Page 56 of A Curse On Black Lake (Black Lake Gothic Cowboys #1)

He’s making himself known without showing his face. What will he do next? What am I going to do next?

My mind spins and spins. I lose track of time into the night, when I hear a cry. I jolt up wondering what it was and quickly step into the hall. I listen again, but it’s not coming from outside. It’s coming from Eliana.

Rushing to her room, I throw the door open, to find her curled up in a ball crying. I can’t tell if she’s awake or asleep. She groans in pain, and I crawl onto the empty side of the bed and clasp her face. “Eliana,” I whisper.

She opens her eyes slowly and rubs her cheek into my palm. “What’s wrong?”

“They won’t let me sleep. They’re all talking too much on top of each other, and my head hurts. I’m so tired, Killian, I need them to stop,” she cries.

There is only one way she told me that made them all stop. She told me I couldn’t before, but I can’t see her in pain like this again. Not if I can stop it.

So I break her rule and slam my mouth against hers.

She freezes for a moment, and then literally sighs into my mouth. Her whimper makes me pull away, but then she scrambles to keep my mouth on hers, grabbing my shoulders and neck.

“Stay,” she says against my mouth.

I kiss her again, groaning as she sweeps her tongue against mine. I pull her into my body, and she throws her leg over my hips, deepening the kiss. We pull away for a moment, and I drag my mouth down her neck to her thrumming pulse, kissing it and she shivers in my arms.

“Please don’t stop,” she gasps.

“Yes, ma’am,” I mumble into her skin and kiss her collarbone, coming back up around her jaw. She sighs as I land back on her lips and she opens, surrendering to me, letting me devour, savor, claim her.

My hands have a mind of their own with her and slide down to her ass, where her shirt is bunched up around her waist. I squeeze the muscles, and she whimpers, rolling her hips against my leg.

Her hands tremble against my skin resting on my shoulder, begging me with her tongue never to let up.

My hips buck, and I try to keep myself in check despite the hunger rolling off of her, and it’s not because the Spirits are finally quiet.

It’s because it’s us.

There’s this indescribable connection between us that makes me want to rip myself open, expose every part of my being like a raw nerve, so she can see who I really am, and consider loving me.

Eliana drags her mouth away, gasping. “You weren’t supposed to do that, but I don’t even care,” she says kissing, me long and hard.

“I’m not sorry.”

“I don’t want you to be,” she says, breathless.

“I’ll earn it next time,” I promise her.

She snorts and kisses me again, one hand gripping my hair, the other on my cheek. Her hips pulse against me, and I groan, pulling away. “If you don’t want this to go anywhere else, you need to stop doing that, little witch. That’s not what I came in here for.”

She nips my chin. “I know I’m sorry. It feels natural to want you like this.”

“I agree,” I grunt.

“I’ve never been with a man,” she whispers.

“Is that a bad thing?” I ask her.

“You’re not … put off by that?” she asks.

“No? Why would I be?”

“I don’t know,” she says, kissing the edge of my jaw.

“I haven’t been with a woman for a long time.

Maybe it was just me, maybe it’s because I knew I wanted more.

When we reach that point together, Eliana, I want it to be because we’ve connected to each other in every conceivable way.

But most of all, I want you to trust me completely.

Trust that I’m going to take care of you when you give yourself to me because I want to give myself to you, and know that you’ll take care of this.

” I grab her hand and lay it over my chest as the organ behind my skin spins.

She looks between my eyes, and with her hand on my chest and she leans forward, kissing my sternum.

I roll us over so I’m pinning her to the bed with my body and pull her shirt up, kissing her stomach, working my way up to her chest.

“I want to suffocate between these thighs,” I mumble into her stomach and grip her legs with my hands.

She whimpers, pushing out her chest.

“I want to watch these bounce as you moan my name,” I say and reach for her breasts and squeeze, tweaking her nipple over the fabric of her shirt.

Eliana moans, arching her back. “You’re not doing a very good job of keeping this from progressing,” she says on a sigh.

I groan into her stomach and lick a trail over her skin.

“Killian,” she whines, biting her lower lip.

“I can’t help myself with you,” I murmur, coming back up to her face, hovering over her.

She drags her hand over my chest, down my stomach to my boxers. “I think I have a huge idea,” she whispers.

The corner of my mouth quirks up with the boost to my ego. She drags her fingers over my skin, and my bones shake under her light touch. I can’t imagine what it will be like when we do get to that point.

“Thank you,” she whispers.

I kiss her cheek. “For what?”

“For making them stop.”

“Are they quiet now?” I ask.

She nods while her finger traces my mouth. “You have perfect lips, under that beard.”

I grin and kiss her cheek.

“You still have me beat.”

Her eyebrow tips up in question.

“Everything about you is perfect.”

She huffs and shakes her head. “It’s not, nor will it ever be, but thank you.”

I drop down next to her. She cuddles into my chest and sighs. “You might have considered going back to your bed, but that’s not allowed anymore.”

I chuckle, and she kisses my chest again.

“I’m exactly where I want to be.”