His Slave

44. Truce

James stares at me in shock.

He moves towards me then. I move towards him and he crushes me against his chest, pulling me into a tight embrace. I wrap my arms around his waist and I can feel the warmth spreading through me.

He pulls away enough to look into my eyes, giving me that rare, genuine smile. "I love you too."

I might be good at denying my feelings but I've known for a while that I was falling for him.

But I wasn't sure he would feel the same way. I knew he had feelings for me, but I didn't know to what extent.

"You do?" The question slips out in a soft whisper before I can stop it.

He reaches up, caressing my cheek with his fingers. "Oh Erin, I started to fall for you the moment you fell off that bookcase and into my arms," he tells me with a little laugh. "I just didn't realize that's what it was until yesterday."

Then he kisses me.

As if Mother Nature was waiting for this exact moment, lightning cracks across the sky.

There is lightning crackling through my veins, too.

A loud boom of thunder echoes in the distance and we are showered in cool spring rain.

We kiss over and over in the rain, unaware of the fact that other people can probably see us. Unaware of the time, or the weather. Just each other.

Lightning splinters across the clouds again and James finally pulls away from me, looking up. "We should get inside," he says, offering me his hand.

I nod, shivering as I take it and we walk towards the manor hand-in-hand. Once we're inside, James turns on the heater so we can warm up and he fetches two towels from the bathroom, tossing one to me.

I dry my exposed skin and wring my hair out. James does the same while I slip into the closet to change my clothes. Once we're both warm and dry, James sits down on the sofa, while I take a seat on his bed, brushing the tangles out of my hair.

There's a moment of comfortable silence until James lets out a heavy sigh.

"Erin, are you sure you want this?" He asks me seriously.

I set the brush on his night stand, turning and meeting his gaze. "Yes," I tell him without hesitation. "I'm sure."

"I just want to make sure. I don't want you to feel forced, or coerced, or manipulated into anything," he says.

I shake my head at him. "I'm not. This is what I truly want," I say.

He nods. "I don't ever want to force you into something you don't want. Not ever again," he says, his words quiet and drenched with regret.

"If at any time you decide you don't want this anymore, I will pardon you. And you should know that I'm not going to make you sign a life contract, either," James adds.

My jaw falls open in shock. "But our agreement," I start, letting my sentence fall.

James waves my words off. "To hell with our agreement. We made that the first day you were here," he replies, standing up and coming over to the bed. He sits down, his body turned towards me.

He takes my hand in both of his, turning it over and tenderly tracing his finger along the lines of my palm. The gesture sends tingles racing through me.

James lifts his gaze to mine. "I'm not that person anymore, Erin," he says softly. "Couldn't go back to being that person if I tried."

"I've changed. Because of you," he says, reaching out and tucking a strand of my damp hair behind my ear.