Before we can talk to her later about the pact we made, I need to come clean. To tell her the reason I was forced to come back to London by my father. Anxiety thrums through my veins. Confessing my past to anyone is not something I want to do, especially someone I care about. I’m not proud of any of it.
Ella has been through so much and I don’t want to upset her. fu*k, I don’t want to lose her. But if she wants this, she’ll have to know. Making my decision to tell her in the morning, I head back into the bedroom and find her asleep, curled into a ball, wrapped in a blanket. Her long hair is fanned behind her on the pillow. She looks like an angel.
Padding forward, I sit on the bed and stare at her. Her long lashes flutter open and she smiles when she sees me. “Hey,” she murmurs and I reach forward and trace her cheek with my fingers.
“Hi, beautiful.” As soon as my skin touches hers there’s a spark between us and I never want to stop touching her. “Are you feeling okay? Are you sore?”
“A little bit, but it’s a good pain. I want to thank you…” Her words trail off and her gaze drops to where my hand is linked with hers.
“For?” I question her with a frown. A soft rosy blush spreads from her cheeks to her chest. She’s so beautiful.
“For everything. For making me feel again. Giving me pleasure I never felt before. And for Bennett…” Her words trickle into nothing. Her voice is like a soft rain cooling me after a hot day. Nobody has ever been able to disarm me with a single glance, a whimper, or a touch. But she does.
I reach for her chin, lifting it with my index finger, allowing her gaze to flicker up to mine. The silence in her bedroom is deafening, but the world falls away as we stare at each other.
“The princes claim their princess,” I whisper in awe of her. Planting a soft kiss on her lips, I savor the taste of her. “You’ve helped me more than you know. You’ve turned a monster into a man.”
“You’re no monster, Carter.” Her whispered response hits me in the chest where my heart beats erratically.
“Sleep now,” I order and she obeys. Her eyes flutter closed and silence settles around us. I need to tell her what I was forced to do, what my father told me was right. If she can see past that and accept me as I am, then I know it will be okay.
Ella
Sunlight streams through the blinds, the heat of it nothing like the warmth from the body behind me. Smooth skin, toned muscles, and an arm that lies heavy on my hip makes me smile. As soon as I roll over, I find those sparkling eyes watching me.
“How long have you been awake?” My words are raspy and heavy with sleep. The side of his lip lifts into a smirk that sets my body ablaze.
“A little while,” he murmurs.
“And you’ve been watching me all this time?”
He nods but doesn’t respond. His hand trails from my hip, down to my thigh.
“Open.” A one-word command I obey easily.
My legs splay. His fingers tease their way to my sensitive inner thigh. Each featherlight touch is electric, as if he’s flicking a switch on every nerve in my body. It courses through me, heating my blood, tightening my core.
When he reaches my p*ssy, he strokes me reverently, gently, and delicately. Like I’ll break if he presses just an inch harder. His thumb finds my clit and it thrums as he circles it, causing arousal to drench my p*ssy. My hips buck, needing it harder, needing it faster, aching to feel the pained pleasure he’s so good at doling out.
“Carter, please?”
My plea goes unanswered. His concentration is not on my face but rather on the slick flesh between my legs. Steadily, he drives two fingers into me, with a slow precision that has me gripping the sheets.
“All in due time, Princess. I want to watch you unravel and fly,” he coos—deep, seductive, dripping with desire. He strums me like an instrument, drawing my orgasm, which is bearing down on me from the depths of my body, from my heart and soul.
He pumps into me, in, out, in, out. The soft sounds of my arousal echo around me. The growl in his chest and the whimpers that fall from my lips are like a concerto, playing around us in perfect harmony. When his hand moves faster, fu*king me like I need him to, my toes curl and my knuckles are painfully taut as I grip the sheet below me.
“Fly for me. Come on my hand and soak my fingers with those sweet juices I want to devour.” His words send me reeling, soaring, and I’m floating into nothing. Everything tightens and his thumb presses on my clit as he crooks his fingers inside me. Light, darkness, bliss.
When my eyes flutter open, he’s watching me intently, his fingers in his mouth, licking the glistening juice from each digit. “Carter—”
“I could get high on your taste alone, baby,” he murmurs and kisses me, allowing me to taste myself on his lips, tongue, and I revel in everything he’s giving me.
* * *
Stepping into the kitchen, I’m dressed in a pair of jeans and a big, white woolen jumper. Carter sets a plate in front of me and a large mug of coffee.
“Wow, what did I do to deserve this?” I giggle, digging into the toast and scrambled egg.
“Well, actually, there’s something we need to talk about. You’ve told me your past, your demons. Now… there’s something I need to explain before we… before you… I mean…”
I reach out for his hand and he looks up at me. Every time we touch there’s an inexplicable connection. Like a current running through us and I feel as if I’m alive, like I’m real. Dropping my fork, I slip from the stool and round the counter. He pulls me into his frame, calming the erratic beating of my heart.
We walk toward the sofa and settle comfortably. His eyes hold secrets, those he’s about to spill, but I don’t want him to worry. I’m not going anywhere.
“Carter—”
“Ella, when I was nineteen, I made a mistake. One that could have changed the course of my life.” His gaze drops and I can tell this is difficult for him to admit. My heart aches for him, to hold him, but I don’t interrupt. “My father stepped in and helped me, but he never let me forget it. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever let happen and I need you to know the truth. Before you choose to be with us.”
“You were serious about all three of us in a relationship?” I did think he was joking, but from the way he’s looking at me, there’s no doubt he was deadly serious.
“We are. If you can handle both of us wanting you, caring for you.”
My heart thuds in my chest, agreeing to what he’s offering, and I find myself nodding without doubt.
He smiles. It’s the bright one that lights up the room. “Then you need to know what lies in my past. I was seeing a girl in college. Her name was Sadie. It wasn’t serious. We’d just hook up. It was about two months after I’d first met her when she came to me in tears. She was pregnant. I didn’t believe her at first, but when she told me how far along she was, I figured it had to me mine.” As soon as the words are out of his mouth they hang in the air just out of reach, taunting me. “I asked for a paternity test when the time came because when I told her I wasn’t ready for that kind of responsibility, she demanded money. I thought that was her ploy, so I went to Dad.”