Chapter 73: Let Me Make It Up to You

Lucian’s POV

"I’m so fucking sorry," I whispered, lowering my face close to her hair. "Please, Annabel."

She didn’t answer.

She didn’t relax against me either. Her hands remained at her sides, and I could feel how tense she was in my arms. For once, I didn’t blame her for wanting nothing to do with me. I had spent weeks pushing her away, and now I was standing here expecting her to believe that everything I had made her feel was a lie.

"Please, Annabel. What I said in that dining room wasn’t true."

She remained completely still in my arms.

"That night wasn’t nothing to me," I continued quietly. "It was special. More special than I wanted it to be, and that was the problem. I was too damn proud to admit it, and I was scared of what I was starting to feel for you."

I felt her breathing change slightly. Slowly, I loosened my arms and turned her around to face me. Tears were still running down her cheeks. I lifted both hands to her face and gently wiped them away with my thumbs.

"I swear to the Moon Goddess, when I woke up that morning, leaving you was the last thing I wanted to do," I told her. "You were asleep beside me, curled against me like you belonged there, and for a while, I just lay there looking at you. I didn’t want to move. I didn’t want to wake you. And I definitely didn’t want to leave."

Her lips parted slightly.

"I didn’t regret what happened between us. Not for a second. I left because I didn’t know what the hell was happening to me." I swallowed and held her gaze. "I had spent weeks telling myself that you were only Kenneth’s daughter. That this marriage was nothing but a treaty. Then I woke up beside you, and suddenly none of that felt true anymore."

She stared at me without speaking.

"I liked waking up beside you, Annabel," I admitted quietly. "Far more than I should have. And instead of dealing with that like a grown man, I did what I apparently do best when it comes to you. I became an asshole."

Something changed in her expression, but I continued before she could speak.

"What I said at breakfast was cruel. I knew exactly what you were asking me, and I deliberately gave you the coldest answer I could because I was trying to put the distance back between us. Then I left for four days because I thought being away from you would make everything go back to normal." ℴ

I gave a quiet, humorless laugh. "It didn’t."

Her eyes remained fixed on mine.

"I thought about you every damn day I was gone. I even asked Leo whether you had asked about me." The admission irritated my pride even as it left my mouth, but tonight, my pride had already caused enough damage. "And when he told me you hadn’t, I was disappointed. Completely fucking ridiculous considering I was the one who left, but there it is."

Another tear slipped down her cheek, and I wiped it away.

"So no, Annabel. That night wasn’t nothing to me. You weren’t nothing to me." I held her face gently between my hands. "I was wrong. I handled everything badly, and I hurt you because I was too fucking proud to admit the truth. I’m sorry."

For several seconds, neither of us spoke. I kept my hands against her face, watching her as she stared back at me, and for once, I didn’t try to hide behind anger or pride.

"Can I make it up to you?" I finally asked.

Her lips parted slightly as she looked up at me through her wet eyelashes. "How?" she asked quietly.

I looked into her eyes before lowering my gaze briefly to her lips. "Let me show you."

I didn’t move immediately. After everything that had just happened, I wasn’t going to make that decision for her again. I waited, watching her face and giving her every opportunity to step away.

When she didn’t, only then did I lean down slowly and kiss her.

She didn’t kiss me back at first. Her lips stayed still under mine, soft and unresponsive, as if she was still deciding whether she wanted this or not. I pressed harder, deepening the kiss, pouring every ounce of the apology I couldn’t fully put into words into the way my mouth moved against hers. For a heartbeat she remained frozen. Then her hands came up, fisting the front of my shirt near my lower waist, and she kissed me back.

The moment she responded, a low moan tore from my throat. The sound surprised even me. I had never made that noise for anyone before. Her grip tightened, pulling me closer, and the kiss turned hungry, messy, full of everything we had been holding back.

I forced myself to pull away before I lost control completely. My forehead rested against hers while both of us breathed hard.

"Let me make it up to you," I said, voice rough. "I’ll wipe off the memories of any other. Let me show you what it should have felt like."

Her lips parted slightly. That small invitation was all I needed. I kissed her again, slower this time, tasting the salt of her tears and the sweetness of her mouth. The air shifted around us. In the next second her bedroom disappeared, and we stood in the middle of mine.

Annabel gasped against my lips when she realized where we were. I didn’t give her time to overthink it. I scooped her up into my arms, carried her to the bed, and laid her down gently against the sheets while switching on the bright lights.

Kneeling between her legs, I looked at her. Her chest rose and fell in quick, shallow pants. Her eyes were wide, still wet, but the fear from earlier had softened into something else.

I smiled. "You look so beautiful."

I leaned down and kissed her again. My hands found the thin straps of her nightdress. I slid them down her arms and tugged the fabric over her hips, tossing it aside. Fuck. She wasn’t wearing a bra. Her breasts were bare, nipples already pointed and tight. I lowered my head and took one into my mouth, sucking softly at first, then harder when she arched beneath me. A moan slipped from her throat. Her fingers tangled in my hair, holding me there as I switched to the other side, licking and sucking until her breathing turned ragged.

My hand slid down her stomach and hooked into the waistband of her panties. I pulled them down her legs and threw them away. Then I broke the kiss and left the bed. She watched me walk to the small fridge in the corner of the room. I took out a handful of ice cubes, closed the door, and turned back. My eyes dropped straight to the wet entrance between her thighs and I growled. Fuck, I want to be inside her so desperately, but I controlled myself, climbed onto the bed again and parted her legs wider.

The scent of her hit me hard. My wolf growled low in my mind, restless and hungry, urging me to shift and take her in his form. That was never going to happen. Annabel’s wolf still wasn’t healed and I doubt she can shift, and this was the first time my own wolf had ever wanted me to claim a woman in that form. I shut him down hard and leaned in, inhaling her again.

"Fuck... you smell so good."

I dragged my tongue through her folds in one long, slow lick. She gasped. I did it again, deeper, then fucked her with my tongue, thrusting in and out while my thumbs held her open. I pushed one of the ice cubes into my mouth, letting the cold melt against my tongue, then sealed my lips over her clit and sucked. The contrast of cold and heat made her cry out. I sucked harder, the ice melting between us, water and her slick mixing on my tongue. She moaned and gasped, hips twitching under my hands.

I trailed the remaining ice down the soft skin of her inner thighs, across her stomach, and up to her nipples. I circled each tight peak with the freezing cube until she was shivering and moaning my name. When I looked up, her face was flushed, lips parted, eyes half-lidded.

Fuck. She looked wrecked already.

I took another cube between my fingers and rubbed it slowly over her entrance. She moaned louder, thighs trembling. The ice melted against her heat, water dripping down onto the sheets.

"Fuck... I want you," I said.

I left the bed and stripped while she watched, still panting. My shirt, trousers, boxers, all of it hit the floor. I climbed back between her legs, lifted her thighs, and pressed soft kisses along the sensitive skin to help her relax. Only when her breathing evened a little did I lower them again.

I wrapped my hand around my cock, lined myself up, and slowly pushed forward.

Fuck. She was slippery, soaked from my mouth and the ice, but still so tight. The head of my cock stretched her open inch by careful inch. I couldn’t believe I was the second man to ever be inside her. Technically, after what she had told me, I was her first real one. The thought made something possessive and raw twist in my chest. I kept going, slow and steady, until I was buried all the way inside her.