Page 42 of Fated to the Vampire Prince
“Does that feel good?”The question exploded out, causing the vampire to grin a wicked, delicious grin that had my heart beating even faster.
“Yes,” he said casually.“That is the point.”
More questions rose to my tongue, and I took a half step closer.
“Do you do it a lot?”
He made a satisfied sound in the back of his throat, grinning sheepishly.“Define a lot.”
“Every day?”
“If I have the time.”
I looked away from him again. Feeling unsure of myself and way out of my understanding. These things weren’t talked about. But still, I wondered if he satisfied himself like this because he had a mate he hadn’t found? Was he only allowed to touch her? If not, I wondered if he wanted to do that with someone else. With me, perhaps.
The sound of his voice inside my head brought my attention back to his face.“Miss Donadieu,”he said thoughtfully,“have you ever touched yourself?”
His look of genuine concern had a whole new flurry of emotions swirling inside me.
“Touch myselfwh-where?”
He contemplated me before rising to his feet and pulling up his pants, but didn’t fasten the buttons. They hung low on his hips, open, doing little to conceal his hardness.
Closing the distance between us, he captured my hand, holding it gently, and with the other, lifted the hem of my shift.
I was trembling as he pressed my palm to my stomach and slowly, without breaking eye contact, dragged it down, stopping only when he reached the aching place between my thighs, and encouraged me to cup myself.
A hiss of breath left my lungs, and I thought I might fall forward.
“Righthere,” he said, working my hand back and forth,back and forth, then pressing on one of my fingers until it parted my flesh.
My lips parted. My breath stuttered. He let me squirm under my own touch while his gaze tracked every twitch of my face. Meanwhile, his mouth curved in a dark smile.
“No. I haven’t touched myself like that.”
He leaned forward, letting his lips graze the shell of my ear. His breath against my skin had me dizzy.“Do you want to?”
Yes. Yes. I did. Only…
“I wouldn’t know what to do,” I explained, glancing up at him through heavily lidded eyes.“No one taught me. In fact, they’d probably say it wassinful.”
I wasn’t sure what they taught at the convent, only what I’d been told at home. Intimacy was for marriage and for producing heirs. Since I was fit for neither, no one had explained I could dothis.
Bastien looked angry for the first time. He cupped the side of my face with his free hand, holding me so tenderly.“I know those convent sisters spent years trying to extinguish your flame, Miss Donadieu, but they could never fully do it. Do you know why?”
He paused, like he was waiting for me to answer, but I said nothing. There were no convent sisters, only my family. And he had no idea the reason why I was treated the way I’d been treated. Because I deserved it.
“There is a fire burning inside you. I can see it behind your eyes, burning hot and bright. I’m sure they saw it too and it scared them.You scared them because they knew you were made for more, so they decided to stomp that fire out.”
I didn’t know what to say or think. Not when he was making declarations that he didn’t understand. But… I so badly wanted to believe he could see something in me I couldn’t see myself.
He pressed his lips together, studying my face like he could see the fire inside me. It was breathtaking.
“But what they didn’t anticipate when they were trying to douse your flame was that they could never stop you from burning. You are fire.”
I was a failure. A disappointment.Not fire.
“Miss Donadieu,” Bastien continued, coaxing my finger to move over my center again,“feel the fire inside you. Feel it.”
