Page 69 of A Rising Hope (The Freckled Fate #3)

69

GIDEON

I purposely wrapped the worn-out rag that served as a towel lower on my hips. Childish, I knew that, and yet I couldn’t help myself. The clouds of steam still radiated from my body as I made my way from the small washroom adjoined to the hastily put together bedroom.

Finnleah had already changed into her nightgown—my shirt—that she declared was hers and I did not object. Her hair was loose, perfectly cascading down her shoulders, a few strands tucked behind her ears. I leaned against the door frame, arms folded, unable to tear my eyes away from her.

She chewed on her lip, tapping the paper with a pencil, lost in her thoughts. I stood motionless, gawking. Feeling my burning gaze on her, she looked up. Her eyes raked over me, pausing on the low V of my stomach and the short rag on my hips. Fully aware of my charade, she shook her head, smiling before returning to staring at her paper.

Though I would never admit it, such quick dismissal stung my male pride.

“So . . . when do I get to hear about your so-called friend?” I narrowed my eyes at her, craving her admiring gaze to return to me. I promised myself I wouldn’t ask, but then again, I really needed to stop making myself promises I wasn’t capable of keeping. I knew it didn’t matter and yet even hours after the war council, I still found myself lost to the thought of the two of them.

“Aw, is that jealousy I sense?” she mocked me, the sound cruel and wicked and yet so fucking seductive. The vicious little thing knew it was eating me alive and yet she hadn’t said a thing about the not-so-mysterious friend.

“Maybe. Maybe not. Why don’t you come here and find out?” I challenged her.

“Tempting, I must say. But, ” she mumbled, still glued to the fucking paper. “I am good.”

“So that’s the game you are going to play . . . ” A corner of my mouth tugged upward. She just shrugged, unbothered. “You are cruel; you know that right?” My voice dropped low. She looked up then, her lips parading a satisfied grin, content to see my disheveled state mixed with desire at her wicked little glance.

“So people say.” She flicked her hair behind her. My shirt slipped, exposing her shoulder with the movement as she set the paper aside. “Some might say it’s the weight of the crown. Some might say it’s her husband abandoning her to go die over and over again without mentioning that there is a chance he might live.” The flicker of fury in her eyes like flame to a moth, only drawing me, calling me closer to her.

“So cruel and bitter, how lucky of you to possess two of the most truly desired traits in a woman.”

“Ah Emperor, you are giving luck too much credit. Luck had nothing to do with this. I crafted all that hatred and bitterness on my own.” She theatrically picked on her nails as if my presence didn’t matter at all.

“I am starting to realize that. So abundantly gifted in such skill.”

“Indeed. Such desirable traits in a woman are rare to find, which makes me quite exciting company to keep. Especially to my type of men.” Her gorgeous eyes sparked with a taunting flame.

“And what type of men are those, Finnleah?” I tilted my head to the side, playing along with her game.

She folded her arms, going for the kill as she pierced me with her glare.

“Oh, you know, the powerful kind, the ones with very questionable morals and a dash of arrogance . . . Say a war general or a drug lord. I have a lot of options.”

She knew exactly what she was doing, watching my heart beat faster at her words.

I knew I had lost this game before I even started, surrendered and defeated.

“Oh, let’s hear more about those options of yours. I, for one, am dying of curiosity.”

“Well, dying seems to be your thing, so perhaps I’ll leave you to it.” Her eyes flashed with thrill, enjoying every moment of this torture. She stood up, sauntering towards the small round end table in the corner with a pitcher of water, pouring herself a cup. She theatrically took the longest sip of water. My eyes hungrily pinned on her bobbing throat, cock twitching at the sight of her exposed muscled legs.

She set the cup down.

“Better go get dressed, wouldn’t want you catching a chill.” She waved me off.

“Hmm . . . we are not done here.” I stared at her.

“Oh, but I just decided we are.” She dismissed me, walking back to the worn-out feather mattress on the ground serving as our bed for the night.

In a blink and I was across the room. Her body trapped between the wall and me. Her back flush against the peeling wallpaper. Wrists pinned above her head.

“Glad to see you still have a tendency to pin women,” she angrily spat out, attempting to get out of my hold, all pointlessly.

“It’s a woman, Finnleah. A single one. You wanted to play games; well, I am going to play one of my own.” My nose brushed hers, drunken on her enthralling scent.

“And what game is that?” she whispered defiantly. Her eyes dropped to my lips, begging me to taste hers.

“One where I get to fuck that cruel attitude out of you,” I murmured against her lips. Her heart raced against her chest; nipples perked up against my shirt. Impatiently, she reached for a kiss, but I pulled back, meeting her heated gaze with one of my own. “You are mine, Finnleah, as much as I am yours. Only mine. No one else’s.” As much as I pretended not to care, not to be bothered by the thought of another man lusting after her, I couldn’t help it. I’d fucking kill him. My heated look told her that much.

“No killing allowed,” she mumbled with a sultry whisper as if reading my mind. Her jagged breaths pricked my skin, pleading me to take her.

“We shall see about that,” I grumbled. My heart was torn between the urge to go kill the prick right this second or listen to Finnleah moan my name until the last embers of jealousy had settled. Her body arched, desperate to be closer to mine, needing to feel me between her perfect legs. She trailed a ribbon of kisses down my jaw, distracting my poisonous thoughts.

Finnleah wrapped her leg around my hip, pulling me closer to her, her heel pulling down the towel I wore.

While my mind might have been torn, my heart and aching cock quickly decided that murder could wait.

I’d much rather listen to her moan.

I pushed my hips in, grinding against her drenched undergarments. She gasped from the pleasure. My lips were stealing the sound as I claimed her mouth.

I had no antidote to her sweet poison. Her taste commanded every cell of my body. Her wicked lips made me come back for more. I lifted her other leg, wrapping both of them around my hips as I carried her to our bed.

“Tell me you’re mine,” I whispered between our heated caresses, as I undressed her.

“ Needy ,” she taunted me, her teeth scraping my bottom lip, while my hands traveled up and down her body.

“You have no fucking idea.”

Her arms wrapped around my neck, her fingers in my hair, but she met my frantic look, dropping the cruel performance.

“I am fully and entirely yours, Gideon,” she declared, her heartbeat matching mine.

“Forever?”

“For the whole of eternity and beyond,” she uttered against my lips, sealing her vow with a gentle graze.

“And I am yours. Body, mind and soul.” My eyes devoured her divine body, revering in her glory with every glance.

She raised her head until she was right next to my ear, her teeth scraping the edge of it.

“Now why don’t you fuck me and remind me precisely why questionable men are my type?”

“ A man , Finnleah,” I corrected her, devouring her scheming smirk. “I was going to be gentle, but now I am going to fuck you without mercy so that little dirty mouth of yours won’t spew such hateful bitter things.” My thumb ran against the bottom of her lip.

I jerked her thighs wide open for me. Her wrists pinned with my single hand above her head.

“And Finnleah?” I grazed her neck with my tongue. My cock throbbing at her entrance, soaked in her wetness as she ground her hips up and down it.

“Yeah?” she whimpered, the sound turning my mind into something far more primal, driven only by the sound of her pleasure.

“When you beg me for mercy, I want the world to hear you scream my name. So every fucking person and dog and rat in this universe knows you are mine.” My nostrils flared. “Fucking options . . . ” I snarled at the word. “I am going to especially enjoy fucking that thought out of you.”

She grinned at my words, eager with anticipation.

My mouth closed around her tender breasts, sucking deep on them. She gasped, her feet dragging against my legs.

“Fuck me,” she cried out.

“Just the right words I was looking for.” I smirked. I didn’t hesitate even for a moment as I plummeted deep, stealing the loud moan from her lips.