose over his and just barely allowing our lips to brush.
Lucian inhales sharply, making our chests meet, and that’s the only warning I get before he reaches up, clamps his hand over the back of my neck roughly, and says, “Don’t stop now, lamb.” Then, he yanks me down so our mouths crash together.
Our kiss, if you can call it something as simple as that, is raw and completely unrefined. I swear I taste blood more than once, and I don’t know if it’s mine or his. When he jerks me into his lap, I let out a sharp cry from the ache in my chest.
“Fuck,” he whispers, stopping the kiss and lowering his entire face so I couldn’t reach his lips again if I tried, but his fingers knead into my ass over my hips as if he didn’t want to stop any more than I did.
“Sorry,” I tell him, because I don’t know what else to say, but that causes him to glare up at me, and the narrowing of his eyes makes me think he’s pissed.
“Don’t,” he warns. I start to lean back to put a little more distance between us, because I can’t tell exactly what irritated him, but he slides his hand up my back and applies a scant amount of pressure, making sure I can’t escape. “Don’t apologize for being hurt. It’s not your fucking fault.”
“Fine, I didn’t mean it anyway.”
One of Lucian’s dark eyebrows lifts. “Then why say it?”
I shrug, not wanting to admit the real reason I said it—I was sorry it interrupted the kiss.
“Not good enough.” He applies a little more pressure to my back while watching my face intently. I don’t resist lowering myself, and I end up plastered against him, chest to chest and nose to nose. The desire to bite his lip fills me, and I find myself staring at his mouth. When his tongue makes an appearance, I strike, sinking my teeth into his bottom lip and sucking.
Lucian’s chest rumbles with a groan that could almost be confused with a growl. I expect him to retaliate in some way, but he actually relaxes his body, which I take as his acceptance and continue kissing and nibbling him.
His hands stay locked on my hips and ass, even when he lifts his hips off the couch to grind up. The feeling of him pressing against me, as if he can’t get enough, sends a jolt of awareness through my mind and other places. I want him, all of him.
I slide my fingers into his dark hair, angling his head a little to better fit my mouth, then I slip my tongue deeper to twirl with his. When my nails graze his scalp, he bands his arm around my back and takes over the kiss in a bid for dominance, but I hate making anything easy for him, so I grab a fistful of his hair and jerk his head back.
His ice-blue eyes are wild as he glares up at me, causing a triumphant smile to curl my lips. I brush my mouth over his sweetly in an open-mouthed peck. He stills as if he’s afraid to move, and even his breathing has slowed. I take my time kissing him, exploring him, but it’s not the tenderness that has my heart pumping, it’s the thought of being in control of Lucian Morningstar and having him at my mercy.
“What are you doing?” he demands as he tilts his head back for me to kiss and nibble his neck.
“Do you need me to explain it to you? I thought you would know, but I can see I was wrong.” I slide my tongue up his throat, and I swear he shivers, to my utter delight.
He chuckles, maybe to cover how much I’m affecting him, or maybe because he actually found the comment funny, but I shouldn’t have gotten so cocky.
The swift crack on my rump comes as a complete shock, and my entire body jolts in surprise. Before I have time to recover, Lucian’s hand is on the nape of my neck, locking me in place. “When I find out who hurt you, I’m going to kill them slowly.” He pulls me down a little more, so his lips brush provocatively against my ear. “Do you know why, lamb?”
I manage to shake my head just enough to provide an answer.