Page 23 of Hunted Temptation (Alpha Nights: Unlikely Heroes #4)

Chapter Twenty-Two

ELODIE

I don’t answer his proposal, and I can tell it bothers him. He doesn’t say anything, though, at least not immediately. Slowly, Vaughn slips from my body, moving backward before I can hear his clothes rustling again.

I can’t move, though.

I am boneless. Lying here, chest down on the bed, ass still in the air.

Doing all I can to just breathe. Then, without a word, I feel my body being lifted off the bed.

I expect to be set down on the soft mattress, but that’s not what happens.

Instead, he sets my ass down on the edge of the tub as he sinks down to his knees in front of me.

His eyes don’t look away from mine. They’re connected. We’re connected. I can feel his cum dripping out of me, wetness against my inner thighs. I tremble as I sit on the edge of the tub, wondering what is coming next.

Vaughn reaches behind me, and then I hear the water start. “A bath after a long day of work.”

“I didn’t do much work,” I breathe.

His lips curve up into a grin, and he shifts so that his mouth is against mine. “Goldie, you came three times today alone. You worked hard.”

My mouth opens, and a gasp escapes my mouth, but before I can say anything in protest to his words, I feel his tongue slip inside my mouth, tasting me as he lifts his hands and cups my cheeks.

When we’re both breathless, he nibbles on my bottom lip, breaking the kiss before he rests his forehead against mine.

“You haven’t answered me.”

“Was it a question?” I ask.

Vaughn shifts backward slightly and stands before he steps back. Tipping my head back, I look up at him. He arches a brow, then crosses his arms over his chest as he looks down at me. A moment of silence passes between us.

“It wasn’t,” he says. “But you didn’t respond to it in any way.”

“Why?” I ask. “Why do you want me to?”

I wait for him to say something, but he doesn’t. Instead, he watches me before he moves toward me, over to the bathtub, and turns the water off. I wait for him to tell me that he loves me, but the words don’t come.

“Take a bath. I’ll make dinner.”

Without another word, he turns away from me and slips out of the room. I watch the bathroom door close behind him, and I’m left alone. Standing from the edge of the tub, I force myself to lower my body into the warm water with a moan.

The water feels amazing against my skin. This is exactly what I needed. Vaughn was right about that. I don’t know what to do, and at the same time, I’m not sure I have much of a choice in what I do.

If Vaughn wants me to marry him, then I’ll marry him. My choices are very limited. It’s not like I can just frolic around, get my own place, and live life on my own terms.

I came here with Vaughn. I accepted this, and I love him. What does it matter if he doesn’t love me back? If he’s willing to marry me… to keep me, then that’s all that should matter to me.

Even if I want love, if I yearn for it, that can come later.

This is what I wanted. I wanted him to want to keep me. I wanted to be here with him, to be his forever. And I got what I wanted. So why does it seem so… lackluster? It’s what I wanted, but it doesn’t feel like a victory of any kind.

Lying back in the tub, I close my eyes and let the warm water soak my skin, absorb into my muscles. I sigh a heavy sigh and try not to think about the future. I fail—because all I can do is think about the future.

Is this what I want ? I thought it was, but now I’m not so sure. I’ve already given my money away in hopes that Vaughn would fall in love with me and want to do this exact thing—marry me, create a family with me.

But that’s not what this feels like.

It feels… different.

Wrong.

Like it’s some sort of guilt thing. And even though he’s brought me here, killed for me and saved me, it hasn’t felt like I’m an obligation or that he’s taken me in because of pity. But now—this does feel just like that.

Pity.

And that makes my saliva taste rancid.

There’s a knock on the bathroom door. Lifting my head, I turn to look toward the door, calling out for Vaughn to come in. I have nothing to hide. He’s seen every part of me, even the things I never wanted another person to see.

The door opens slowly, and I hear a creak at the hinges. Vaughn’s eyes find mine, and all the doubts I felt, while they’re still niggling in the back of my mind, aren’t in the forefront any longer.

“Come on and eat, Goldie.”

His voice is thick and husky, like honeyed whiskey.

Not that I know what that tastes like, but I can imagine it’s what he sounds like, flowing slowly through my ears and my veins simultaneously.

Although I don’t know if that even makes sense.

I’m so punch-drunk by this man that I am thinking in riddled nonsense.

“Okay,” I exhale.

Standing, I let the water slide down my naked body, my gaze connected to his.

I watch as his blue eyes darken, then his lips curve up into a grin.

A naughty grin. I know what that smile means, and I want it even though I’ve just had it.

Even though my body is sore, even though I’m physically exhausted.

I could rally.

Hell, I could be on my deathbed, and this man’s dark-blue eyes could meet mine, and I would be ready for him, legs spread, wet, and writhing.

“Hurry up, Elodie.”

Without another word, he turns around and walks out of the room. I watch him go, sliding my tongue along my bottom lip when I do, wishing I were following him… or rather chasing him down so I can straddle him and fuck him until we’re both so exhausted we can’t even breathe, let alone think.

I don’t want to think. I don’t want to feel the pity being thrown in my face.

VAUGHN

We eat dinner in comfortable silence, or maybe not so comfortable considering I’m shifting around in my seat, my cock twitching every other fucking second as I think about being inside her.

“I don’t think I can marry you,” she states.

My cock goes soft instantly. “You don’t?” I ask.

She doesn’t have a fucking choice in the matter. She is going to marry me. It’s cute that she thinks she’s got some kind of say. Pressing my lips together, I roll them a few times as I lean back in the chair.

“I don’t,” she whispers before she continues. “I thought I could. It’s all I wanted, for you to want to keep me, but that’s not what this feels like.”

“But something has changed,” I murmur.

The whole conversation seems annoying, and I want it to end. And as much as I want to tell her that, I’m pretty sure that would be in poor taste, so I don’t. Instead, I wait for her to respond to me.

“I want you to want to marry me.”

If she didn’t look so serious sitting across the table from me, I would laugh at the way she said that.

It was cute as fuck.

“You think when I tell you to marry me, that I don’t want you to marry me?”

I feel like a fucking idiot having this conversation with her, but she’s serious, so I try not to laugh, shake my head, or look up to the ceiling for deliverance. She sucks in a breath and stands from her place at the table.

Elodie turns her back to me and walks away from the table toward the window. She stands there for a silent moment. I can’t take my eyes off her, though my gaze does travel down and focus on her ass.

“You want me to marry you out of pity,” she whispers.

That’s when I let out a bark of laughter. Her head whips around, her eyes wide as they find mine. “Vaughn, I’m serious,” she snaps.

“And adorable,” I murmur as I rise to my feet.

I move toward her and stop when I’m just a few inches away. Dipping my chin, I look down at her, taking in her gaze. She’s fucking stunning. I slide my hand along the side of her neck, curling my fingers around the back and tangling them in the strands of her hair at the nape.

“Fucking adorable,” I grind out.

“I don’t want your pity,” she states firmly.

I grin as I lower my chin and touch my mouth to hers. “Nothing I do for you, to you, or with you includes pity,” I murmur against her lips. “I want to marry you, Goldie.”

“Why?” she exhales.

Lifting my head, I breathe in the kiss as I look into her eyes.

She consumes me. She fucking owns me. I don’t know if this is love.

I’m not sure if I can give her everything she deserves, but selfishly, even though I know I’m likely not capable, I won’t let her go.

I thought I could when I first brought her with me, but she’s mine.

“You’re mine,” I state.

“But do you love me?” she asks.

“Are you old enough to know what love even is?”

I shouldn’t have said that. She winces at my words. They hit her hard, and though it was my intention, I know it was wrong. She didn’t deserve them. As much as I want to apologize for them, I’m not that man, so I don’t.

“Vaughn,” she hisses.

“I’m too old for you. I know I am. This isn’t out of pity. It’s out of selfishness. I want you, I need you, and I don’t want another person to even think they can have you. I don’t know what the future looks like, so I can’t promise you shit. But I can give you a safe place, orgasms, and me.”

And that is all I can give her.

I lay it all out on the table, right there for her to take it or leave it. Although she doesn’t have much of a choice, she is fucking taking it… taking me.