Beauty and Her Beastly Love (Passion-Filled Fairy Tales Book 2) (5 page)

Beauty managed to avoid Beast. She would watch him chopping wood from her window, telling herself it was because she wanted to know when he finished and came inside. But, part of her liked watching him, liked watching the way his muscles flexed and bent as he slammed the axe down. Liked watching his breath become labored if he was out there a long while. Liked the memory of his musky, earthy scent. She wondered if his sweat would taste salty if she licked it off of him. And then she would have to turn away from her window and remind herself just to look and see if Beast were finished, nothing more. She knew she shouldn’t give in to her yearnings with Beast. He wasn’t even a man, but she felt the desire to be with him, and it was growing stronger.

She managed to avoid him during the day, but at night she couldn’t. He invaded her sleep. She dreamed that Beast came into her room and walked straight across to the bed, where Beauty lay in only a corset, buttoned at the front. He told her he’d changed his mind. He would take her now, if that was alright. Beauty was too stunned to reply, but she watched him with anticipation, her mouth watering at the thought of his touch.

Beast mounted the bed, climbing on top of her, bending over her, his soft warm breath on her neck. The sensation, like a hot breeze caressing her skin, made her shiver with pleasure. She wondered what he would touch next, and if it would make her body react like this. He lifted his head and looked in her eyes. She thought he might kiss her. She imagined how his lips would feel pressed against hers. How his tongue would feel inside her mouth.

But he didn’t kiss her. Instead, he lowered his head until he was right over her corset. He put his mouth on the first button, his tongue lightly touching her breast. Then he bit down on the button and Beauty felt his warm lips caress the fabric. He lifted his head, and she felt a slight tugging and realized he’d bitten the button right off. She hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath, anticipating his move, but she had been. She breathed out, a small shocked whoosh. He looked up at her and grinned. Then he bent his head over her corset and did it again and again. Twenty three times, he bit the buttons off the corset. She wanted him to hurry, to get it off, yet she liked to watch the way he ripped at her clothing, as if that said something about the passion with which he would take her. When her corset was completely debuttoned, it spread open slightly, exposing a sliver of skin down the center. He used his furry fingers to spread the remains of the garment, exposing her naked breasts, her tummy and the hair that hid her womanhood.

He traced his finger along the areola of each breast, the tingling sensation thrilling her and making her moist. His finger slid over her abdomen, down her hair, and right to the opening of her womanhood. “May I?” he asked, surprising her. She nodded, but he didn’t move. “May I?” he asked again.

“Yes,” she breathed out, and he plunged his finger into her. His hand was large, and so was his finger, and the sensation of his single finger sliding in and out of her made Beauty’s breath catch in her throat. She wanted to focus on the sensation, but she couldn’t linger as she felt his tongue on her left nipple. He suckled her as he gently thrust his large finger in and out of her. The pleasure was immense and overriding. She’d never felt anything as good before, and she wanted more. She heard a moan escape her lips, though it wasn’t a sound she had ever made before. It sounded beastly, almost. Though, maybe that was appropriate, given who she was with.

He moved his finger inside her faster and faster, and she felt the pleasure building. He grabbed her hair and pulled her head so it tilted back. Then, she felt him suckling her neck, and it felt so good, another wave of pleasure rolled through her. She didn’t want him to stop, and she told him so. He didn’t stop until she was spent, her body having convulsed with release at least three times. He smiled when they were through. “Did you enjoy that?”

She started to nod, but then remembered he liked to hear her answers. “Yes.”

“Good,” he said. “Next time, we’ll do more.”

More, she thought. It had been what Mme. Giselle had said. More. Yes, she wanted more.

That is when Beauty awoke, to learn it had only been a dream. She was alone in her bed chamber, wearing her chemise, rather than a broken corset. Of course, she was moist down below. While she realized it was just a dream, it had felt so real; she wished it had been.

The dream he’d had last night, of being with Beauty, had tormented him. The first dream, the one of him lying in her bed and staring at her, had felt like agony, but the one last night had driven him mad. He was sure not even Sisyphus had felt as frustrated. If only the dream had been real, he would at least have felt some relief. But, it was only a dream, and everything in him was pent up and still awaiting release.

He wanted her. He wanted her more than he’d ever wanted Isabelle. He wondered if his desire was augmented by the fact that it had been so long since he’d really been with a woman, not just imagined it. And even in the dream, he hadn’t fully been with her. He’d pleasured her, just to see how she liked it, just because he wanted to see how she’d clench around him, how her bosoms would heave when she was excited, how her mouth would form a little O of pleasure. He’d wanted to know what she looked like when she really enjoyed it, what her unbridled pleasure looked like as she orgasmed.

He’d not been disappointed. Not in her reaction. Just in the fact that it was a dream. So vivid it might have been real.

He went downstairs and looked to see if Beauty were awake and roaming the house. He found her at the dining room table. He was pleasantly surprised; earlier, she had been avoiding him. It was a long table, as if it was expected to accommodate a dozen or more dinner guests. Unfortunately, it had always been just Beast. She’d chosen to sit on the end opposite from where Beast normally sat. He could take his usual position or do something different.

He chose to be different, taking a seat to her right. She was eating a plate of scrambled eggs and cheese. It was good that she was getting used to using the house’s enchantment. He hoped it meant she was starting to feel at home here. Beast closed his eyes and thought of a cut of steak and eggs. When he opened them, the plate was before him.

He looked at Beauty and started to smile. Then, his mouth dropped open. He should have noticed before. He didn’t know why he hadn’t. Maybe because dreams are like that — hard to recall until the details slam into you like a wall. But, now he was sure of it. He counted silently, the way he had last night in his dream. Twenty-three. There were 23 buttons on the corset. It was the exact color and fabric of the corset he’d ripped the buttons off of in his dreams.

Beauty was eyeing him curiously, as if she were concerned by his stare.

“Lovely corset,” Beast said.

Beauty raised an eyebrow.

“You thought of that, this morning?”

She nodded, but stared at him, as if something about what he was asking were troubling her.

Even though he knew she seemed troubled by it, he had to find out more. It couldn’t be coincidence that the corset of his dream was the one she was wearing. He didn’t fully understand the enchantment of the house, so he wondered if he was able to dream of her in the corset because she had actually worn it to bed last night. “I know this a strange question,” he said. “But, did you sleep in that corset?”

She stood up, nostrils flaring. “Tell me now,” she said coldly. “Do the powers you have to enchant this house also allow you to read my mind, to invade my dreams?”

He couldn’t help smiling. She had dreamed it, too. “No, I have no power to read minds or invade dreams,” he said. He didn’t tell her he hadn’t enchanted the house. He realized she couldn’t find out that he was a prisoner here as much as she was. Or, really, that he was the only prisoner here. That she could leave at any time and he couldn’t follow. He needed her to stay long enough that she didn’t want to leave. “Even if I had the power at my will, I wouldn’t invade your dreams. Our dreams and our thoughts should be private.”

She studied his face a moment, then frowned. “Why did you ask about the corset?”

“I had a dream last night that I came into your room and ripped the buttons off your corset. There were 23, just like on this one.”

Her face flushed at the memory and she took a step back. “I had the same dream,” she said softly.

“I’ve always lived here alone,” Beast said. “Perhaps when there’s another person in the house, we somehow share dreams.”

She seemed to be mulling it over, pondering whether that could be true. Then she shook her head. “Or perhaps you say that you will not touch me again without my asking and then you invade my dreams to do so.”

Beast stood, too, suddenly flooded with anger. He had been nothing but kind to her, and now she was accusing him of being something he wasn’t. Something he had been trying to overcome so he could lift this damned curse. “Are you saying I am a liar? That I somehow invaded your dream on purpose, so I could violate my word? So I could take you against your will?”

Beauty paused for a moment, watching him. “I don’t know.”

“I am not a liar,” he said vehemently. “And I will never force you to be in my bed.” He picked up his plate of food, then turned to leave the room. “Enjoy your breakfast,” he said as he exited.

Beast did not speak to Beauty for several days, and that bothered her. She hadn’t meant to accuse him of being a liar or trying to have his way with her on the sly. Well, actually, she supposed she had meant it at the time, but she hadn’t meant for him to take it so hard, or for him to think she didn’t believe him when he said he hadn’t.

Everything about being here was hard. She was away from home, away from things familiar, and she was experiencing new things, too. This enchanted house, and that dream. That dream had felt so real. She had wanted it to be real, and that frightened her. She wasn’t supposed to want Beast the way she did. She wasn’t supposed to have those kinds of feelings about a creature that wasn’t even a man. But, she did. She had urges. They were normal, at least that’s what the young women in the Ferus Lucunditas books were always told by their mothers, or their good married friends. It’s normal to have those urges, to let one’s husband fulfill them. But, the Beast wasn’t her husband or even a man.

Beauty hadn’t realized it, but she had a stubborn streak. Her father had always been kind and generally willing to yield, so she hadn’t exercised that streak. But, with Beast, she felt the need not to give in, not to yield. It was something she’d never really felt before with others. She wondered if it was the house causing this, or something about Beast himself. Some reason she wanted to seem unyielding to him. Or maybe that was just it. She wanted to yield to him. She wanted to yield to his every desire, but she was afraid to tell him. Afraid what he’d think of her if she acquiesced to his desires so soon. Yes, they were natural desires, but, despite what she’d read from Mr. Lucunditas, she’d also heard the other girls talk about being coy, mastering the chase, and not making yourself too available. Though, this was all talk of finding a suitor, one who might petition your father for your hand. Beauty hadn’t gotten to see these girls often, for she hadn’t gone into town much, so maybe the snippets of conversation she’d heard had been wrong or out of context or misconstrued.

She wasn’t sure what she was doing. She was here with Beast. Forever. But the fact that he had given her a choice, a choice of whether he could touch her, a choice of whether she wanted to be his wife, made her think she shouldn’t choose too quickly. That she should pause and not give into desires immediately. If you were given a choice in something, it was wise to weigh all the options, to figure out what the best one was.

Perhaps that was it. Perhaps that was why she was so reluctant to say yes to Beast, so angry when he invaded her dreams. It was as if he were rushing her in a choice that had to be hers. He was trying to seduce her into choosing him, when she needed to make her choice separate from the seduction. The other problem was, she wanted to be seduced. But, perhaps that was the rub of it all. Perhaps that was why she hated it so. She had no choice. Her only choice had been whether to come here at all or to let Beast kill her father. Did it matter if she said she’d be his wife or not? If he came to her in dreams, the way he had the other night, soon she would let him take her. She already wanted it.

Beauty shook her head and sighed. She was sitting in a chair not far from the fireplace in the main room. She wanted a book. Something funny. A moment later, a book appeared on the table next to her. She picked it up, and then heard a noise. She turned to see that Beast had walked in. He stared at her a moment, and she wondered if he would turn around and walk out. That is what he had done the past several days.

“I’m sorry,” she said, before he could walk out. “I shouldn’t have accused you of lying, and I should have believed you when you said you didn’t invade my dream on purpose.”

A look of relief swept his animal face, his snout looking less tight, and the change it produced made him seem less animal, more human.

“I accept your apology,” he said, walking closer to her, then finally sitting in a chair across from her. “I shouldn’t have behaved so childishly the past few days because my feelings were hurt. You don’t know me. So, I shouldn’t have expected you to believe me.”

“You’re right,” Beauty said, running her fingers across the book in her hand. “I don’t know you, and if we’re going to be here together, in this house, on the grounds, I should get to know you. We should get to know each other.”

Beast nodded.

“Honestly,” Beauty added.

Beast frowned, and squished his eyebrows together. “I haven’t lied to you,” the Beast said.

Beauty took a deep breath. “I imagine you haven’t. But, I’ve lied to you, sort of.” Beast looked surprised, as if he couldn’t imagine Beauty lying about anything. “I’ve been pretending I don’t want to try having relations with you, that it’s been all you, all you invading my dreams and lusting after me,” she said, pausing, not sure she wanted to admit the truth, but feeling obligated to tell him, since she’d said she’d be honest. “I … I do want you. I’m just afraid. I’ve never been with a man before. And you’re, you’re,” she looked at him and realized she couldn’t say a beast, nor could she say a man. “You’re more than a man. You’re different, and it frightens me to say yes to something I have no idea about with someone who is so unlike anyone I’ve ever met or read about.”

Beast leaned forward, took her hand. “I know it must be frightening to be in this situation, with someone like me, but I promise you, I will be gentle with you. Like in the dream.”

“And if we did that, my choice would be made?” Beauty asked. “I would be your wife.”

Beast smiled, and shook his head. “You would have what you wanted if we were intimate, but you would only be my wife if you wanted to be.”

“So, being with you in the bedroom wouldn’t mean we were married?”

Beast sighed. “No. Marriage is about a true, uniting love. Only if we had that, would we be married.”

Beauty nodded, looked deep into his brown eyes, leaned in and kissed him. The electricity she felt was immediate when her lips touched his, like a bolt of lightning had run through her. His mouth opened and his tongue slid in, their breath mingling together, causing Beauty to feel tingly all over. She pulled back, breathless. It had been a good kiss, and she’d hardly noticed the furriness of his face during it. He was a beast, but he was gentle in so many ways. She stood and turned to leave the room.

Beast stood, confused. “Where are you going?”

She turned back to him. “We,” she said, elongating the eeee, “are going upstairs, and you are going to help me experience the passion I’ve only read about until now.”

Beast’s lips parted as if in shock. “Right now?” he said, more statement than question.

Beauty quirked her ruby red lips up into a smirk. “Unless you have another pressing engagement you must attend to.”

Beast strode toward her, shook his head. “No,” he said, lifting her off her feet and carrying her up the stairs. “I’ve got hours and hours of free time.”

Beauty blushed, not sure she could handle that, but gladly willing to try.