Chapter 271: A daring gaze
"Your lower half," he half asked.
"Yes," she grumbled under her breath.
"I believe I understand what you mean,"
At those words, his arm went lower around her middle and pulled her hips further against himself.
"Can you feel it?" his breath tickled her ear, "I think you are responsible for it,"
Pressed against her bottom, right between his legs, something moved and grew more confident.
Arabella’s memory served her the last night he’d fed, when he held her upon his lap, that was when she believed she felt it for the first time.
Only back then, her fragile mind couldn’t be trusted...
The young woman knew full well what it was that moved against her as it was very similar to what she’d been taught about human men during the intimacy courses.
Her eyes remained wide open while her fingers clutched at the fabric of her gown.
"Your body went rigid again," he remarked, "Should I gather from it that you are uncomfortable?"
"I simply don’t know how to react," she shook her head slowly.
"I can’t help it," his hand traveled back to her cheek, "It is completely out of my control,"
"I know," she whispered, succumbing to the heavy weight that suddenly befell her eyelids.
"And I don’t want to apologize for it," he said.
Little shudders escaped her and soon, her breaths turned to soft moans as her knees met.
"I want to do more than this," his second hand started kneading and fondling her waist and hip, "So much more than this,"
She grasped it and tightened her hold around it, but she never tugged or attempted to stop him. It was as though the gesture was for mere comfort.
Their chests heaved then fell together, their breaths growing ragged.
"Why didn’t you don a night gown? This one seems uncomfortable to sleep in," his bright diamonds lurked on her breasts.
"Night gowns are quite sheer," she pushed those words through heavy huffs.
"I know. I wish to see more of you," he hastened to answer.
"In due time, please," she nodded.
"Well, in the meantime, I’ll take what I can get,"
At once, he released her waist to grab her jaw and hold her face in place, craning her head so as to further expose her cheek.
The vampire did not hesitate for a second and leaned over her shoulder before planting his lips right on that same cheek.
The act triggered a multitude of burning waves inside her; some of pure pleasure and others... Well, she had no idea which feeling they were supposed to translate.
But Silas did not stop there. He resigned to teasing by brushing her skin with his lips, up and down, enjoying every shudder, every squirm he’d managed to wrench out of the young woman.
As if that wasn’t devastating enough, the vampire involved his tongue with them, dragging it then swirling it on her cheek as she moaned and gasped.
"This might sound scary, but I do love it when you are this helpless in my arms," he stopped just long enough to whisper those words in her ear.
The man alternated from grazing her skin to kissing it aggressively as tears of pleasure escaped her control.
In a desperate attempt to regain some of the power that forsook her, the young woman lifted her lower half and introduced her hand behind herself, placing it right on his groin.
That had the merit of stopping even his breath.
Still through her haggard breathing, Arabella looked up at him, defying the hand that maintained her face at a certain angle.
The upside-down glower she offered did not help his frozen muscles.
He did not break eye contact, choosing to stare into those gemstones of hers for as long as it was possible.
Torture it was to watch the daring look on her while fighting the urge, the need to tear through her dress and fully expose her body.
His longing deepened as her fingers moved, not squeezing or pulling, but just massaging that sizzling part of him that demanded more the longer their interaction went on.
"That is not fair," he shook his head while never once breaking eye contact.
"That was exactly what I thought a minute ago," the grin that overtook her features was faint and weak, but visible, nonetheless.
"So,...," he took a deep breath, "Where do we go from here?"
"I truly have no idea," that challenging air on her mellowed to a pleading one.
"Alright," he shut his eyes momentarily, "I capitulate for now, but I must say that if you don’t remove your hand from there right this second, I can’t guarantee full control over my next actions,"
She obliged and settled back in his arms where the two of them took deeper and longer breaths to appease their screaming hearts.
Silas took the nearest clean cloth and gently wiped at Arabella’s cheek to rid it of the saliva he left on her.
"The next time you stay the night, bring a nightgown with you," he paused then quickly added, "Just in case you have a change of heart,"
"Right," she nodded.
Upon leaning forward one more time, Silas took note of the half-lidded look on her and concluded it was the wrong time to make any more demands of her body.
He rested his own back against the lounge chair and pushed the longest of sighs.
"Once the sun rises tomorrow, I’ll start thinking about adding a bed to my room,"
Arabella barely reacted, only humming melodiously in response. From then on, silence was allowed to settle between them.
Silas coddled her sleep until her head felt a tad heavier on him as her breathing turned steady, indicating that her consciousness had slipped through the veil of their physical realm.
His only wish in that moment was for her to see kind things. The sort of things beautiful dreams were made of...
Of the kind he could only fantasize about beholding in sleep life never awarded him.