Breakfast was served, food piled on large plates that covered the half of the dining table they sat at. There were fruits and delicious pastries that Merrick couldn't help shoving onto his place when he got the chance. There were such delicious smells wafting off of the food, with steam rising high into the air. The curling of the steam made Annelie smile as she moved some food onto her plate.
Her stomach growled, welcoming the food happily. It had never been able to consume so much. First, with the delectable dinner that left her feeling more content than she had in ages and then with the breakfast that satisfied her completely. It was getting harder and harder to think about smelling bread and other goods baking all day long without touching a thing.
While Annelie contemplated the meal, enjoying the sweet taste bursting on her tongue, the Beast watched his Beauty. He was unable to take his eyes off of her appealing form. Even when her gaze met his dark, searching eyes he didn't turn his head away in shame. Rather, he just raised his goblet of wine up her way an amused grin on his face.
The dress looked perfect on her. Yet, he doubted she could have worn something that wouldn't have made her look absolutely stunning. He barely paid mind to his own breakfast, in his own infatuation with Annelie.
When she finally looked away from him, and to the fireplace behind her, he found his eyes moving over her body. It was turned slightly away, but twisted in such a fashion as to still show her lean waist and hips that begged for his hand to graze, to grab.
A growl started to rumble in his chest, and he quickly covered it with a cough. It had been a long time since he was so interested in someone of the opposite sex. After being stuck in the castle for so long, there was no doubt as to the reason why. Yet, he couldn't help his own reaction to being so close to a beautiful woman who he wanted to make stay at his side.
Oh, she was infuriating, but she was also so sweet when she wanted to be. The smiles she gave away like they were something so trivial made a strange sensation roll over him.
He doubted he would feel the same if she was ever to smile at a man like that, a man other than him and her own father. His grip on his goblet tightened when he thought about what men she would have staring at her in town. No, he couldn't possibly let her leave with that idea popping unwanted into his head.
When they were all finished eating and the Beast had his back pressed against his chair, he cleared his throat. The goblet he had been holding found its way back to the table and he rose to his full height.
With Annelie at his one side, it was easy enough to find himself beside her. He held out his hand and waited.
She stared at it for a long moment in time, her mind so obviously whirling with questions and thoughts. When she took it, he helped her rise from her chair, but didn't let her hand go when she tried to tug it away. "Come," he commanded. Not even waiting for her response, he began walking to the door of the dining hall.
"Wait! Whoa! Where are you taking me?" she asked, her green eyes were wide. He turned to look at her and he clucked his tongue.
"Where I want you to go," was all he said in return. Instantly Annelie's eyes darkened with irritation and a fresh wave of anger. Her mouth opened to protest before his other hand came up to press a finger against her lips. "Save the arguments and your pretty little voice."
Annelie's face flushed bright red, her own want to yell at him growing steadily. Yet, he dragged her through the door and into the hall once more. His long strides made her work to keep up.
Her feet suddenly felt so clumsy as she was barely able to keep herself from tripping again and again. Before long he stopped and exasperated sigh leaving him. Annelie's breaths were coming fast, having to work a lot harder at walking with him dragging her along with his seemingly endless strength.
"You honestly cannot walk faster?" he asked her with a raised eyebrow.
"Y-you- were the one- who- dragged me- out of- the dining hall- in the first- place," she struggled out between gulps of air.
The Beast shrugged his shoulders as if him spiriting her away from her family into a dark hall alone wasn't a problem to him. She huffed out a breath, and instantly regretted it as she had to suck it right back in. "Stupid- Beast," she muttered with a shake of her head.
Before she could further berate him, she was backed into a doorway. The dark oak door pressed against her back. It was solid and hard. Her hand slipped down to try the handle, to no avail.
It was only then that Annelie realized she was in a dark hall with the Beast who looked to be irate. His hand came up to her cheek, tilting her head up further so he could stare down at her with sharp, immensely dark eyes. "I am stupid to you?" he asked slowly, pouring out each word in careful, precise syllables.
Annelie swallowed, her eyes widening and a flush staining her cheeks. He was far too close to her, that much she knew. Her body felt like it was vibrating with a sudden tension she didn't even understand. His thumb ran down by the side of her nose and lower. It paused above her lips before continuing. A small sound of protest left her when his thumb began to brush over her bottom lip.
Even though she tried to protest, her mouth parted for him anyway.
It was his immense height, the way his dark eyes seemed to stare straight into her, through her. There was no way she could fight him, not with him being so close. His handsome face hovered in front of hers, leaving her to want to squirm against the door.
Her mind was a mess as she tried to formulate a response to his question. "No," she found herself gasping out. A deep, rich chuckle rumbled through his chest, and she could practically feel it make its way through her too.
The feeling made her close her green eyes and shiver. The tension only seemed to grow as soon as her eyes were closed.
Annelie felt as if she was waiting for something, but for what... she didn't know.
However, not knowing didn't last very long. His thumb moved away from her lip and she was about to open her eyes, when his hot breath fanned over her cheek. "Beast?" she asked, her heart pounding like she had just run an entire race. Even her breathing became impaired by the feeling of his mouth so close to hers.
"Yes, my Beauty?" he asked her. Those words were her only warning before his mouth was on hers. A gasping breath left her as she felt him press closer. Somehow their bodies were pressed so tightly together that there was no space left in between.
Their mouths met again and again as he took his time with her. The hand he had unconsciously curled at his side to keep from touching her moved. It landed on her hip, gripping her there to tug her even closer to him.
Neither knew how long their mouths were pressed together, or who made what noises. However, the Beast finally found the resolve to pull his mouth from hers. A whining protest escaped Annelie's mouth at the movement. Slowly, a grin curved his lips upwards.
Yet, the happy moment didn't last very long. Annelie opened her eyes, the green dazed and unfocused. She blinked rapidly, as if waking from a dream, and then pressed her hands against his chest. Her head turned quickly to the side and she squeezed her eyes shut. "No... no... I... let me go!" she exclaimed. The Beast stared down at his Beauty who had so easily leaned into his touch and begged him to continue to kiss her with eager responses.
Now, she was suddenly acting as if he had attacked her like a monster. "Beauty, what's wrong?" he asked slowly. His hand on her hip tightened and she gasped, eyes popping back open.
"No! just let me go!" she exclaimed in a quick response.
"I won't until you tell me what is going on in that damn head of yours!" he snapped out, eyes suddenly flaring. He took the hand at her cheek and tugged her head so that her eyes were looking up into his once more. His eyes were dark storms, swirling and dangerous. It was as if lightning were about to jump out and strike her for asking him to move away from her.
Annelie froze. She knew explaining that what they were doing was wrong and wasn't like her wouldn't be enough. All she knew was that she shouldn't be kissing him, or being so very wonderfully close to him.
The emotions she was feeling weren't supposed to be there. He was a Beast and she shouldn't have been longing for him to kiss her in the first place. She had made it so easy for him to just take from her all he had wanted to. She had so easily become like one of the obsessed girls in town that wished for him to just sweep them into his muscled arms.
How they would have murdered her for kissing him in the dark hall of his own castle. Annelie moved to bite at her bottom lip once more, trying to think of some sort of response that the Beast would accept.
Her mind was scrambled once more when she felt his lips press roughly back down onto hers. She shuddered, body moving to accept the gesture so easily. His hand left her cheek when it seemed she wasn't going to try to pull away again. It traveled to her blonde hair and created a tight hold there, needing her to accept his kiss, accept him in that moment.
Instead of pulling away, he pressed her back against the door, caging her in. His mouth forced her head to tilt back further so that he had easier access to her lips.
It was intoxicating, his touch, his voice, everything about him. Annelie couldn't fight it any longer. Her mind was lost within a sea she was afraid she could so easily drown in. The pleasure of him, just... him, was nearly too much for her to take.
Meanwhile, the Beast was lost. His only thought process was to made his Beauty accept him with open arms the next time he even mentioned a kiss. He wanted to watch her walk away with an unsteady stumble in her step and cheeks pink from the heady sensations he was able to create for her. He wanted to breathe in her sweet vanilla scent when he woke up in the morning and went to bed at night.
That wasn't to say he felt anything other than lust and a masculine want to claim her as his. There was nothing else. He wanted her to be his and that was the most simple track in his mind that he could follow through with.
Before he could get carried away, there was the sound of someone dropping something in the hallway. Damn it, he thought. All I wanted was a minute longer. Or a few more minutes. Or an hour. He pulled back unwillingly to glare at the maid he saw down the hallway.
Her eyes were wide and her mouth was dropped cleanly open. She looked between the Beast and Annelie who was still firmly trapped against the door, trying to fall back to Earth from the heavenly, drunken experience of the Beast's wine-flavored lips.
As soon as her green gaze recognized that they had been caught, she began to shove at the Beast's chest in earnest. All she received in response was a harsh growl that made her freeze. It was if he was truly an animal in that moment, claiming her as his territory, and she couldn't do anything but wonder what he would have done if there had been no interruption. She wanted to wince when she thought what she would have allowed him to do if only he had tried.
"Let me go now," she whispered to the Beast. She was no longer demanding anything of the man who she knew would give her nothing if she fought him for it. He stared at her for a long moment with dark eyes and finally untangled his hand from her hair and let go of her body.
In two easy strides backward he was away from her small form. She stepped out and found that she was suddenly so cold without his heat pressing down on her.
Annelie smiled sheepishly at the maid who seemed to still be shell-shocked by what she had happened to walk by on. The bucket of water the maid had probably been carrying had fallen on the floor, water spilling out along the wood. It was a giant soapy mess.
"Clean this up!" The Beast instructed the maid in such a cold, heartless tone. Then, he turned away, no longer interested in trying to take Annelie wherever her had in mind before.
She was left feeling tied up in the middle of the hall, wondering what she was going to do if he was to attempt another kiss with her. Would she be able to resist his charms or would she just give into the desire she felt still making her tremble?