Dark Promises(85)
“I disobeyed you,” she whispered.
“I am not talking about obedience. When I asked you if you would wear your hair down for me when we were alone, you said yes. You gave that to me. Every time I have asked you for something, you have said yes. You give it to me. I had no idea you would be this beautiful, but I knew you. I talked to you. Each rising, before I went hunting, I told you I would be there for you. I would give you everything you wanted or needed. That I would keep you safe. I would protect you. I would love and cherish you. I meant those things. You saved me. You did that, no one else.”
She shook her head. “This is why you were so angry. I understand it better now. I betrayed you when you needed me most.”
He stilled her face. “No, o jelä sielamak, which means ‘light of my soul,’ because that is what you are to me. The light of my soul when I had none. When I was nothing but darkness.”
“Aleksei.” She whispered his name. A denial.
“You are the most important person in my world. I know you are afraid of me. I have demons. The darkness resides in me. I control my world. I want my woman to myself. I want her devoted to me. None of those things is easy to live with, and when you combine them, it makes it particularly difficult. It is no easy task to take me on, but always, always, know that you are the most important person in my life.”
“You scare me most of the time, Aleksei,” she admitted.
He smoothed his hand over her dark hair. “I know I do, kislány, but fearing me makes you come alive.”
She took a breath and let it out, nodding. Giving him that. She was reluctant and embarrassed to admit it, but still, she gave the admission to him.
“I cannot stop being who I am, Gabrielle. I will always be controlling. I will do my best to try to remember you are modern, but I have centuries of being a predator with no one challenging me. When you challenge me, it makes me crazy. It makes me need to dominate you. To show you who you belong to. I need you to give in to me.”
She gave him a faint smile, her fingers trailing along his jaw. “It’s kind of nice to have someone else making decisions, especially when I question every decision I’m making. I can’t be any different, though, either, Aleksei, and I’m not all about obeying.”
He laughed softly. “Then we will have to make certain both of us enjoy your disobedience.”
“Is that possible?”
“Oh, yes, my innocent, it is very possible. You will learn that lesson this night. We have many lessons to enjoy together. We can practice shapeshifting so I will know you are safe, and then we will continue until you feel as if you were born Carpathian and are powerful in your own right. Does that sound like a plan?”
She nodded.
For the first time she relaxed completely, and she looked happy.
He ran his hand down her front, from her throat to her lap. Light. Possessive. Claiming her. “You can start by showing me these clothes of seduction.”
“I don’t think you need clothes of seduction to be seduced,” she said, her long lashes veiling the sudden sultry expression in her eyes. “I think you get all revved up without them.”
His eyebrows shot up. She was teasing him. He’d never been teased—or if he had, he didn’t remember. It tasted wonderful on his tongue. Her smile. The sound of her voice. The teasing tasted like Gabrielle and filled his mouth with the exquisite flavor he was so addicted to, the one he craved and now needed so urgently.
“What’s your favorite color, Aleksei?”
Her voice came out husky. Sensual. A whisper that had blood pounding in his cock.
“Color?” he repeated.
“You must have one color you like more than others.”
He didn’t understand where the conversation was going but he was willing to go along with it because her beautiful eyes promised him paradise.
“I like fire. Red.”
“Of course you do.” Gabrielle inhaled sharply, drawing Aleksei’s masculine scent deep into her lungs. She should have known he would prefer red.
She kept her gaze burning deep into his, waved her hands slowly down her body, letting her fingertips skim the sides of her breasts, trace her tucked-in waist and the flare of her hips. Her touch continued down her thighs. All the while, she pictured the daring image in her head of the sexiest lingerie she’d seen.
The camisole was a deep red, made of stretch floral lace, revealing and concealing, but definitely showing off her abundant curves. The front had a mock corset detail, so that the ties were crisscrossed but showed an abundance of skin. The garters attached to red fishnet stockings that were topped with floral lace. The small, red thong was more stretchy lace, and she had made certain she was smooth and bare for him.