Page 11 of Love Me in the Dark

I pretend to ignore the nasty look Dad gives me before leaving the house with Tristan, and I watch from the window until they blend in with the other families headed in the same direction. The white wood plank building is set up higher than the rest, like it’s always reminding us of how we’re supposed to act and what we’re supposed to do. I can’t wait to never see it again.

By the time I get back upstairs, Leona is awake, and I watch as the fear on her face softens to relief when she sees it’s me coming in.

“Good morning.” I go straight to the rope around her ankle and untie the knot so she can use the bathroom, which she gets up to do without saying a word. I’m not going to force her to talk. I’m sure she has a lot on her mind and in her heart. I don’t want to make it worse.

Still, I wait for her, fighting with myself while staring at the closed door. Back and forth, yes or no, right or wrong. How am I supposed to do this? Yes, I’ll get Tristan out of here, but I’ll carry her in my memory for the rest of my life. There will never be a day when I don’t wonder what happened to her. Where she ended up, and what they did to her.

But this is the only way. It has to be. My brother needs me.

When she opens the door, though, and looks at me with those dark eyes full of fear and pain, it’s easy to forget what I’m in this for. “I don’t know what to say,” I have to admit.

“You don’t have to say anything. I meant it last night. You can’t help me, and I understand.”

But I want to. I’m not brave enough to say it out loud, so I don’t, taking her back to the bedroom instead.

“Do you know when they’ll come for me?” She’s trying so hard to be brave, but I hear the tremor in her voice.

“Sometime tonight. They always come at night, so people won’t notice.”

“That makes sense.” She sits down on the bed, bouncing her knees up and down. “So all I have to do is wait. No big deal.”

“Dad and my brother are at church. We could go downstairs and get something to eat.”

“No, I don’t have any appetite. I would probably throw up,” she confesses with a grimace.

“Is there anything I can do?” It’s kind of a shitty thing to say. I’m surprised she doesn’t laugh and call me out for trying to make myself feel better. Like eating breakfast in a kitchen rather than tied to a bed is such a huge gesture.

She doesn’t laugh, though. “You know what you can do for me. The same thing I asked you to do last night. That’s all I want.”

Right away, the part of me that kept me from fucking her last night rears up and tries to shut the idea down. “That can’t happen. I already told you.”

“We’re alone. Nobody would have to know but us.” When all I can do is sigh and fight against the temptation, she stands, pulling off her dress, making me grunt in dismay and desire. “I know you want me. And I want you, too. Please, touch me. I need to remember being touched by somebody who actually cared.”

I’m weak and stupid.

I’m going to do it. Because it’s all I want, to hold and touch her and be inside her. I only got a taste last night, but I want—need—more.

That’s why I don’t push her away when she places gentle hands on my chest.

It’s why I let her unbutton my shirt until she’s touching my bare skin. It’s like her hands are fire, lighting me up and burning me. I want them to. I want her to keep going.

When her fingers graze my waistband, she looks up at me, and there’s nothing for me to do but take her face between my hands and press my mouth to hers in a deep, searching kiss full of regret and sadness. That’s quickly pushed aside by desire, the craving she effortlessly stirs up in me. Kissing and touching her smooth, soft body isn’t enough.

I lay her down on the bed while she unbuttons my pants and pushes them down along with my shorts so when I stretch out on top of her, there’s nothing in the way. Nothing stopping my hard dick from rubbing against her plump mound. We both groan into the other’s mouth at that first contact, and when I reach between us to touch her pussy, my fingers come back coated in her juices.

She wraps her legs around my hips and pulls me in. “Please, Elijah,” she whispers between kisses as her nails dig into my ass until I hiss. “Please, give it to me. I want to feel you inside me.”

I’m so weak. I should say no, and stop this, but I can’t resist anymore. Not when the heat from her pussy draws me in and promises so much. She’s not the only one who needs to forget for a little while. And if this is all I can do for her, then why hold back?

First, I rub my head through her slit, and right away, her nails bite into my skin. “Oh, yeah, keep doing that,” she whispers, rocking her hips, bearing down on me. I let her, even if it means gritting my teeth and fighting like hell not to come. She’s so wet, and her soft moans mix with the sensations running through my body until it’s almost impossible to keep myself from letting go.

“I am going to come,” she whimpers, gripping me tight with her arms and legs. I close my eyes and bury my face in her neck, holding on while she shudders and gasps and drenches me in more of that wetness.

I can’t help it. I can’t wait anymore. She’s still coming when I find her quivering hole and pierce it with the tip of my cock.

Her back arches, and she gasps. I push deeper, past the barrier that tries to stop me, deep into her pulsing tunnel. Her muscles are fluttering, and she’s so tight I can hardly move.

“Hurts…” She gasps. “Don’t stop. Please, don’t stop.”