Temptation [A Young Writer's Prize Submission]

You're mine

Chapter Forty Seven

Lucien cornered me after Debra had gone to lie down for a while. Lauren was washing dishes in the kitchen, while Susana had gone upstairs to do some revision. I was left alone with Lucien, so there was nobody to save me as he playfully pinned me to the living room sofa, dropping his weight over me to stop me from escaping.

“So we’re just friends, are we?” he taunted, holding my hips gently underneath him and tracing the curve of my cheek with a finger. I saw the teasing in his eyes, but it masked hurt; hurt I’d caused.

“Lucien, I–” I tried to protest, but he wouldn’t let me. He pressed his lips against mine to silence me, dragging me closer to his body. Fire ignited in my veins, streaming through my body. I craved his desperation for me, groaning as he did. He traced my lips with the tip of his tongue, inciting me to frenzy. He enticed me to kiss him deeper, to show him my words had meant nothing, that I was only his…

“Do you kiss all your friends like this?” he demanded, pulling back for mere seconds before claiming my mouth again; “because that might be a problem.”

He wrenched himself away from me as Lauren passed the living room door, checking her reflection in the hall mirror.

As soon as I could breathe, I gasped at him: “What? No – I haven’t kissed Vanessa or Tasha.”

Cain was, of course, another matter.

He grinned, unable to take his eyes off my lips, and pulled me closer to him, wrapping his arms around my waist and knees. “I wouldn’t object if you wanted to kiss them,” he teased, “as long as I was allowed to watch.”

“Pervert,” I punched his shoulder lightly, before trailing my fingers along the length of his neck. Once my hands reached his face, he turned to grasp my fingers between his teeth, grazing over them in a way that sent pleasant little shivers all over my body. I crawled closer, taking him by surprised as I sat on his lap, my knees either side of his hips. I wrapped my arms around his neck, to give him a quick kiss. His arms wrapped around my waist, his hand sliding up to cradle my head. I arched against him with a sinful little smile, and his pupils dilated with desire.

“You are currently the only person I’m kissing,” I assured him, staring at him with hungry eyes.

“Currently?” he arched an eyebrow at me, making me smirk. “What does that mean?”

“If I didn’t know better, Mr Sheol, I’d say you were a little jealous.” I teased him, giving my hips a little wiggle. He clasped them hard between his hands, stilling me. I cocked my head to one side, staring at him.

“Is it fair to say that I’m the only person you’re currently kissing?” I asked him.

He stared at me so long, so earnestly, that any hint of teasing evaporated. “What is it, Lucien?” I reached out to touch his face, but he caught my hands in his.

“You’re mine, Mercy,” he insisted, his eyes never leaving mine. “I know that, and I’m trying to tell you. So far you’ve said nothing. Forgive me for maybe feeling a little insecure about our relationship – especially after you disclaimed me in front of your mother.”

“Lucien,” I tried to explain this carefully, to spare his feelings. “The only relationship I have ever had was with Cain, and it wasn’t really what I wanted. Debra sort of always knew that, which was why she didn’t like him very much, I guess.”

“But you’re not with Cain anymore,” Lucien reiterated, with a little emphasis.

I nodded. “I’ve been left with all these pieces of myself that I’ve neglected for years; pieces of me that I haven’t explored because Cain took choices away from me. I don’t know what will happen to those pieces of me if I commit myself to somebody again. I don’t know if I’ll still be able to access those parts of me if I’m with you. That’s why I don’t want to rush anything – I don’t even know if I want to have a relationship like this.”

Lucien was silent for a long moment, deliberating what to say. I kept silent, watching him. My words had hurt him, I knew.

“I don’t want to rush you,” Lucien said gently. “I just feel I have no other choice. We are running out of time, you and I. As much as I want to give you the chance to understand yourself, I’m worried that you’ll be gone from me before you ever figure it out.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” I tried to assure him, but even as I spoke I remembered how many times I had been close to death, close to leaving the world forever.

Lucien seemed to know my unspoken realisation. “You won’t have a choice, Mercy. If you choose to wait, you’ll lose everything.”

“Act in haste, repent at leisure,” I recalled Debra’s old saying.

Lucien’s face was hard. “At least you’ll be alive to repent, Mercy,” he spoke through gritted teeth. “The other option is death.”

“You’re beginning to scare me, Lucien,” I hedged.

“It’s not me who should be frightening you,” Lucien replied. “You should be afraid of those who deliver punishment, not those who suffer it.”

“I can’t make you any promises,” I murmured, breaking my hands free from his hold. “Not yet, anyway.”

Lucien closed his eyes, and I was overwhelmed with the urge to kiss him. Delicately, I pressed my lips over each eyelid, and then on the middle of his forehead.

He opened his eyes and captured my face between his hands. “You don’t understand how much I have yearned for you, Mercy,” he murmured; “far longer than you can imagine. To have you so close, and yet so far away from me; it’s the worst possible torture.”

It hit me in my gut that this relationship – or whatever it was between us now – was something that he really and truly wanted. His hands held me reverently, like I was some kind of sacred relic, and I tried to heal the pain I saw hiding behind the insecurity in his eyes.

“I thought I was clear,” I rested my head against his shoulder. “Lucien, you’re the only one I can imagine being with, ever since I saw you.”

“Cain?” he asked, needing security.

“Cain was a mistake,” I admitted. “I finally realised you were right.”

He seized my face and kissed me long and hard; a desperate kiss I eagerly returned, running my hands along the line of his shoulders and gripping them hard as he moved me against him.

He pulled back, gasping for air. His face was twisted as though in pain and he quickly removed my hands from his shoulders.

“You’d better not be kissing anyone else like that,” he told me firmly, though I detected a smile on the edge of his lips. “You’re hell on a guy’s control.”

I smiled, tracing the curve of his lips with my pinkie finger. “You get what you give, Lucien.”

His expression faltered a moment, but then a teasing spark emerged in his eyes.

“Is that so, Miss Falle?” his smile was breath-taking, and I marvelled that I could be the one to affect him like this. I felt safe and comforted in his arms, with that sharp edge of desire that he alone held for me.

“That’s what I’ve been told, Mr Sheol.”

“I wouldn’t have thought you believed in karma,” he teased, tapping my nose with a playful finger.

I shrugged: “If I have to believe in something; that seems most plausible.”

His forehead creased as he thought about it.

“So you mean,” a wicked grin crossed his face, and he lifted my chin, “that when I do this,” he planted a gentle kiss on my lips, “you feel the same out of control, inconvenient, fantastic feelings that I do?”

I blushed. “And if I do?” I challenged.

He grinned down at me, resting his forehead against mine. “Then it just proves you’re mine, Mercy.”