Page 69 of The Gambler's Prize
“It is not cute. I just said I loveyou and you’re laughing at me. It’s so frustrating, you acting like I don’t know what I’m doing,what I’m feeling. Theabaskis long gone and you still act like it’s crazy that I like you. That Iloveyou.” I stand up and loom over his sitting figure: the only way I can be taller than him. “Anyway, I won’t bother you about this anymore. I don’t beg people to want me, Grimes. They begme.”
I turn, speech completed, all ready to flounce off impressively. But he grabs my arm in a grip like iron. I turn slowly. His dark eyes linger on my face. There’s a smirk on his lips. He stands up and looks down at me, dwarfing me effortlessly.
“You don’t beg, huh?” he says.
His calm scrutiny brings my face to flames. Can he see right into my mind, see the depths of my desperation for him? The depths of my adoration?
“No,” I say. “I mean, not in the general scheme of things. I mean, no, I don’t.”
“What about for me?” He drops his voice until I feel it in right in my cock. “Would you beg for me?”
My mouth goes dry. “Do... do you want me to?”
He grabs me around the waist and throws me onto the sofa. I lie breathless on my back, shocked at his suddenness, his strength. His black cloak hangs from his broad shoulders. His dark eyes are hooded. His lips part in hunger.
“Let’s hear it,” he says.
“Please,” I whisper. “Please just fuck me already.”
He straddles me, hands either side of my head, pressing into the sofa. His shoulders cage me in, impossibly broad. His scent fills my nostrils, the bare skin of his neck and a hint of cologne. My body catches fire under his weight. He brushes his lips to mine, and I can’t breathe. I’ve never felt so intoxicated before a kiss. He has me gagging for him, and he’s barely brushed my lips.
“Don’t you want to hear if I love you first?” he says.
He loves me? The world stops spinning and I’m just a speck of dust caught in his gaze. The tenderness in his voice and the power in his body and most importantly those words he just said: I’m helpless before it all.
“I love you, Florian,” he says. “I love you more than I thought possible.”
“Why?”
I’m not fishing for compliments. I can see why he’d want to fuck me. Plenty of people do, but it doesn’t mean they love me or even like me. I don’t understand why a strong, resourceful man who needs no one is looking at a spoiled, soft little fool like me as though he needs me like air.
“When you were facing two years of servitude, you were equal to it,” he says. “You never let me crush your spirit. You see the bright side in everything. You’re full of joy, and you’re kind, and you’re so much stronger than you think.”
“You really think I’m strong?” I say, disbelieving.
“Of course. You just don’t know it. And so beautiful.” He raises an eyebrow in amusement. “I think you know that part.”
“Shut up.” I cover my face with my hands; I know I’m vain but I hate being called on it. Grimes won’t let me hide from him, grabbing my wrists and gently but inexorably pulling my hands away, forcing me to look at him.
“You’re my prize, my flower, and I want you to stay with me forever,” he says.
He wants me. Forever. I grab his face and drag him into a desperate kiss with none of my usual technique, just rabid desperation.
“I love you so much,” I whisper, voice trembling. “I just can’t believe you love me back.”
He presses a fingertip to my lips. “Don’t sound grateful, Florian. You’re the prize out of the two of us.”
His dark eyes burn with a tender fire and all the fear and worry and turmoil inside me settles into the safest, sweetest feeling. Like coming home. Now I’m crying and still so turned on it hurts, and I need to get these trousers off but I can’t, just can’t, let him see me cry. I’m supposed to know what I’m doing in bed, if nowhere else. Idoknow what I’m doing. But completely effortlessly, Grime has thrown my game right off. First he got me breaking my no-begging rule and now he’s got me crying,for fuck’s sake. He’s the only one who make feel safe enough to submit. To be myself.
“Look at me, Florian,” he orders.
The demand makes my cock throb. I moan, keeping my face angled away. I must look like such a fool.
“Please don’t make me open my eyes,” I beg.
He kisses each of my eyelids in turn. “You don’t need to. I’ve memorized the exact shade of blue and every little golden fleck.”
That just sends more tears streaming from my eyes. I have to open my eyes for him, risk the scrutiny, let him see me at my most vulnerable, because I need to see his face right now. It’s worth it. His eyes are so warm. Adoring. Who knew he even had adoration in him? He unbuttons my trousers, then stands up and grabs my hips, rearranging my position so that my feet are flat on the ground. He drops to his knees before me. My heart stops. Grimes on his knees for me and loving every second, when he only used to look at me with contempt.
