The Price (House of Sin #5) - Elisabeth Naughton Page 0,35

letting him push me around. He needed this. I needed it too. “I promise to be faithful to you always.”

He groaned and dropped his head, his hands beginning to shake.

I moved closer, until his heat and the sexy scent of his skin surrounded me.

“In joy and pain.” I reached his hands and gently pushed them to the side. “In health and sickness. And I promise to love you and honor you, every day, for the rest of my life.”

“Merda. Please don’t...”

His chest rose and fell with his rapid breaths. He didn’t try to touch me, just let his hands fall to the shower wall at his back. But he didn’t open his eyes either, and he didn’t make any move to run from me.

“Luc...” I placed my hands on his sexy abs, loving the way he flinched under my touch but didn’t pull away, reinforcing this was the right thing to do. “Nothing about my promise to you has changed.”

“Cazzo,” he whispered, his stomach caving in. But still he didn’t move. And I suddenly knew he wouldn’t. He thought this was his punishment. He thought he deserved whatever I was going to do to hurt him.

I intended to show him just how wrong he was. About everything.

I pressed my lips against his chest very lightly. “And you didn’t break your promise to me. Not even the tiniest bit.”

“Merda. Y-you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, I do. I know what you did to protect me. I know how you sacrificed yourself to keep me safe. And regardless of what they want you to believe, agreeing to that ritual does not equal consent.”

“Natalie—”

“Injecting you full of drugs is not consent, Luc. Chaining you down while they sexually abused you, is not consent. And your reaction? That wasn’t pleasure. That was a biological reaction to forced stimulation. I know what you look like when you’re enjoying yourself, and that wasn’t it. I know what you sound like when you’re in the throes of pleasure, and that definitely wasn’t it. What those women did to you was not what you wanted. They didn’t stop, even when you said no. That’s not consent, Luc. That’s rape. And it wasn’t your fault.”

“Dio dannato,” he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut even tighter. “Please, just... I can’t take it... I don’t want you to touch me. Not like this. Not when I’m.... dirty.”

My heart squeezed so tight, I was afraid it might burst. “Oh, vita mia.” I lifted my fingertips to his jaw and skimmed the soft stubble on his skin. “You’re not dirty. Not in the least. You’re mine. Do you hear me? You’re all mine. No one and nothing can change that. Not them. Not their rituals. Not even their threats. You’re mine, Luc, and I’m yours, and we’re unbreakable. No matter what.”

For a heartbeat, he didn’t move. And then his eyes fluttered open, and he stared down at me with damp, swirling, gorgeous gray eyes laced with disbelief. “Don’t you even care what I did? I betrayed you. I broke our vow. I—”

I pushed to my toes and pressed my lips against his, cutting off his words.

He didn’t kiss me back. Just stared at me in complete confusion as I lowered to my heels. But I didn’t care. I smiled and kissed his chest once more.

“You saved me, Luc. The exact same way I’m saving you.”

I gazed up at him, hoping he could see what was in my eyes. All the love I had for him and everything that was in my heart. “What they did to you... That was about power and control. What I want to do to you is all about love.”

I kissed his chest again, bent my knees, and worked my lips down the rigid indentation of his abs, over his belly button, and along his carved stomach.

He sucked in a breath as I dropped to my knees, but he didn’t move. He didn’t push me away. And as I took his already thickening arousal in my hand and looked up at him, I saw that his eyes were locked on me. Those swirling gray storms were still edged with confusion and disbelief, but they now brimmed with heat and need and a raging desire I knew only I could sate.

I smiled up at him, extended my tongue, and ran it over the flared bulbous head. His stomach caved in, and against the shower wall, his whole body trembled. I did it again, this time sliding my tongue all around