Too Consumed (27 page)

My heart swells at his words—although not elegantly stated—and I
want
to give him all of me. I
do
give him all of me. I want to break through these restraints and glide my hands across his shoulders and up his neck to reassure him. “I am yours and solely yours. The smiles I give everyone else aren’t like the smiles I give you. For them, I smile out of courtesy. For you, I smile out of love—something only
you
make me feel.”

His features soften and I watch his tongue glide quickly over his bottom lip. “Why do you love me?”

I stare into his choc-honeycomb eyes and think about my answer. After a few prolonged seconds, I realize I don’t have one and I shake my head.

“I don’t have an answer
…and maybe that’s what love is.”

His brows furrow.
“Explain.”

“Well, maybe
love is enigmatic for a reason. Think about it, all of the greatest things in this world are indescribable because there
are
no words that can accurately portray them.” He smiles and I mimic it. “In short, inexpressible beyond words is my answer for you.”

His forehead falls
softly against mine. “I don’t deserve you…I shouldn’t be tying you up out in the open and I shouldn’t be treating you like you’re anything
but
good.”

I shrug, my stare falling to his lips.
I don’t want him to stop this. It feels right. All I want is Seth on me, around me, inside of me—I can’t get close enough to him.

“Even good can be a little bad sometimes.”

His mouth quirks up on an adorable angle. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“It doesn’t have to, now shut up and finish what you started.”

“I don’t think you understand how this works.” He bites back a cocky smile. “You’re the one tied up…which means, you are in no position to give me orders.”

With
a flick of my eyebrows, I roll my hips on him and he growls deep in his chest, gripping my hips. I may be tied up, but I still have the power. I sink my teeth into my bottom lip as Seth slams himself all the way inside, making me take all of him in one deep thrust. As he fills me, the air whooshes out of my lungs and stings when I forget to breathe. His hands squeeze me as he moans my name. With each thrust his length fills my hot core completely and my helpless body writhes against the wire as I cry out in ecstasy. My eager moans spur Seth onward and he slams into me with surprising, spine-tingling force.

“You are here with
me
,” he mutters in a sexy husky voice and I’m unsure if it’s to me or himself. “Because you are fucking
mine
.”

I bite my lip harshly and moan my agreement. My head spins and momentarily, I’m
worried that this is all a dream—that I’m about to wake up and find this isn’t happening, but when I drag my eyes to his and see his scorching eyes and sexy smirk, I know there’s no way I’m dreaming. This is real. He feels real…and fucking amazing.

“Untie me.”

I want to engulf my fingers in his dark hair. I want to run my hands over his hard body and feel his muscles tremble because of me.

“Y
ou want to touch me?”

I nod. “Desperately.”

In an instant he reaches up and manages to free my hands. It’s clear the tying thing doesn’t work for us. We need to feel each other with our hands—every time we have sex we explore each other and touch each other like it’s the very first time all over again.

Immediately, I plunge my fin
gers into his hair and he groans as I weave my fingers tightly through his locks. His tongue plunges into my mouth, assuming all control. I’m sure I’ll have marks on my back from the cage, but I don’t care—not right now, anyway.

Seth’s movements speed to a frantic pace and I can hear him grunting and growling low in his chest
, begging me for his release as he continues to fuck me. I’m close, and I begin to pull at his hair as I climb higher to my peak. I’m falling endlessly, waiting for something to explode inside me, but I don’t want to come yet. I want to stay here on the edge of euphoria with him. Seth grips the base of my thigh, thrusting in long, quick strokes.

“Yes,” I hiss, locking my ankles.

My mouth and brain are disconnected from each other. My brain knows to shut up, but my mouth insists on begging for more. When I’m panting for air, his mouth slips down to my neck and he bites down on it, sucking fiercely. He releases the skin instantly, realizing a love bite isn’t the classiest thing to show off at an event like this, and runs his tongue over the spot he sucked. My hands grope him and my mouth nips and licks every section of exposed flesh available to me.

“Tell me
…” he moans into my ear. “Tell me how much you love this.”

“
I love you taking me hard against the cage.”

He moans, deep and husky
, and it vibrates every sensitive part in my body, increasing my pleasure tenfold. My body contracts as sensations begin to build in me, forcing me to pant hard and heavy.
I’m going to come…
I try to hold it off, wanting to prolong this feeling and this moment, but as soon as Seth reaches down in between us, and he flicks a rough, thick and hard finger over my sensitive bundle of nerves, all is lost. I’m spinning down an endless spiral, floating above my body. He’s swearing under his breath as my muscles constrict almost painfully around him, and I’m milking him deeper and deeper inside of me.

“Seth!”
I grab his shoulders as the friction of him thrusting into me becomes too much.

“You better fucking scream for me
,” he rasps, rubbing me harder, thrusting deeper. He bites my bottom lip and the feel of his tongue, the nip of his teeth, the heat of his breath, the friction of his fingers—it’s all too much and dark coils unfurl in my stomach, whipping wildly inside of me, shattering my self control and fragmenting me. I dig my nails into the taut flesh of his shoulders and I scream out as wave after wave of the most intense orgasm of my life rips through my entire body, causing my muscles to spasm and my breath to falter. Seth’s hips drive harder and faster as I ride out the surge, his eyes never leaving mine.

“Fuck yeah
…oh…” he growls, pressing his forehead against mine. Our breaths clash in a heavy pant and our lips barely graze. His thrusts become quick and shaky, his eyes half-lidded and lust-filled. Not a second later, he jams his tongue in my mouth and I absorbed all of his moans on the tip of my tongue as warmth spreads throughout my womb. Long after I feel him soften, he continues to kiss me. His lips slow moving against mine in a relaxed rhythm as his tongue licks and tastes me. I feel myself melt into him and he supports most of my weight. With a small nip of my bottom lip, he pulls away.

“That’ll do just nicely.” He smiles, and it’s a cute, lazy smile that makes my heart swell hard against my ribs.

He steps away from me and fresh, cool air clings to my skin in his absence. I reach for my dress, but his voice stops me. “Not yet.”

I freeze and draw myself back to full height. Excitement bubbles at
the thought of doing what we just did again, but when Seth starts putting his own clothes back on, I really become confused. I watch, leaning thoughtfully against the wire—the wire that is probably printed onto the flesh on my back, too.

As he pulls his jacket over his shoulders, he steps closer with a wide smile.

“What?” I ask.

“You are so amazing.” He chuckles, stroking my nipple with his index finger and it stands to attention.

“You can’t tell me this when I’m dressed?”

“I can, but it’s what I’m
going to tell you afterwards that I want you to be naked for.”

I frown. “Why?”

“Because I want you to remember this. When you think back to this life changing moment, I want it to have
my
name all over it.”

Seth drops before me, down
on one knee
! My heart stops and stutters, threatening to implode and kill me on the spot. When it continues to beat, it pumps blood through my veins at a pace too quick for the rest of my body to accommodate and my head spins.
Do not freak out. This can’t possibly be what I think it is.

He looks up at me through thick, dark lashes.

Oh, fuck.

Without taking his eyes from mine, he reaches into his jacket and produces a gorgeous
green velvet box. I’m frozen.
It’s exactly what I think it is.
He opens the box and exposes the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen. Gold. Emeralds. Diamonds. All of the pretty rocks are arranged on top of the gold band in a breathtaking display of elegance.

Oh, shit.

“If I don’t do this now, I know I’ll regret it later. I’m here in my favorite place, with my favorite person—naked, might I add—and I can’t think of a more perfect time other than right now to ask you what I’ve been dying to ask you.”

I try to speak, but only pathetic gusts of air come out.

“Before I ask, I want you to know that I know I’m a difficult person. I know I’m childish and immature and a million other things, and I want this one second to say thank you for putting up with me and I thank God—or whatever—everyday for making you as masochistic as me.” I roll my eyes at him. I’m hardly masochistic. “I know you have a lot of people you can rely on that are more than willing to be there for you and to support you, but no one can look after you or take care of you like I can, O. Not your mom, not your brother, not even you, at least, not like I can and not like I want to.”

He inches closer, his eyes glossy and pleading. “I want to be the one to look after you and to care for you. I want my last name to be the one you sign forms with. I want to be the person you call when you need help or advice. I want to be the love of your life, your reason for living
, and your best friend. What I’m asking, O, is for you to give me the chance to take care of you, to give you everything you’ve ever wanted, and everything you’ve always deserved. I want to marry you. I want you to have my last name and carry my children. I want us to buy a home together—to be together.”

Whoa.
That is a lot of wants…my mouth is still open, still in utter shock at what is unfolding before me. I snap my mouth shut and squeeze my fingers against my damp palm to stop from trembling. I feel sick…but it’s that excited/nervous kind of sick. Time slows and my gaze drops to his lips as the question falls from his lips.

“
Will you marry me?”

“You’
re going to ask me to marry you when I’m naked in a cage and you’re fully clothed?” I choke out, completely avoiding the point to buy myself more time. I’ve been waiting for this to happen…but now that it has, I’m a deer in the headlights.

He smiles wickedly. “
This is exactly how I imagined it, but that’s not the response I want from you.”

Right.
I flick my tongue over my bottom lip to dispel the dryness. “Yes.” I tell him, unable to hide my sudden, face-splitting smile. “Of course it’s a yes.”

The smile that splits Seth’s face is like no other and in one fluid motion h
e pulls the ring from the box, takes my hand in his, and slips the ring on. Without missing a beat, he launches at me, sweeping me into his arms and pressing me hard against the cage again. We kiss. We kiss again. We kiss over and over, unable to express our happiness in words. When I was young and I dreamt of my engagement, I definitely didn’t imagine I’d be naked in a cage with a fighter. I imagined snow falling from the sky, white horses, red roses—the whole unrealistic package. But this is so much better. This is real and perfect. This has Seth’s name all over it and I’ll never forget it, ever.

***

As we walk back to the function, it’s hard to keep my eyes on the tiles in front of me and not on the ring wrapped around my finger. My knees wobble underneath me as my body still reels in the after effects of the mind-blowing sex and the excitement of what came afterwards. I feel different—like a new person entirely. I always knew I wanted to be with Seth forever, but now the feeling is certain—as solid as stone. I rest most of my weight against him.
My fiancé. My husband to be.

I can’t stop smiling and I glance at Seth. As usual, he
’s the perfect picture of calm, but I know he’s as excited as I am. I can tell by the way his thumb brushes eagerly over my fingers. As we walk through the crowd and different pairs of eyes stop and stare at me, I notice Seth’s fingers don’t possessively squeeze me. That says a lot about our ‘new’ relationship already. He knows I’m his now. He knows I want to spend the rest of my life with him. Not squeezing me gives me confidence that he’s willing to grow as a person and that he trusts me. Walking with Seth is like walking with a loaded gun at times. You never know when he’s feeling particularly aggressive or territorial and you never know if or when he’s going to go off.

Seth is the kind of person who needs to be shown love in order to feel loved. We could be sitting alone in a room after a movie or sex and he’ll feel unloved unless he’s touching me or I’m touching him. We don’t talk much
about him or his childhood. He prefers to live in the now and avoids dredging up old memories, but I know (from the small conversations we’ve had) that his neediness and his need for validation stems from his father’s neglect. Because of that, Seth needs constant affection. He
needs
to be praised—he
craves
it. He acts like he’s untouchable and his confidence is a balloon too hard to pop with a sharp needle, but deep down I think he’s just as insecure as the rest of us.