Page 239 of Dark Souls

The hip-high slit on one side showed the flash of my white flesh all the way up to my hip bone but the way the heavy, red velvet draped across and flowed to the floor it also covered my modesty and cascaded around me like a soft cloud. The corset narrowed my waist but made my petite boobs feel fuller and busty and a piece of velvet hooked over one shoulder and wrapped around my bicep on only one arm. It was the most unique and beautiful thing I had ever worn and tears sprang to my eyes because I’d never felt more like myself. I laughed as I tugged on my clumpy goth boots and laced them up my shins, because Luka knew this was what I was most comfortable in. I wasn’t a heels girl. And somehow, the overall look was perfect.

I let my hair down and applied a red lip to match my dress before I hesitated about where exactly Luka meant because, technically, there could have been two places. Did he mean where I first met Heathen at that club or where I first met him by the lake? This ball dress was far too grand for both locations but my gut was telling me this was all Luka.

I transported myself to Miles’ luxury camping resort, which flooded me with memories of the last time I had been here for Sienna’s hen do. Just like that night, the entire place was deserted and all the lights were off in the reception. Shit, had I got it wrong? Stomping up to the front door, I read the sign hanging in the window that said the resort was closed for a private event and was sorry for the inconvenience. I sighed and was about to transport myself out of there when I noticed a sprinkling of faded leaves on the ground that led from where I was standing into the forest. I bent down and smiled when I realised they weren’t leaves but dried petals. Dead flowers.

‘Oh my dark heart, behave!’ Rue gushed in my mind, swooning just as much as me.

She was right. Our heart was not behaving as it pounded with excitement and nervousness like I’d never felt before. I wasn’t sure anyone had made me feel this giddy. I felt ridiculous, following the path of dried petals through the forest in an insanely amazing ball gown and a beaming smile.Who was this girl?My smile soon fell when the path let me straight into the high fence that surrounded the perimeter of the resort, keeping trespassers out. The petals continued on the other side of it, trailing into the darkness of the pine trees.

“You’ve got to be kidding me?” I grunted with my hands on my hips. He expected me to jump this fence in this dress? Now the shoe choice made even more sense. Why couldn’t we just use the entrance? Was he really breaking us into my parent’s friends’ resort? Grabbing the train of the dress and bunching it in one hand, I crouched low and leapt into the air and over the fence. I was more concerned about the dress snagging on the top of the metal than I was about landing gracefully and I nearly twisted my ankle on impact.

“Fucker!” I groaned, standing upright again and checking if the dress was okay before rolling my ankle. Luckily, it was.

Continuing on the path of petals led me deeper into the rural woodland and the familiarity of the area tugged at my chest. He was showing me the exact route he took to the lake the night he found me swimming in it. I was positive. My heart raced and I picked up my speed a little, eager to see him, but the petals led to a tree, blocking my path. There, stuck to the trunk with a silver dagger, was a note. I tugged the silver dagger out with a smirk at his choice of fixture and then read the most romantic yet filthiest words I’d ever seen.

You have just walked in my footsteps. The night my world changed. Is your heart racing? Are you desperate to see me? Because that is how I felt as I walked through this forest, naïve as to what I was about to discover but knowing there was nothing that could have stopped me from taking every step closer.

This is the tree I hid behind after I saw you in the lake. This is the tree I leaned against trying to catch my breath because you had stolen the air from lungs with just your eyes. This is the tree where I inhaled the sweetness of your cunt from your thong and knew I would never desire anyone else ever again. This is the tree I stood against when I changed my plans to leave and decided I had to stay. And that was the moment you saved me, love. Without so much as a word exchanged between us, you saved my life by just being that girl in the lake.

I just didn’t know it yet.

I pressed the note up against my chest and closed my eyes, fighting my own emotions. No. I was not going to cry. Not when I looked this darn good. I folded the note up and tucked it in the top of my corset. I bent down and put the dagger in the side of my boot, where I normally always had one, but tonight I’d gone without.

I carried on walking towards the lake and stopped dead when the long wooden jetty came into sight, hovering over the inky blackness of the water. Candles lined the entire length of it and circled the man standing at the end with his back to me. The illuminating half-moon was high above him and he was staring up at it with his tattooed hands clasped behind his back. From here, all I could see was that he was cloaked in darkness, wearing black and only his deep-red hair that matched my dress stood out.

I inhaled a quick breath to calm my nerves and stepped on to the jetty. The moment I did, he turned.

Hooooly fuuuuuck.

A well-fitted black suit perfectly covered his muscular frame. An inked chest teased out of the black shirt that was open at the collar beneath his tailored jacket. The smart trousers hugged his firm thighs and couldn’t mask the large bulge of his manhood, which instantly made my mouth water. But as my eyes roamed down to his feet, a small chuckle left my lips when I saw he was wearing his black combat boots instead of smart shoes. I slammed my hand over my mouth to hide my amusement as I walked towards him because he wasn’t smiling at all.

His green eyes shimmered like emeralds as they took me and my dress in and all the muscles in his jaw ticked with sharp restraint. My laughter died away when I saw it. Desire. Intense, soul-consuming desire as he devoured me with his gaze. Suddenly, I had to focus on breathing because it felt like I would forget if I didn’t. The intensity of him was so spell-binding, I wasn’t even sure how I had walked the short distance to him but when I was only a foot away; I stopped.

Our eyes met and slowly, like a painted picture with the last stroke of a brush, a dazzling, heart-wrenching smile appeared on his face.

“You’re stunning.”

I swallowed thickly at the deep husk of his compliment as it sent a pleasurable shiver down my spine.

“It’s the dress,” I answered, holding the skirt in my hands and giving it a little swish.

“No. It’s not. It’s the woman wearing it.” He held his hand out towards me.

I stopped my nervous movements and tilted my head to the side, studying this man that I thought I knew everything about. But looking around at what he had done, the place, the scenery, the thoughtful gestures and the dress, he still had the ability to surprise me. I placed my hand in his and he tugged me sharply into his chest, wrapping one hand around my waist and lifting the other to my face. My breathing hitched as his eyes scanned every inch of my face and his thumb brushed against my lips tenderly.

“You didn’t need to do all of this, Luka,” I whispered. My staggered breathing became visible in the air between us as he continued to trace my skin with his fingers, across my cheek, down my throat and along my collarbone.

“I wanted to. A do over.”

“I didn’t need a do over. I loved how we met.”

The corner of his lips tugged up into a side smirk and he was so damn sexy that butterflies ignited in my lower belly at the sight.

“So do I. But you only met one side of me that night. So I need you to humour me a little. Because I am old as fuck and once upon a time, some might have called me a romantic. I dreamed of you. Long before you were even born. I dreamed of the girl who would one day save me from the life I was living, the girl who would pull me from the shadows and bring me back into the light. And when I met her, I wanted to make sure she knew just how special she was to me. So, Ilaria Romano-Black, will you dance with me?”

I pressed my lips together into a smile that fought the overwhelming emotions to remain just below the surface and nodded. He took my hand from his shoulder and he led me in a slow glide, side-to-side, never taking his eyes off my face.

“We have no music,” I whispered with a giggle and he smiled wider.