Page 32 of The History in Us

As if the hitch to her breath didn’t answer the question, the slightest shake of her head gave me what I needed. I could make her feel good. I could give her this kind of teasing, tempting torture, but somehow, I knew Katie would want more than warm whiskey on sensitive skin. She’d want a burn that ran deep, a love that singed, and I couldn’t give her that. I pulled back from skimming her throat and she turned to look at me. She tossed a lazy, seductive stare over her shoulder, and I was ready to take her in the darkened corner of the museum. Honor and emotions be damned. Sweet Katie had no idea the looks she could give, melting a man and making him think of all kinds of sin. My hand came up to cup her cheek.

“I shouldn’t kiss you here.” Her throat rolled and her fingers came to her shoulder.

“How about here?” I chuckled and tipped my head to press a weak kiss over her sweater-covered skin. Pulling back, I met those extra-large eyes. I couldn’t see the color but I knew the dark would almost surpass the blue.

“Or here?” she croaked, letting two fingers slide up her neck, exposing her tender vein. My kiss was soft once again, but the combination of her sweet scent and moist skin turned my tease to temptation. I nipped her. Her shoulder pressed back and her hand fell to the floor. Fists clenched as her body hummed in reaction.

“Tell me what you’re thinking.” She shook her head, but her skin vibrated. Her raised knees came together, and her fists opened to lay flat on the floor.

“Tell me,” I demanded. Shaking her head again, her chin quaked under my fingers, tracing her jaw.

“Tell me, or I’ll bite you again.”

“Oh God,” she whimpered low, before she hissed. “Please.”

Fuck me, she was sweet, so I took another taste. This time a little deeper, adding enough pressure to the tense vein, knowing it sent a jolt directly to a hidden target.

“Tell me,” I barked against her skin, blowing to soften the sting.

“I want to straddle you and pin you to the wall,” she hissed. I rolled back from her and stared straight ahead into the dimly lit balcony. I couldn’t take her here, in a darkened museum, but I was so stiff I couldn’t breathe. My Katie had a saucy side. I reached for her hand and tugged her to her feet. The movement was too quick for me and I stumbled a little, my hand coming to my right thigh. I hobbled a second, still cupping her hand with mine.

“Are you all right?”

“Not yet,” I groaned, but I’m gonna be, I thought. I tugged her gently behind me as we crossed the balcony and snuck down a flight of stairs. Tiptoeing at times, as if on a secret mission, I didn’t wish to alert security to our wanderings after the official call to remain in our sections. The lights dimmed throughout shone brighter in the main areas and we slunk around the great foyer for a second staircase.

“Where are we going?” she whisper-hissed, a touch of a giggle mixed in.

“You’ll see.” We entered a smaller exhibit room, the display within still lit.

“It’s a castle,” she whispered, her hands coming up to the glass enclosure housing a gigantic dollhouse. Katie read the caption: “Colleen Moore’s Fairy Castle was every girl’s dream home, built to miniature scale, it houses a grand staircase among its amenities within the antique castle.”

She stopped, her forehead pressed to the case.

“I love fairy tales,” she mumbled to the glass.

“Somehow, I figured,” I snorted softly behind her, unable to keep my hands from her. Katie’s eyes roamed the structure while my hands wandered her body, travelling the curve of her hips, dipping under her sweater to make contact with warm skin at her back.

“I had a playhouse when I was a child. Emily’s nana owned it before Emily inherited the house. You had to bring her a handful of flowers to play in it. Weeds were acceptable.”

“Hmm…” I hummed into her neck, chuckling at the memory. I vaguely recalled the white structure at the back of her parents’ yard. “And what did you play inside the house?” My mind raced with the idea of her pretending she was the mother of a family. Somehow, I didn’t like the thought of a boy making her his pretend wife. Would she pretend with me for a little while? I wondered. Be my fairy tale for just a moment, I thought but would never admit I wanted to make believe as well.

“I played princess to my best friend Gee slaying dragons for me. Often times, I slayed them myself and saved him instead.” She giggled softly as my nose skimmed her neck, and my finger tugged the edge of her sweater to get at her collarbone. My lips covered her succulent skin, and Katie’s hips bucked back.

“Tell me your fantasy. Inside that house, what would you want to do?” My hands dropped to her waist and I held her against me. Grinding forward, I pressed her into the case, balancing her against the ancient display. Her palms flattened and her forehead tapped the glass momentarily.

“I…” Her breath hitched as the heavy length of me laid at the seam of her jeans.

“Would you like to be taken on those stairs?” I whispered as I blew over her neck—her fine hairs bristling as she inhaled sharply. My hips rolled forward.

“Or maybe against the wall?” I could sense her eyes traveling the delicate rooms of the castle, tracing each wall for the perfect place for spontaneity. My fingers roved the supple curves of her body, dragging upward under her sweater.

“Or maybe hidden in a forbidden closet?” I offered as my eyes drifted to a small space on the second floor. My hands climbed her sides, teasingly close to her breasts.

“Although nothing could compare to that canopy bed.” The implication was clear. I’d spread her wide on the four-poster bed, draped in heavy material, and ravage her like her historical heroines.

She spun. Her hands delved over my short hair, cupping the back of my head, and her mouth leapt for mine. Our lips fought one another, searching, seeking control. This was my favorite type of battle, and I relished the struggle while her lips held firmly, forcing my mouth to connect with hers. Her center hit my thigh when I dipped my knee between hers. I pressed upward and Katie’s head fell back.

“Levi, we probably shouldn’t be doing this,” she moaned, meeting me thrust for thrust as the sweet heat between her thighs warmed my leg. Her leg rose, and I hooked a hand under her knee, hitching her thigh higher, shifting myself to align our centers and allowing myself to press deeper. It wasn’t going to be close enough.

“Levi…I…” The catching of her breath was the first signal. Her thigh firmly wrapped around my hip as she rocked against me. Her nails clawed down the back of my neck and her fingers stopped to rest on my shoulders. My mouth returned to her throat where I nipped her again on that vein near her shoulder.

“I thought you said we shouldn’t be doing this,” she whimpered, but her rocking body opposed her words. She should stay away from me. I was the fire-breathing dragon invading her castle, but God help me, I couldn’t stay away from her. I needed her, like the mythical creature needed heat. My solid length thrust heavily, speaking to her with my body. I was no longer listening to what we shouldn’t do. The only words I heard were Yes and Levi. I wanted to take her, fully.

She sang my name into my chest, the sound struggling like a strangled scream. Detonation a success, damn, she was hot. Her body slowly coming down from the high, her mid-section going lax, I released her knee, tightening an arm around her waist, and pulled her against me.

“Levi, you…” She didn’t finish as her hand skimmed to the band of my jeans. I knew what she would ask, but we didn’t need to go where this was headed. Taking her against a display case didn’t seem the way to claim Katie. Hearing her struggle to contain my name on her lips was enough for me. When I entered this girl, I’d want to hear her scream, and it wouldn’t be in the basement of a stuffy museum.

“I’m fine,” I whispered before giving her a final peck to the neck, ready to step back, but her arms encircled me.

“You hate those words,” she muttered, suddenly holding me tighter. My throat burned with emotion. There were other words I feared, and I didn’t want to ever hear them coming from Katie. She’d break me if she said them and left me. But the way she pressed against me, replete and trusting, I needed to get in touch with my feelings, or those feelings were going to escape me.