“There’s a pureness to a woman when she is untouched or untainted by a male.”
“Awesome,” I grumbled.
“Why keep it?”
“Look, my vagina is not up for discussion. I’d also prefer your lips not to drip nonsense about my lady parts, Knox.”
“You’re missing the magnitude of what I am asking. You’re a Hecate witch, cursed to breed once a month, and yet you’ve never parted those thighs and allowed a man between them.”
Looking away, I picked at my finger as I absently bit my lip, considering how much to tell him. My head tilted before I stared at the wall to ignore the heat of his eyes, burning the side of my head.
“Have you ever felt physically sick when someone touched you?” I asked softly, not meeting his stare.
“No,” he said abruptly, without hesitation.
“I do,” I snorted. “My first try was when I was seventeen. His name was Tommy Mason, and he was a sweetheart, but he tried to kiss me, and I barfed all over him. We made good friends, but his touch made me sick. The next boy was just some boy I’d met at a dance. My sisters were there, and they’d had dates. I chose a guy at random to give my virginity because I was sick and tired of hearing my sisters talk about it. He took me deep into the woods and stripped naked. He started removing my clothes, but I felt sick, so I tried to stop it. He got forceful and mean, so I made him choke to death slowly. He wouldn’t take no for an answer, and there was a sickness in him. Next time, I was older. I had been dating Jared for weeks, but when he touched me, I felt nothing, like literally nothing. His hand would slip into my shirt, and he could touch me, but I couldn’t feel him. We tried spells, tried to create a male from clay, which was actually a terrible idea. Either way, nothing worked. I’m a dud,” I snorted, turning in his direction.
“You felt me,” he said, after a moment of silence.
“Yeah, lucky me,” I said sarcastically. “Also, hard pass. I don’t like you.”
“I don’t like you either, but I don’t have to like you to fuck you.”
“I’m not interested, Knox. I prefer to sleep with a man I like.”
“Sex with people you like is messy. All you need to fuck is basic chemistry. Your pussy needs to be wet, and a dick needs to be hard enough to fill it. That is what chemistry does. Your body knows what to do without your feelings, making it a fucking mess.”
“Do you want to fuck me, Knox?” My voice came out sultry, and I winced inwardly.
“No,” he clipped. “I like my women fast and hard, and to have more experience than rubbing her clit in a dark room as she bites her fucking lip, so no one else knows she’s self-soothing her cunt,” he snorted, pouring himself more coffee as if he hadn’t just torn me down in one fluid sentence.
“Okay,” I muttered, using my finger to pull on my lip to keep myself from rebuking his statement, not that he was wrong. He’d pegged me so hard I’d felt it in my ass. Brutal but honest.
“You’re not my type,” he stated.
“Got it the first time,” I growled, and my stomach agreed. On cue, servers entered the room, clearing the cream and sugar before placing platters of meats and fruit along with other delicious-smelling food onto the table. My eyes widened at the amount of food before us, it was enough to feed an entire room of children. Once the room cleared out, Knox began using his fork to grab meat he then piled onto his plate.
I watched silently as he pushed a large chunk of meat into his mouth and chewed it soundlessly. Slowly, my eyes went back to the mountain of food, and I sucked my lip between my teeth, holding it there before he spoke, causing me to turn in his direction.
“Eat, you’re too skinny.”
“I am not,” I muttered.
“Eat,” he continued.
“I don’t even know where to start.” The thing with having a large family is that you normally ended up with scraps. Aurora had done her best with us, but there were a lot of mouths to feed, and my mother was great at draining the account for months before she put the money back, like she got off on showing us who held power over us. “That’s enough food to feed an entire school of starving kids.”
I stood up since I couldn’t reach most of the dishes from a sitting position and grabbed toast, strawberries, and mixed fruit before sitting back down. I pushed a large piece of pineapple into my mouth and barely caught the juice as it drove past my lips and ran down my chin. Grabbing a napkin, I dabbed at my lips and sat back, chewing it in silence.
“Eat, or I’ll take it as an invitation to bend you over the table and do what we both really want to be doing right now.”
“No, that’s pretty much just you. I don’t want to bend over anything,” I squeaked as I pushed food into my mouth, stalling the conversation. Knox smiled devilishly, watching my mouth as I licked my lips around the fruit.
Chapter 15
I hoped the others had as much food as we did to chow down on. Picking up a giant strawberry, I broke it in half, plopping one piece into my mouth before sucking my thumb clean. Turning, I looked at Knox, who watched my mouth with a dark look in his eyes.
“If the portals are weakening, why aren’t more people here to enforce the covenant?” I asked, trying to get him to stop looking at me as if I was part of the meal.
“I’m here,” he stated as if that was the end of the discussion. “You like the pineapple?” He studied me as I picked up another piece without caring that he watched me pushing it into my mouth. I nodded, and he continued. “They say it makes your pussy taste sweeter.”
I coughed, and he moved as if he would save me from choking. I held my hand up, watching him through narrowed eyes. Once I’d swallowed it, I licked the juices from my fingers on purpose, noting the way he locked onto the action.
“Who says it?” I asked, knowing he wanted a reaction to his words.
“Scientists do, along with studies they’ve run.”
“Do you think they actually run studies on it? Like, have women eat a ton of pineapple and then spread their thighs, parting their petals so that scientists can lick them to discern the difference? I mean, pussy before pineapple, and pussy after pineapple, and the men who tasted them for science?” I pushed another piece into my mouth before turning away from him. I stood, grabbing the orange juice, and poured a glass before sitting back down to peer innocently at him over the rim as I drank.
“I’ve tasted a lot of pussy, and I prefer the taste when she’s a fan of fruit.”
“Maybe you should just stick some fruit in her pussy, and then you’d have a fruit snack for later,” I offered, shrugging before I took a long swig of orange juice. “Anyway, back to the problem. I’m certain you didn’t have the others eat elsewhere just to bend me over the table and fuck me or bore me with your sexual prowess while filling me full of fruit.” One delicate brow lifted as I waited for him to speak.
“Maybe I will,” he shrugged, shoving food into his mouth without breathing before eating more. “Amara showed up to town with a purpose. What was it?” Knox set his fork down, apparently done with eating.
“She came to sit on the council since Freya vacated it without warning. There’s also the store we own that has to be run by someone in our line, and Freya vanishing put a kibosh on us, ignoring this place. Amara volunteered to come back, and when I offered begrudgingly to join her, she said no.”