AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Who says I'm not?" His eyes glinted, and for a moment, I glimpsed the beast lurking behind his civilized veneer.
"Guess we'll find out, won't we?" I said, a reckless grin tugging at my lips. Because if there's one thing I knew about monsters, it's that they recognized their own. And sitting there with Nash, under the flickering candles and the vast, indifferent sky, I couldn't deny the monster in me was wide awake and hungry.
The flicker of the candles danced in Nash's eyes, casting shadows that seemed to battle with the light within them. It was a war I felt mirrored inside me—a clash between desire and fear, trust and doubt.
"Something wrong?" Nash asked, his voice low and laced with an intensity that did nothing but stoke the fires of my inner conflict.
"Wrong? Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that I'm considering doing the horizontal tango with a guy who, not too long ago, was more shadow than man in my life. Seems pretty hallmark-normal to me." I couldn’t help the sarcasm dripping from each word.
I could hear Aria's laughter in my head, her voice like a damn echo from beyond, telling me to loosen up, to dive into this insanity because 'life's too fucking short, Celeste.' Yeah, well, it was definitely too short for her.
Nash reached across the table, his hand hesitating in mid-air before it landed gently over mine. His touch was warm, alarmingly so, for someone who existed in the darkness. “Celeste, I?—”
"Save it," I cut him off, not sure if I was ready to hear what he had to say, not sure of anything anymore. But Nash wasn't one to be silenced—not by me, not by anyone.
"I've never felt this way about a woman before," he said earnestly, making each word sound like a sacred vow. "You’re not just another brushstroke in the painting of my life. You're the whole damn color palette."
"Jesus, Nash, do you practice these lines, or do they just come naturally?" I tried to scoff, but the weight behind his words pressed down on me, heavy and unyielding.
"Only for you," he continued as if I hadn't spoken. "I swear, Celeste, give me a chance, and I won't ever feel this way about another woman ever again."
"Promises," I said, my heart thudding against my ribs like it wanted to escape. But where would it even go? Straight into Nash's waiting hands?
"Let me prove it," he urged, his brown eyes locking onto mine with a determination that sent a shiver down my spine.
"Proving it might take more than you bargained for," I warned, my voice barely above a husky whisper, betraying my own doubts and desires.
"Try me," he challenged, and the air between us crackled with something dangerous and new.
I leaned back in my chair, the wrought-iron digging into my spine like a reminder that comfort was a luxury I couldn't afford—not with him across from me. The candlelight flickered across his too-perfect face, casting shadows that seemed as if they whispered secrets of their own.
"Alright, Nash," I started, my voice threaded with a mix of defiance and curiosity. "Let's say I'm crazy enough to bite—what the hell does this... relationship look like?" I air-quoted the word 'relationship' because it felt like a damn understatement for whatever twisted courtship dance we were about to tango into.
His lips quirked up in a half-smile. "It's simple, really," he said, leaning forward, elbows on the table, bringing his face closer to mine—and damn if I didn't lean in to catch every accursed syllable. "A dynamic of power play. Dominance and submission."
"Dom and sub, huh?" I echoed, letting the words roll off my tongue as I pictured all the ways that could go horribly right—or deliciously wrong.
"Exactly." His nod was slow, deliberate. "I can protect you, Celeste. From him...and from yourself."
"From myself?" I scoffed. "Because I'm such a damsel in distress?"
"Because you're playing with fire, beautiful, and I know how not to get burned." He was so damn serious, it sent a ripple of unease—or was it anticipation?—through me.
"Safe words, boundaries, rules," he continued, ticking them off like they were items on a grocery list rather than pieces of my autonomy he was asking for. "But within those lines, we explore. We push limits."
"Boundaries," I repeated, tasting the word. There was a logic there, a method to the madness. Structure meant safety—it was a lesson I'd learned the hard way. And yet, the idea of handing over control to him, even within set parameters, made my skin prickle with a blend of dread and desire.
"Think about it," he said, voice low and coaxing. "The structure you crave with the freedom to explore your darkest cravings."
It was madness, but wasn't that what I thrived on? The chaos, the unknown? Yet here he was, offering a lifeline in the storm—a chain masquerading as a rope.
"Keep in mind," Nash added, his gaze locked onto mine with an intensity that made my heart race, "this isn't forever. Just until the threat is neutralized."
"Neutralized," I echoed, the bitterness of my past creeping into my voice. Trust was a commodity I'd been bankrupt on for years, but Nash...shit, he had currency I hadn't even known existed.
"Think about it," he urged again, standing up and pushing his chair back with a scrape that echoed too loudly in the quiet of the night.
"Thinking's all I ever fucking do," I shot back, but he just smiled that infuriating smile of his, like he knew I was already halfway to signing away my soul—or at least, renting it out for a while.
