Untitled: Chapter 4

Aubrey1

Lily’s chest rose and fell, her robe sweeping back and forth across my skin with her delicate, almost inaudible breathing. What I told her earlier was true, and as she cried herself to sleep, I tried to comfort her.2

Her mouth opened slowly; her hot, damp lips tickling my chest. My stomach turned over enigmatically, jolting me. She stirred, her right leg sliding up her left leg, drawing her foot to her knee. Her short, dark eyelashes barely popped against the light violet circles under her eyes.3

“Aubrey, stop watching me,” she said against my skin, licking her lips, her tongue lightly flicking against the corner of her mouth. I felt it, a gentle scraping against my nipple. My nails scratched down her raised calf. She inhaled, catching a moan before it escaped.4

“It’s not my fault that beauty draws my eye,” I murmured, leashing the instant need to possess her as her tongue swirled.5

“It’s amazing to know that your eye will be drawn to every other woman in the coven,” she said so softly, even I barely heard her.6

“None of them compare to you,” I replied in her ear. I felt the heat creep up to her face.7

“Shut up,” she mumbled darkly, pushing against my chest. “How long was I out?”8

“A few hours. You know you talk in your sleep,” I teased.9

“No, I don’t,” she said, knowing full well that I was lying. “But if I did…”10

She sounded distant and dark. “What?” I asked, sweeping all of her hair over her right shoulder.11

“Nothing.”12

I barely heard her, and what I did hear was full of an aching sadness, a darkness that her one word couldn’t cover. “You don’t have to tell me,” I murmured, hurt that she wouldn’t want to.13

“Not now,” she whispered, snuggling up to me once more. “It… it hurts right now.”14

“Lily,” I said, running my palm up the back of her calf, her thigh, and cupping her bottom with one hand.15

“Mmm…” she mumbled, biting her bottom lip. That simple, small sign that she was aroused sent my blood boiling.16

She arched her back to pull herself up, kissing her way up my chest, neck, to stop just before reaching my lips. I hardly felt the warmth of her tongue as it flicked at the corners of my mouth. She tipped her head back, smiling with her tongue poking out of the corner. I laughed deeply, the sound building up from my diaphragm.17

She blinked slowly. “What?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.18

“I love your laugh,” she said, tracing some design on my chest.19

“What is that?” I asked, surprised at my interest in her doodles.20

She laughed and pulled her robe to the side, exposing the perfectly rounded tops of her breasts. She led my fingers to the right, pulling down the offending material until I saw antennae connected to a slanted figure eight with a heart attached to the further down loop. The ink was black and it looked rough, like she’d drawn it herself and had them tattoo it there. I traced it myself, concentrating on scraping my nail closer and closer to her…21

She tilted her head and sank her teeth into her bottom lip, licking it as I ran my index finger down between her breasts to her navel. Her back arched under my touch as I snaked my hand up her spine. “What do you think?” she asked jokingly.22

“Very appealing, Lily,” I said, nearly choking on my words. It was more than appealing. Her robe opened wider as she moved to straddle me, the black waistband of her underwear showing. She crossed her wrists behind my head, grinning.23

Her smile drove me wild, the way her eyes seemed to see right through me and the way her grins brightened up her face. “I’m not always like this, you know,” she said lowly, eyeing me, waiting for a reaction.24

I bit. “Like what?”25

“Uninhibited this early in a relationship,” she murmured. “I usually take things slow. As in glacier slow.”26

I laughed. “It’s a first for me,” I said, still laughing.27

It took seeing the look in her eyes to realize I had said the wrong thing. A feeling I could recognize was present, overwhelmingly so. She looked as though her heart had been ripped out. She began to move away, one foot already on the floor before I reacted and cupped her thigh, lifting her back up as I rose to my feet.28

She looked away, her hands pressing lightly down on my shoulders. “I’m sorry I hurt you,” I murmured, wrapping my arm under her bottom to aid in lifting her. My other hand slipped up her thigh, her back, and rested in her hair.29

“Aubrey,” she said finally, “I’m not stupid. I know you’ve…” Had other women. The unspoken words hung between us.30

“But you will be the first and only one I care about,” I said soothingly. “I’ll never do anything to hurt you, love. That is my promise to you.”31

She smiled sadly. “Maybe that’s a promise you shouldn’t make,” she said. “I mean-”32

I cut her words off by pressing my lips against hers. She yelped as I lifted her up higher so I wouldn’t have to bend down. I spun around, delighting in the feel of her hair whipping across my forearm. She giggled as I spun her around once more. “That’s a promise I will make,” I insisted. “I have never felt this way before, Lily. I don’t plan on ruining this.”33

She beamed down at me. “Then maybe you should kiss me,” she said, utterly serious. “That might put you in a better standing with me…”34

“Hmm…” I sighed, “Maybe I should. I seem to think clearer when my mouth is on yours.”35

She gasped, laughing. “Kissing me should make your thoughts even more tangled, Aubrey!” she exclaimed, setting her hands on either one of my cheeks.36

She kissed me then, her hands holding my face beneath hers as I aided by giving her a bit more height. My eyes closed and my body roared. I threw up her legs and caught them in my arm, laying her down and moving to stand on my knees atop the black silk of her bed.37

“Is this putting me up there?” I asked, teasingly kissing the corners of her lips, the vein of her neck, her collarbone.38

“Sky high, my dear,” she kidded.39

“Good.”40

I kissed her and felt her move beneath me against the bed, my hands already untying that robe that separated our skins from touching. “Wait,” she said softly as my hands slipped to the waistband of the skimpy underwear she wore.41

“I agree,” I murmured, “What are these?” I hooked my index finger under the very thin strap that was the waistband and lifted them.42

“Are you kidding me?” she asked incredulously, propping up on her elbows and looking at me.43

“No,” I said, smiling at her, “I do not believe I have ever come across this particularly amusing article of clothing. It doesn’t even cover your bottom!”44

I ran my hand over the smooth skin I spoke of and fingered the waistband. “You’re such a man!” she exclaimed, turning to her side and yanking her robe up to her stomach.45

She took my hand and found the thin string that started at the band up top. “I believe I do like this underwear very much,” I said, pushing my palm up to her thigh and putting her back on her back.46

She laughed, the sound shaking her entire body. “Of course you would,” she said, panting, her hands moving to her heart. “They are vey practical. Want to see something else?”47

I nodded eagerly as she turned over on her stomach, tugging her robe up over the small of her back. “So this was the ink taint?” I asked, rubbing my fingertips over the black, intricately drawn butterfly. “I’m supposing you really like butterflies.”48

“You suppose right, love,” she said, trying to turn back over.49

“Hang on,” I said gently.50

“What is it?”51

“This underwear intrigues me,” I said again, tugging the string that sat just over the line between her rounded buttocks up and examining it closely. She sighed and settled, laying her head on her arms. “Isn’t this uncomfortable?”52

“I’ve been wearing them for years, love,” she said, her voice muffled.53

“Hmm…”54

I let her turn over and she smiled at me as I lay down on my side next to her. She snuggled close to me, my arms wrapping around her instinctively. “I don’t want…” she said, trailing off and shaking her head.55

“What is it?” I asked, my arms tensing around her.56

“I don’t want you to ever leave me,” she whispered.57

“Never doubt that I will always…” I trailed off, tipping her chin back to look into those gorgeous, mysterious eyes. I whispered, “Never doubt that I will always love you.”