Page 4 of Beneath His Robes

“Go ahead and tell me you don’t,” the man murmured against my skin, leaving goosebumps over my neck. “Tell me you don’t want me to claim you, Elias.”

The confession caught in my throat.

I couldn’t lie, not anymore.

But I couldn’t speak it aloud. I couldn’t say the words. My eyes flew open, unable to block the man in front of me any longer. His smile was a low, dark smirk that I could feel in the pit of my stomach.

“I knew it,” he whispered, his lips brushing against mine. “You’ve always been mine.”

I couldn’t breathe. The familiarity, the tension…it was him.

“Ronan.”

ChapterTwo

Elias

The small, enclosed space and the air were thick with the weight of secrets and the tension that neither Ronan nor I could escape. I sat in the narrow chair, the wooden seat hard beneath me but not nearly as hard as my throbbing dick.

My knuckles, palms, and fingers tingled as I gripped the edge, my breath coming out in shallow, uneven bursts as I fought to keep myself composed before him. He challenged everything I stood for, knowing he had the power to break me.

He towered over me, making sure his presence loomed. The silence between us stretched, heavy and thick, charged with an unspoken pull. It had always been this way between us—this magnetic, undeniable connection that neither of us had ever been able to shake, even after all these years. It didn’t matter how many cunts I’d destroyed in my youth or the men I had underneath me. It was always Ronan I wanted.

He leaned in closer, his voice a low murmur, smooth and dangerous, with a slight hitch at being this close to me again.

“Do you feel it, Elias?” he taunted, unable to remove his eyes from my cock.

God, he was beautiful. He knew first-hand how thick and damnable I was beneath my dark robes.

“That pull between us? The way your heart beats faster when you hear me speak? Did you enjoy hearing me pant for you? God, Elias, after all this time, you still make me ache for your body.”

He leaned against the wall, his fingertips tracing my chin.

“I can see it in the way you breathe, the way your hands shake, the way you try so hard to resist. You’ve wanted this, just like I have. Stop refusing yourself from feeling this. From feeling me.”

My hands curled into fists at my sides. Leaping out of my seat, I charged at him, tackling him onto the church floor between the pews.

“There you are. It’s good to know the real Elias is still hiding underneath all this…cloth.”

He wrapped his arms around my body too tight, so tight I could barely breathe. My heart thudded in my chest, and my body throbbed with a heat I couldn’t control. I was torn between the weight of my vows and the undeniable attraction I’d always felt for him. Ronan’s voice slid under my skin like liquid fire.

“You’re not as pure as you pretend to be, Elias. I can see it in your eyes. I can feel it in the way you respond to me.”

My pulse quickened as the words wrapped around me, tightening like a noose.

He was right.I’m not pure anymore. I’ve never been pure with him.

Placing my palms on the floor, I pushed to get up. “Let me go!”

“No. You feel too good.” His denial made me want him more, but Ronan’s slick smile made me want to punch him.

“You’re mine, Elias,” Ronan whispered again, sending a jolt of electricity through my entire body. “And I’m not letting you go. Not again.”

I closed my eyes. The action felt like the only barrier I could create against his allure. My chest rose and fell with each labored breath. The words were both a promise and a threat, and I knew I was no longer fighting the inevitable. I was drawn to Ronan—always had been—pulled into his gravity with a force I could no longer deny.

And the worst part?

I didn’t know if I wanted to fight it anymore.

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