Page 18 of Snow’s Charming (Hope Runs Deep #7)

Sylus led me to the top floor of the penthouse and brought me to the room I claimed the first night here. Not that I’d done much sleeping in it, but it housed my clothes. Thank goodness for small favors. I so didn’t want to have that conversation with my dad. Hopefully, the clothes said enough.

After everything that happened today, I was confident I wouldn’t toss and turn like I’d been doing lately. Sylus seemed to plague all my thoughts, whether I was awake or dreaming. A yawn escaped my lips that I’d been trying to hold in, and Sylus just smiled and kissed the top of my head.

“You are tired. Give me a second.”

Sylus gently placed me on the bed and walked into the bathroom. Within a few minutes, the sound of running water washed over the room. Sylus opened the door and leaned against the door frame.

“I placed some lavender-scented Epsom salts in the tub for you. Is there anything else that you need?”

My brows knitted. I get he was behaving like this when we were in front of my father, but why was he doing it with me while we were alone?

“You.”

The word escaped my lips before I could bite it back and came out more like a whisper than an answer to his question.

His lips formed a wide grin.

“Is that so?”

My cheeks heated, and my gaze darted to the floor. I couldn’t say yes, but I couldn’t deny my wanting him in the tub with me, either. I wanted to see every gloriously toned and chiseled muscle on his chest, among other parts of him.

The heat in my cheeks spread to my ears and down my neck at the mere thought.

My dad was in the same house now, and even though he seemed cool about this whole mate thing, pushing my luck might not be such a good idea.

Sure, my dad was on a different floor, giving us some privacy, but the thought of the guy bursting in on me with Sylus grossed me out.

I shuddered at the thought of my dad insisting I go on the pill as a “precaution.” It was the most uncomfortable conversation of my life at 16 because who wants to talk about sex with their father? Certainly not me .

“Princess,” Sylus said as he kissed the top of my head. “You really don’t look well. Let’s call it a night.”

“I’m okay, really!” I said as I stood up. My knees buckled again, causing me to fall into Sylus’s arms.

“Doesn’t look like you’re fine, but I will stay with you and help you get into the bath. I don’t want you to fall and hurt yourself.”

He led me into the candlelit bathroom, and the scent of lavender and vanilla hit my nose instantly. How he’d lit candles and drawn a bath so quickly was beyond me. It must be his superpower.

“Sylus, this is amazing!”

“I’d do anything for you, princess. Now, let me help you undress.”

His voice was a silky whisper against the shell of my ear.

He’d seen me naked—the first day we met, in fact.

How could I forget about shifting into a werewolf?

But this was very different. His voice and gaze were dark with desire.

So different from his boyish grin as he’d placed that blanket over me just a few days ago.

Sylus had been nothing but the perfect gentleman that evening, even when I’d gone into a panic attack.

He began unbuttoning my shirt. His thick fingers fumbled with the tiny buttons as he slowly pushed more and more fabric aside to get to the bottom of the blouse. Goosebumps prickled my skin as his hot breath blew against my bare stomach.

When he finished, he placed his palms on my shoulders, and with a gaze so deep, I’d swear my soul wanted to cover up. How can he make me feel so exposed? Slowly, he slid the shirt down my arms until it pooled around my feet on the floor. He then cupped my cheeks and pressed his forehead to mine.

“I promised myself I would not kiss you tonight because I want you to rest.”

I wrapped my hands around his neck.

“Sylus, please kiss me.”

My voice sounded breathy and husky all at once. I hardly recognized it.

“Please, Sylus.”

Okay, now I sounded like I was begging. That was a little embarrassing. I should still keep my cards close to my chest—right? Still, he’d just stormed the castle for me, and that was swoon-worthy enough for a kiss—right?

His lips hovered over mine briefly before he pressed a peck onto them. We stood there kissing, but closed-mouth for a few moments. Neither of us deepened the kiss until I let out a soft, almost inaudible moan.

As my lips slightly parted, he encircled my top and bottom seams with his tongue.

I let out another moan that vibrated between our pressed-together bodies and then entangled his tongue with mine.

Sparks exploded like fireworks in my mind as my stomach fluttered and my inner diva, whom I now know as my pure white wolf, did a few backflips for good measure.

She may have even given me a proverbial high-five.

I wasn’t all that sure because I was too busy fisting Sylus’s thick black hair.

Before I could slide my palms down his muscled back, he broke the kiss, panting wildly.

“Baby, you,” he said between breaths. “You need to relax so you can sleep. Let me help you with the rest of your clothes, and then I’ll wash you. Okay?”

I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to calm my own racing heart.

Why was it only Sylus who made me feel this intensely with just a kiss?

Such a gentleman. Kind, caring, attentive, filled with compassion and conviction for ruling over his pack, and above all, he’s protected me since the first day I met him.

The only man I’d ever met with the same ideals was my father, and I loved him, so maybe I was falling in love with Sylus.

Jackie was now in the past. My father was back in my life.

All was good. It was the first time I’d felt I could relax since Dad got sick.

Still, something was off. I tried to shake the stupid thought, figuring it was just me being silly while remembering all the times I’d waited for the proverbial shoe Jackie always dropped in my lap.

I didn’t want to go there right now. Tonight I wanted to celebrate the win, to rest, and above all, to be with Sylus at this moment.

His hands were fumbling with the button and zipper of my jeans. The warmth of his hands made me swoon all over again as he pulled the fabric down my waist, thighs, and calves. He took a breath before speaking again.

“Hold on to my shoulders, sweetie, and step out of your jeans. ”

I did as he asked, and as he stood, I wrapped my thumbs and forefingers around my aquamarine panties, more than ready to let him see me naked again. But before I could pull them down and shimmy out of them, he palmed both of my hands.

“No, baby. Keep them and your bra on. Like I said, I promised myself I would be a perfect gentleman. Since I kissed you, I’m not doing all that well on my promise.”

“But I?”

“Baby, please? I?”

He let out a breath and then shook his head.

“No. I have to tell you this. It’s important.”

“What is it?”

I placed some distance between us by palming his shoulders. I didn’t want to, but if he was about to reject me, I needed the distance to save a little face.

“Princess, this is gonna sound weird, but I’ve never had sex.

I wanted to wait for you, baby. No one in the pack could compare to you.

So, I kept myself in check for you. And now that I have you here, all I want is for our first time to be special.

And with you half asleep and your father in the house, that isn’t exactly screaming special to me. ”

He pressed his head against mine again and took in a few breaths before kissing my nose.

“Wait…you’re a virgin, too?”

His gaze went from serious to a dark, sexy thing in 60 seconds flat.

“I mean, I hoped beyond hope that we’d be each other’s firsts, but since you didn’t know about me, I figured you’d already had sex. Betrothed wait for each other in the pack, but our relationship was different, Sesi, and…”

He stopped talking the minute I started panting and gasping for air.

My vision became a tunnel. I’d just lied to him.

I didn’t mean to, but I did. Technically, the rape counted, so I wasn’t actually a virgin.

I hadn’t saved myself for him, yet he did for me.

The idea was beautiful and torturous all at once.

“Baby?”

He clutched my shoulders like a lifeline.

“Baby, breathe. In. Out. With me, baby.”

I forced myself to stop the panic attack long enough to speak. I had to apologize and tell him the truth, even though he had assumed something had happened to me when we talked the other night. But enough was enough. If he wanted to be my everything, I had to tell him the truth.

“I was raped. I’m sorry, Sylus—I shouldn’t have lied.”

He placed his index finger on my lips, stopping me from talking.

“Do. Not. Blame. Yourself. Princess, the monster that did that?—”

I stopped him now with a single index finger to his lips.

“The water is getting cold.” I said as I guided him to the tub.

I got in while he sat on the ledge, filling the mesh sponge with what I assumed was his favorite scent. Surprisingly, it was mine too—The Moon and Stars. He rubbed small circles on my back. I took a breath, steadying myself before I began the one story I told no one.

“I don’t blame myself. Well, most of the time anyway.”

He stiffened at my frankness. The circles he was drawing on my back grew smaller.

“When Dad got sick, both he and I stopped going to the business functions. Naturally, that meant I didn’t have to continue to see the ass that raped me.

But? That also meant Jackie was the only one going to the business gala events.

Looking back, I wonder if she suggested the boy rape me so she could take hold of my father’s business more quickly. ”