CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

I had half a mind to ask Cooke to bring breakfast to my room the next morning if for no other reason than to keep Sleeping Beauty in my bed a while longer. But it wouldn't be enough. I would keep her there for lunch and dinner. For the day. Maybe two or ten. We would never leave, and I would happily lose myself in her arms forever.

But I had an empire to run, and Blue needed a break after I got slightly carried away the night before.

I had no regrets for making her scream and cum repeatedly until she was a bundle of raw nerves. Thighs quivering. Pussy pulsing like a second heartbeat. I definitely did not regret the feel of her squirting over my hand. The hot, sticky liquid filling my mouth with the sweetest drug. That had been my trigger point, my tip into madness. I had to see it again. I had to feel it. It was all I could think about. Even when she was a sobbing mess, swearing she couldn't cum again, I knew I needed one more.

I peered down at the blonde head nestled against my chest. Cornsilk strands tickled my chin and spilled across my shoulder smelling of my shampoo. Neither of us had moved from our tangle of limbs the entire night, and I had never slept so well.

The whole night.

I hadn't tossed or turned once.

I hadn't dozed off only to snap awake in a cold sweat. I had shut my eyes, face buried in Blue's hair and passed out cold.

Something about that level of calm terrified me. Being that peaceful wrapped up in another person shouldn't be allowed. I half wondered if I needed to leave. If I needed space to get my head straight.

Blue made a tiny sound of discomfort as if sensing I might pull away and nuzzled her face against the hollow of my throat. My arms instinctively tightened around her. My lips found the indent at her temple just by her hairline.

"Shhhh," I whispered.

She went still, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I was fucked. Royally and absolutely. This pint-sized creature had destroyed my foundation. Had taken a sludge hammer to my walls. She made me want things I couldn't fucking have — like a life with her.

Yesterday had been a test. It was the house's way of reminding me that it could take her whenever it wanted and I was powerless to stop it.

But I had meant what I said. I was never letting her go. Not without doing everything in my power to keep her safe.

I closed my eyes, allowing myself a few more minutes with Blue and the near sunlight filtering in through a patchwork of heavy gray. It wasn't raining, at least. Maybe I would wake her and go for a walk along the grounds so nothing like the day before ever happened again. Maybe we could take the Widow's Back towards the village. Blue would love the village.

Soft lips brushed the groove between my collarbone. My body immediately stiffened. It had already been hard for hours. Days. Fucking weeks. But that simple caress sent an arc wave of pleasure shooting down to my abused cock.

The second kiss lingered further down my chest. Her lips were butterflies drifting and wandering. I was wondering if she had any idea what she was doing when she placed an open-mouthed kiss to my nipple.

I couldn't contain my groan.

Blue raised her head, but I wasn't ready to spook her into stopping. So, I closed my eyes and faked sleep.

Blue hesitated a moment. Maybe to be sure I was actually out before resuming her exploration on the same path I had taken the night before. I watched through half cracked lids as she nudged the sheets down my stomach to my hips.

She eyed my stomach, eyebrows lifted in surprise even though she'd seen me without a top before.

Gingerly, she pulled up onto her elbow to examine the hills and lines of my torso. First with only her eyes. Then, carefully, with the tip of one finger. It was a task not snorting or allowing my body to twitch when she touched a tickle spot.

She seemed to be memorizing my tattoos, following their swirling pattern across my skin. But she seemed to also be tracking all my scars hidden underneath. They were far more pronounced up close, especially under a touch. Some parts were hard knots that stretched thinner roots. A few were no more than thin, white lines.

A sniffle had my eyes opening fully to focus on the single tear that trailed down her cheek. The sight of it startled me.

Was she crying for me?

I never got the chance to ask when she dipped her face and kissed the spot over my heart where the traitor's blade had originally gone for first. The place of impact held the puckered reminder of just how close he'd come. It was only because of my quick reflexes that I had stopped him from going in deeper. Knocking his hand had dragged the knife across my breast and down my ribs. There had been blood in my eyes from the slices he'd made across my face, or he never would have gotten to my heart.

I opened my mouth to tell her ... something, but all thoughts vanished when she drew the sheets off my hard on and lifted her head.

Part of me was curious to see what she was going to do. The other part was begging her to. But I lay perfectly still as she did her thing in the slowest manner possible.

I wondered if she could tell I wasn't even breathing, the concept foreign when she was making the journey across my six pack to my pelvis.

Fuck.

She had my cock. It looked fucking enormous in her small hand. The head was thick and purple and leaking all across my stomach. A clear thread stretched the distance when she lifted it up for inspection.

It would have all been comical if it were happening to someone else, but I could only lie there and watch with a gritted jaw as she palmed the smooth shaft, stroking it from base to head. Her touch was inexperienced, but no less maddening when she figured out a better grip and I had to stifle my groan. Even the pressure of her grip tightened, matching my balls, threatening to embarrass me with only a single pump.

Her thumb dragged across the head gathering the pre-cum. To my eternal damnation, she brought it to her lips and licked it off.

Fuck me,I wanted to beg.

Beg!

I would have given her anything, everything she asked just to slide into her hot cunt and empty six years of abstinence into her willing body.

Instead, I got the hesitant flick of her tongue across the hole. I nearly didn't feel it until she did it again, allowing her tongue to linger, to drag and collect. She seemed to like the taste of me as she delved lower to run the flat of her tongue up the curve of my cock where a trail of pre-cum collected at my base.

I swore in my head and fisted the sheets. It was all the gentleness I could offer her when all I wanted to do was grab her hair and force her mouth down on my dick.

It wasn't until she had my head nestled between her sucking lips that I finally lost my composure. She was legit trying to suck the cum from my balls as if it were a milkshake through a straw. Her tongue swept over the head as she pushed herself higher across my stomach. Struggling to get more of me in her mouth. I could only see the back of her head, but she was improvising as she went. I knew she would be a fiend once she figured it out and I couldn't wait for that day.

"Tighten your fingers and match your strokes to your mouth," I rasped.

Blue jumped and went still for a moment with my dick still in her mouth. I touched the curve of her spine.

"Don't stop. Your mouth feels so good on my cock," I murmured.

I felt her shiver. Felt her fingers flex and reposition. It took her a couple of tries, but quickly, she was pumping in sync with her mouth. Her hot, eager mouth.

"Yes ... fuck, Blue, don't stop. Christ, you feel so good. So fucking good."

Her motions quickened with the praise and I knew I didn't have long.

"Slow down, baby, I'm going to cum—"

She didn't. She tightened her fingers and plunged me deep into the back of her throat. Neither of us were prepared because she gagged and I came before I could finish warning her.

Blue gasped. Body instinctively jerking as if to get away from the sudden assault, but her mouth, her fucking mouth refused to let go as I sprayed an obscene amount of cum down her throat in a relentless storm of relief.

Afterward when I lay exhausted across the sheets, brain a blissful soup, Blue drew back. Her fingers dabbed at the corners of her lips as if she were at some fancy brunch before she faced me.

"I'm sorry I woke you," she said, face as red as her swollen mouth.

I would have laughed if I wasn't ready for a nap. "Sweetheart, you can wake me up like that any time you like."

Her lips bowed in an uncertain smile. "Really?"

I managed to pull her to me, draping her across my chest so our faces were inches apart. "Did you like sucking my dick, Blue?"

She could have said no, but her eyes would have betrayed her. The hunger there, the excitement was breathtaking.

"I did. You taste so ... good."

I laughed at her ravenous expression. The low little growl when she said good. "You're welcome to have as much as you like."

She bit her lip in barely suppressed excitement. "Thank you."

I kissed her because fuck my life.

I dragged my hand into her hair and held her as I plunged my tongue into her greedy little mouth. I tasted myself on her tongue and thought how well it would go mixed with her flavor.

"I'm going to cum inside you. Then I'm going to eat your pussy until you cum in my mouth," I told her evenly despite the war in my skull.

"Now?" she panted.

I started to shake my head but stopped. "Are you on protection?"

She stared at me a long moment as if not familiar with that term. "No, I don't think so."

The response brought on an onslaught of other questions that were promptly dismissed for later. I had the most important one already answered.

"I'm going to call Dr. Roberts. We're going to get you on something. Unless you would rather I wear a condom?"

She stared at me blank faced. "Would you like to wear a condom?"

It made no difference to me. It wasn't ideal. I wanted to feel nothing but her walls squeezing my cum inside her but that was her choice.

"Let's talk about that later. I want to hear you moan my name." She winced when I tried to slip my hand between her thighs. I stopped. "Is she sore?'

Blue hesitated and started to shake her head. "No, I'm okay."

Liar.

Even if her face wasn't badly masking her discomfort, her body was tense.

"Don't lie to me, Blue," I warned. "Never about this. Are you sore?"

She nibbled on her lip. "Yes. A little. I'm sorry."

I cupped her face. "Why are you sorry, love?"

She lowered her gaze. "I'll get better at taking more."

I half moaned, half growled at the thought. "Oh, you absolutely will, but I don't want your apology for it. This isn't a race to see how fast I can fuck you."

Her gaze was uncertain lifting to mine. "I know you wanted to..."

"Make you cum again?" I grinned at her dark blush. "That's my job, love. I'd do it full-time if you'd let me. But not if you're sore. It's supposed to make you feel good, not hurt you."

"And it does," she said quickly. "I like it a lot."

I kissed her, slow and tender. I twisted us, pulling her under. Her arms circled my shoulders, and I deepened the kiss, nudging her open with my tongue.

She pulled back. "I still have..." she motioned to her mouth.

I raised a brow. "My cum in your mouth?" I would have laughed and pointed out it was too late for that when I kissed her earlier, but she looked so uncertain I could only sweep a lock of hair behind her ear and smile. "I know what I taste like, love."

"Oh," she whispered, blushing.

Christ, the way she blushed destroyed me. This was a girl who unknowingly gave me head just because she liked the taste of my cum. I didn't understand her at all.

So, I stopped trying.

I returned my mouth to hers and I let myself melt in her arms. Let her ease every pain and stress waiting for me outside those doors. In that bed, in that moment, she was a balm healing every broken piece of me.

"I want to take you somewhere after breakfast," I decided, breaking the kiss. "Dress warm and comfortable."

"Where are we going?" she asked, small fingers stroking the side of my face where a shadow darkened my jaw.

"It's a surprise. You'll like it. Now, take a shower with me then we'll head down."

The shower could have been shorter if I could fathom how to keep my hands off her. Everything she did drove me to touch her. Kiss her. And she fucking encouraged it.

When she was washing her hair and I leaned down to kiss the exposed arch of her throat. Her arms immediately went around my shoulders even with her head still back in the spray. When I kissed her, she was up on her toes, fingers in my hair returning it. She was as much to blame as I was in my mind.

I dried her off and pulled one of my shirts down over her head before carrying her to her room so her feet wouldn't get dirty. I set her down on the carpet under her bed, kissed her — maybe a little too long — before promising to get her in twenty minutes.

"I can find my way down," she assured me.

"I like seeing what you're wearing before anyone else," I admitted.

Her smile cracked her whole face in half. "Okay."

With a final peck on the nose, I left Blue to change. I closed her door and made my way to my office. There were several matters on the calendar for the day I would need to reschedule before I went out for the day.

Three of my guards stood clustered at the open doorway. I guessed they were swapping shifts, but their laughter had me pausing at the bottom of the stairs.

"What's going on?" I asked, more curious of the fact that if they were all crowded around the doorway, who was watching the gates?

The trio turned.

Two of them, Gustave and Aleric immediately lost their smiles, I noted. The third — Ishaan — only seemed more amused by my appearance.

"Hey, that was some really great work last night, sir." He cackled and glanced at his friends who dropped their gazes and took a step back.

My temper was quick and violent. I had to remind myself that a lot had happened the night before I couldn't assume anything without further information.

"Explain."

Ishaan smirked as if we were sharing a joke. His dark eyes jumped to the figure coming up over my shoulder but returned to me.

"Great thing about a house this big and old, sound carries."

It was a small relief that I hadn't misunderstood. I would have almost felt bad for killing him.

"I see."

I didn't pull my gun. The sound would only scare Blue. I solved this problem the old-fashioned way.

I broke his fucking nose.

I shattered the cartilage and rained a fountain of crimson victory down his vest. His howl of pain and surprise was swallowed by the second fist of rage slamming into his jaw. He flew sideways and crashed in a bloody heap across the marble.

But I wasn't done.

I was on him before he could even think of making another sound. I pummeled ten fingers of vengeance into his face until it was unrecognizable. Until he was a bloody pulp. An unmoving husk. Only then did I release him.

My knuckles were raw. The skin shredded. The fingers running red with a combination of my blood and the idiot at my feet. My shirt sleeves were ruined to the elbows. The whole shirt was for the trash as I straightened and stood back to face the trio in the foyer watching me.

"Did anyone else hear something last night?" I wiped the back of my hand across the speckles of blood on my cheek.

Aleric and Gustave shook their heads almost in unison.

I blew out a breath and reached for the buttons on my top. "Good because if I hear anyone discussing the private matters of my bedchambers again, I will make sure the example I set goes down in history. Is that understood?" I didn't wait for confirmation. "You have twenty minutes to clean this up." I turned to Cyrus. "Can you grab me a new shirt? I'll be in my office."

The things people said about me never mattered to me. Idle gossip and mindless whispers behind my back only served to fuel the rumors and kept people out of my business. But I would not allow anyone to shame Blue. To humiliate her. This was her fucking home. Everyone else was dispensable and I would happily fill the swamps with every last one of them before I let anyone make her feel less, especially for this.

"Did you have to kill him?" Cyrus appeared at my side like some phantom apparition with a fresh shirt in hand. The man moved like the wind.

"Yes." I ducked into the closest powder room and slapped the faucet on. I could feel Cyrus standing just behind me, his annoyance pressing into my back as I scrubbed the blood from my fingers. "Blue isn't ever to be a topic of any conversation that I haven't personally authorized."

I snatched up a wad of toilet paper and cleaned my face and neck before dragging my shirt off and taking the one Cyrus held out.

"I suppose while we're on the topic of Miss Smith," he folded his arms and glowered. I didn't fail to notice he stood conveniently between me and the door. "Care to explain what you were thinking last night?"

I met his gaze squarely as I did up the row of buttons. "What do you mean?"

"You lunged off the side of a cliff. You're both lucky you didn't hit the goddamn rocks, Thoran. You didn't even stop to consider the risks—"

"Nor will I ever if she's in danger, Cyrus. I wasn't going to wait and plan when she needed me."

The other man shook his head slowly. "My job is to protect you. That means even from yourself—"

"That's not going to work for me anymore, Cy. Her life means more than mine. That's why I'm putting you in charge of her safety when we go out. You will put her safety first—"

"Thoran," he began, the warning clear in his voice. "You can't—"

"Even before mine," I finished. "She is your charge now."

I started around him only to have his hands shoot out and grab my arm.

Anyone else, that hand would be gone, along with the entire arm, but I faced the man I trusted and respected above all others already knowing what he was about to say and beat him to it.

"Protect her when I can't, Cy. That's an order."

A muscle coiled in his jaw, but he didn't push back. I knew he wouldn't. Cyrus was a soldier first. He would follow his orders to his last breath. There was no one I trusted with Blue more.

Accepting that the conversation was settled, I stalked to the office.

The sight of Vance shouldn't have surprised me, but I jolted. My hand went to my gun at the back of my waistband.

He was a dark figure standing over my desk, sifting through documents with the look of a man infuriated by everything he was seeing. His glasses had slid down to the tip of his nose. They were shoved back only to have them roll down again.

"Why aren't you in the dining hall?" I asked, startling him.

"I'm preparing the documents you need to look over after breakfast," he said, going back to his task. "We might need to run to the club—"

"Not today," I cut in, moving to the chair behind the desk, but not sitting. I reached into the side drawer where I normally kept my calendar only to find it gone. "Where—?"

Vance pulled it free from under his mountain of paperwork and slid it over to me. "Not to the club?"

"Any of it." I flipped open the book.

A thick, expensive card slid free of one of the pages. I snatched it up and flipped out over.

"You've been cordially invited to attend the wedding of Jarrett Brixton and Naya Blackwell—"

I stopped reading and chucked it aside. It made home on a folder set to one side and was immediately forgotten for the laundry list of tasks jotted down for the day in both my and Vance's handwriting.

"Nothing today is pressing enough that can't wait until tomorrow."

There was no need to look up at the man on the other side of the desk to feel his irritation and anxiety. The raw power of it billowed through the room.

"Has something more important come up?" he stressed, practically grinding the question out from between his teeth.

I finished transferring the days tasks to the next day and closed the book. "I'm heading into the village."

Vance blinked dark eyes. "The village? What—?"

"I'm taking Blue for the day." I slid the book to his side of the desk. "I will be unreachable."

Thin creases cut around down turned lips, the familiar show of annoyance. "Thoran—"

My gaze flicked up to his, the warning clear. "Unreachable."

Mind made, I left the room with Cyrus right behind me. Vance was right on his heel as I expected.

"We have a meeting with Barken this afternoon. He's our biggest client."

I drew in a breath. "And we are the only people who can get him what he wants, the way he wants, for cheap. He'll reschedule."

We reached the foyer. Ishaan's body was gone. The pool of blood was mopped and a strong stench of industrial bleach permutated the air.

"What about the conversation we were supposed to have regarding Ronin?" I stopped and turned to the man. "We only have three weeks left."

I was getting tired of the constant reminder. While I understood the urgency of the situation and I knew the importance of finding a wife to keep my legacy out of the hands of my idiot cousin, how was I supposed to marry anyone that wasn't Blue?

"I don't have an answer," I said.

"But I might," Vance said quickly. "I might have an idea—"

A creak on the stairs halted all conversation. Our heads lifted to find Blue standing at the very top. Small hand resting on the banister. She wore a pair of white jeans and a baggy sweater in plum. Her pale hair was brushed over one shoulder in a loose braid. She peered down to where I stood between Cyrus and Vance. Delicate fingers twisting together in the fold of her sleeves.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "You took longer than twenty minutes ... I wasn't sure if ... I can wait..."

I was up the stairs before she could let the apprehension and fear in her eyes win. Taking the steps two at a time until I was on the landing with her.

A mistake.

My eagerness to touch her was the thing that sent her scrambling backwards, hands raised to her face.

"I'm sorry!" she cried, terror shredding the words.

"Hey," I took her upper arms and felt her flinch all the way through me. "Easy sweetheart," I whispered. "It's me."

Trembling hard enough to make my teeth chatter, she lowered her hands. Her blue eyes were a thin band around a dark void of fear. Her soft, red wine lips were the only color on her beautiful face.

"I should have waited," she rasped. "I'm sorry."

I took her cheeks between my palms. "What did I tell you about that word, Blue?" I freed the aggressive gnawing of her teeth chewing off her lipstick. "Look at me, love." I waited until her watery gaze lifted to mine. "I'm not mad. I'm sorry I was late. I ran into a bit of trouble, but I dealt with it. I was coming up to get you."

"I should have stayed in my room like you said. I just ... I..."

I smoothed away the single tear that escaped with the pad of my thumb. "What, my love?"

Her lashes dipped, hiding her eyes. "I wanted to see you."

Sucking in a breath, I pulled her into my chest. I kissed her with every drop of my heart and soul. Giving her everything.

"You're not a prisoner," I told her once I was sure it wasn't fear making her shiver. "Your room isn't your cell. You can go anywhere you like."

"Except the gardens," she recited.

I gave her a nod. "Except the gardens. I'll have the unsafe areas blocked off so you know, but ... you're not allowed to be afraid of me, Blue, do you understand? Not you because I would die before I ever hurt you."

"I know," she said so sadly, it nearly broke my heart.

"Then why?"

She looked down. "I can't help it. I forget sometimes I'm not there anymore and I know I've done something wrong."

"You've done nothing wrong," I heard myself growl.

I knew I was starting to get through to her when she leaned into me and rested her brow to the center of my chest.

"I don't know if I'll ever not get scared. I feel like it's a part of me."

My arms tightened around her. My lips found the top of her head. "Then let me be your safe place. When you are scared, I will be there, and I will keep you safe until you're ready to do it yourself."

"What if it's forever?"

I shrugged. "Then I will protect you forever."