Not Worth It.

Elara was prepared for another revenge. What could she expect from a man who had come here for revenge. The disgust and loathing in his eyes could never be any clearer but when his mouth touched hers, all the memories flood up from her mind. 

She held still and tried not to breathe at all. For she was afraid that if she moved, she would hold him tightly and tell him how much she had missed him. How much she had waited for him. How easily she would give him the power he desires. 

His lips were warm. She smelled tobacco again. How many cigarettes was he smoking in a day? But she did not find it unpleasant. His touch was making her sense dull perhaps. Perhaps she was expecting some rough, bruising contact, full of force that left her scarred. 

His hands had come up and wrapped around her bare nape. And the small touch broke all the walls she had made for years. She gasped a little at the small touch and he took the advantage by pushing inside her mouth. And then his mouth gently closed around her upper lip, and softly, very softly, he shaped it with his own.

The sensation did something strange. Her knees went weak. Her stomach fell. She gripped his arms, and their unexpected density. They were not there before. the way the muscles flexed above his bent elbows. 

His legs came closer to her thighs pushing her back into the wall, it felt good despite the sin it was or perhaps it only felt good because it was a sin. 

He was pressing into her, and the feel of his long body against hers so hard,made something in her uncurl and stretch like she was the girl in that meadow again.

How she had worked hard to kill that girl. Alarmed, she started to slide out from beneath him. He pulled away just enough to settle his forehead against hers.

"It is not over yet." he said softly. His eyelashes tangled with hers. 

"A little more," he said soothingly, but made no other move. His eyes remained on her face, watchful. It was only for her freedom, she told herself the lie she would never believe. 

Slowly she nodded. His mouth came back. Now he took her lower lip between his teeth and lightly bit. His tongue stroked away the injury, and his lower body pushed forward, so they were touching from lips to knees. So close. Could he feel the outlines of her legs through her dress? The possibility made her breath go. He made a soft noise. It broke the dam of memories and it blew her away.

She had thought men made such noises when kissing. But she had been wrong. Only Len made such nosies. Others made noises that sounded angry.

his hand slid around to cup her head, while his other arm took her by the waist, pulling her away from the wall. The only support she had now was his body.

At that realization, something opened within her. And his mouth opened, too, so the kiss became complex, dizzying. It spilled through her like the song in the meadows.. She could not follow it in her head, but she was kissing him back now. How? This was a part of her she had forgotten, given up on. I will never kiss a man again. so many times she had thought it, alone, in the dark of her bedroom, feeling angry and wrong even as she mourned. But it was not someone else but the man she had mourned for.

With dim astonishment, it dawned to her that she had not forgotten how to kiss. It must have been her husband that she did not want to kiss all this time. The thought should have been a sin in itself, but it freed her somehow. Made her feel better. He made a little sound of pleasure and used his lips to open her mouth wider.

Amazed, she let him. The way their mouths moved together filled her brain like a puzzle, a jolt of electricity, hot like blood and ever expanding, spilling routes of warmth down her breasts, her stomach, the backs of her knees. And she felt aware of the heat, the desire that had died long ago.

She opened her mouth to it; she marveled at it; she was allowed to do so, just this once. What a bizarre, amazing thing this was, that his mouth was teaching her! 

He broke off suddenly. His chest moved in a deep, fast rhythm. There was a peculiar look on his face. "Well done," he said, not at all affected by her touch, the kiss. His eyes were so clear that it taunted her. "It seems that the lady was willing to offer more. Perhaps, I should have asked to bed you."

His eyes narrowed on her face. He reached for her. He was going to kiss her again. But the mocking words he said to her did not let her participation this time. She laughed at him smooth and soft, full of butterflies.

"Perhaps I will if you offer my complete freedom in return. You would let me leave this estate and disappear into the vast world. Then you can take me as many times as you wish, my lord." For a long moment they stared at each other. his face narrow and chiseled, his cheekbones and jaw so firmly defined. He was bottomless, About as trustworthy as a snake. She would slip on it into her doom if she did not step away at this moment.

But she stood there waiting for his reply.

"You want to give your body for your freedom. A tempting offer but it is not worth it. Your life is the bait I need to catch your husband."