Page 45 of I Summoned A Demon For A Date?!
My fingers dug into the soft flesh of her hips, holding her against me as if she might disappear if I loosened my grip. Every muscle in my body trembled with the force of claiming what had always been mine, what would be mine for eternity.
For long moments afterward, we remained locked together, my forehead pressed against the tree beside her head, her legs still wrapped tightly around my waist. Our ragged breathing slowly calmed, though my heart continued to race beneath my ribs.
Gradually, I became aware of the world around us again, the rustle of leaves overhead, the distant call of birds, the warmth of the sun on my back. And Rosie, trembling slightly in my arms, her fingers now gentle as they stroked through my hair.
I pulled back enough to see her face, suddenly terrified of what I might find there. Regret? Fear? Horror at what I'd done?
Instead, her eyes were luminous with wonder, her lips curved in a smile of such open joy that something within me shattered and reformed.
"That was," She trailed off, seemingly unable to find adequate words.
"I hurt you," my gaze dropped to the bite mark on her neck. It was already darkening, the perfect imprint of my teeth stark against her pale skin. A tiny trickle of blood still welled from the deepest punctures.
She touched the mark, wonder blooming across her features as her fingers came away with a smear of red. "No," she contradicted softly. "Youmarked me."
The simple truth of her statement stunned me into silence.
"I don't know exactly what this means," she continued, eyes searching mine, "but I know it's important. I could feel it, Aldaine. When you bit me, it was like something locked into place. Something that feels right."
I swallowed hard, overcome by the instinct to explain, to confess everything now that the first step had been taken. "Rosie, there's something I need to tell you about demons and.."
Her fingers pressed gently against my lips, stopping the words. "Later. Tell me later. Right now, I just want to feel this. Whatever this is."
I hesitated, uncertainty warring with relief. "You're not afraid?"
Her smile widened, transforming her face into something so beautiful it made my chest ache. "Of you? Never." She leaned forward, pressing a kiss to the corner of my mouth. "Whatever this is between us, I want it. I choose it."
I choose it.
Three simple words that changed everything. That made what I'd done not a claiming but an exchange. A mutual surrender.
I kissed her then, softly, reverently, my hands cradling her face as if she were made of the most precious substance in any realm. Because she was. Against her lips, I whispered the truth I could no longer contain.
"I'm yours as much as you're mine, Rosie. Always." I'd tell her after tomorrow's bridal shower before we left this place.
Chapter Twenty
CHAPTER 20: ROSIE
Icould barely feel my legs as we made our way back toward the house. Aldaine's hand in mine was the only thing keeping me tethered to earth, the warmth of his palm a constant reminder that what had just happened under the oak tree wasn't some fevered dream.
We walked in comfortable silence, both of us seemingly lost in our own thoughts. I kept stealing glances at him, marveling at the shift I saw there. The tension that had been a constant thing in his posture had eased. He looked peaceful. When he caught me looking, the corner of his mouth would lift in a private smile that sent heat rushing through my body all over again.
My free hand kept drifting up to the mark on my neck, fingertips tracing the indentations his teeth had left. Each time I touched it, a pleasant shiver ran through me, an echo of the overwhelming sensation when he'd first bitten me. It should have hurt. It should have terrified me. Instead, it feltlike completion, like something I'd been waiting for my entire life without knowing it.
"Does it hurt?" Aldaine asked softly, his eyes following the movement of my hand.
I shook my head. "No. It feels right." The words sounded ridiculous to my own ears, but they were true. "I can't explain it."
His expression softened. "I can," his voice low and intimate. "And I will. Later."
There was a weight to his words that suggested whatever explanation was coming would be significant. I nodded, content for now to exist in this bubble of aftermath, where the world consisted only of us and the way our bodies had joined so perfectly beneath the ancient oak.
My legs still trembled slightly from the intensity of what we'd shared. Not just the physical release, though that had been unlike anything I'd ever experienced. No, it was what had happened when his teeth broke my skin, that flash of white-hot connection, the sense of something ancient and powerful locking into place between us.
As we neared the house, reality began to intrude. I became suddenly, acutely aware of my appearance with my dress rumpled, hair wild from Aldaine's fingers, the unmistakable evidence of what we'd done visible in my flushed cheeks and swollen lips. And most tellingly, the vivid bite mark on my neck, which I had no hope of hiding without assistance.
"We should probably," I gestured vaguely at myself, heat rising in my cheeks.
