And even more intriguing…
Why did it seem to know me?
Chapter 11
Hadley
Caius’s grip tightens around my wrist, but it doesn’t hurt. Desperation seems to waft off of him in palpable waves as his eyes effectively ensnare my own. I search his gaze for any deceit, any anger, but there’s only pain. The anger I had once seen has diminished as quickly as it’d appeared.
“What did you do?” he repeats roughly. Instead of answering, I tug my hand back, and he reluctantly releases me. His large, muscular body towers over my own, pushing me back against the golden railing of the bridge.
“What did you do?” I counter vehemently. Images assault me of the white-haired angel. The love emanating from his eyes. The pleading in his gaze. The comfort and security I felt in his presence.
Auston.
More memories brush against the edge of my subconscious, but try as I might, I can’t grip them. They continuously slip through my fingers like water. I can no sooner stop the waves from cresting the shoreline.
“Claire…” He reaches for me, but I stealthily step away.
“Who’s Claire?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest. I feel irrationally jealous at the usage of another girl’s name when he’s in my company. Who is she? Another love? Is he cheating on me?
Do I care?
My emotions are as tumultuous as my stomach, constantly churning and swirling.
“I’m not good at this,” Caius says suddenly, wrenching his gaze away and pacing the expanse of the bridge. “I never had to woo you before.”
“Woo me? Before? Caius, you aren’t making any sense.” Instead of answering me, he continues to pace until I grab his arm to stop his forward momentum. “Talk to me. Please. I’m so confused. I feel like my head is about to explode…like I’m on the precipice of something, but I don’t know what. Just help me understand. I promise, whatever it is, we’ll get through this.”
He tenderly—reverently—cups both my cheeks, his gorgeous eyes framed by sooty lashes ensnaring my own.
“I just love you so, so much,” he whispers, resting his forehead against mine. “You make me want to be a better person, the person I used to be so long ago.”
I wrap both my hands around his wrists, holding him in place. Memories momentarily flit through my subconscious of a different set of eyes staring at me with such warmth and love. The more I try to focus on the memory, the harsher my headache becomes until it’s pounding behind my eyes.
“Caius, please. Just help me understand. Who was that man? Why do I…?” I trail off, unable to articulate my conflicting thoughts. Why did I feel safe in his arms? Why did my body yearn for his? Why did those icy blue eyes evoke such warm feelings from me? It feels like a betrayal to Caius to confess it out loud, but at the same time, it feels like a betrayal to the other man to allow Caius to hold me as he is.
“I’ll show you,” Caius replies. Darkness obscures my vision like a curtain being drawn closed, and I lurch forward. As I fall, I wonder irrationally if Caius will catch me.
“Try this,” Caius whispers, dangling a juicy red fruit in front of my face. He’s speaking an unfamiliar language, a foreign language, but I find myself answering in a similar tongue.
“What is it?”
“Just try it.” Before I can protest, he presses the fruit to my lips, and I bite down greedily. A multitude of flavors assault me. Sweet and sour. Fruity and bitter. The combination is practically orgasmic.
I groan, licking my lips to catch every last droplet of juice.
“That’s delicious. What is it?” I ask, peering up at my lover.
His beatific grin splits his face. At one point, I had thought him to be solemn and rude. Only time has shown the vulnerable, gentle man underneath.
He’s bare from the waist up, his tan skin and chiseled muscles on display. He’s mouthwateringly glorious, almost as scrumptious as the fruit tantalizing my taste buds…and he’s mine. I know exactly what his skin tastes like. How he trembles when I kiss down his taut stomach. The feel of his desire for me hardening against my palm.
Below, he’s wearing a skirt made of leaves. It stops mid-thigh, but it does little to conceal what I know to be a large, thick cock.
“It’s a strawberry,” Caius answers—though I had forgotten my question. I blink dazedly, stopping my perusal of his form to see his cocksure smirk.
“It’s delicious,” I reply, but I’m no longer talking about the strawberry. Caius’s smile grows as he grabs my hips, pulling me closer.
My own dress is constructed from woven leaves and flowers, covering both my breasts and cascading to my thighs. It’s thin and airy, and I love it.
Especially when his fingers easily slide beneath the skirt, brushing against my bare pussy.
“You know what tastes even better?” His voice is raspy with desire. Husky, even. His fingers continue to stroke my slit, heat pooling between my legs, as his other hand travels up my waist, over my stomach, and to my breasts. He cups my chest, the heat from his skin tangible even with the layer of leaves separating us.
“Caius…” I moan. Eyes holding my own, he removes his fingers from my pussy and brings them to his lips. His tongue snakes out to taste my arousal—the same way I had sucked the juices from the strawberry.
“Do you have any idea how much I love you?” he whispers, angling his body so it’s over mine. My back touches the fur rug he made me from a fallen animal we came across. My skin warms from the flames as the firelight casts strange, ominous shadows on the shelter’s walls. The mood is haunting and erotic. Perfect. Beautiful.
Just like the man in front of me.
“Not as much as I love you,” I say, arching my neck to kiss his lips. He tastes vaguely of the fruit he loves to eat, the enticing flavor eliciting goosebumps down my arms.
“Doubt it.” With a soft smile, he pulls down the straps of my dress, baring my breasts to his hungry gaze. Maybe hungry isn’t the correct word—it doesn’t fully encapsulate how he stares at me. He’s ravenous. Starving.
For me.
He lowers his head to take one of my taut nipples in his mouth. His tongue swirls above the sensitive peak as his hands knead my flesh. Without breaking his ministrations on my breasts, he removes my dress the rest of the way.
He switches his attention from one breast to the other.
“You’re so beautiful.” His voice rumbles through me. I want to drown in it, in him. At that moment, we are one and the same. Created to be with each other until the end of time. There is no me and him—there’s us. A pair. As we were always destined to be.
“Get naked,” I pant, arching my back so his teeth can graze my nipple.
He doesn’t need to be told twice. In the next second, his coverings are discarded next to my dress. He lines himself up with my wet entrance.
“Claire, I love you,” he whispers before plunging himself inside of me, pulling a gasp from my lips. It’s a tight fit—my body struggles for a moment to adjust to his long and thick girth—but soon, we’re connected in a way only two people deeply in love can be. It’s more than a connection of bodies. It’s a merging of souls.