Prologue
Andre
My heart pounded as Lillian’s chest heaved up to meet mine. Her skin was flush with want and excitement; it was proof I was doing something right, at least. Each of her breaths made her swell with heat and warmth against me, and I could barely stand it. It drove me crazy to feel her. I dared to slip a hand up her capped sleeve, along her shoulder. My fingers brushed the side of her breast, savoring the sensation of her silky, delicate skin hidden from me only by her lacy white blouse.
My back pressed firmly against the rough wooden trim as Lilly grabbed at my clothing. The scent of my lover outmatched the barn’s woodsy smell as I nipped at her neck and exposed shoulder. I could hear her need in each breath, soft, barely ragged. She tore the buttons off my shirt, pushing her fingertips against my bare chest. I gasped with excitement—when had she grown so bold? How much of her had changed? Each of her inhalations became more urgent, and when I glanced up at her, I savored her wanting expression and ever-so-slightly parted lips. She bit me firmly on my collarbone with her rounded teeth, and I couldn’t contain my gruff growl in response. The painted mare behind us, Lilly’s favorite, was particularly unhappy about having uninvited guests and fidgeted nervously. Thankfully, the animals would be our only witnesses.
Returning her ferocity, I nudged her into the next stall, not aware of the black stallion that occupied it. I was just attempting to find somewhere secretive and uninhabited we could disappear to. I wanted somewhere to hide; we only needed a few moments. That’s all it would take. A few confidential moments hiding in the back of the barn would be enough to satiate our cravings for one another. Feelings we had been fighting for weeks. The horse turned and huffed at us disapprovingly; it did not want visitors. This time, Lilly’s spine met the wall of the stable; I hefted her up, her thighs in my hands and her knees around my hips as I pushed against her, spreading her legs apart even more so she could feel my want through the thick denim of my jeans.
My arms tensed, biceps bulging, and a few veins ridged just below my flesh. As I held Lilly up, she stroked their outline. She was light, but I could feel the muscle she had developed over the summer at the farm, and it took all of my willpower not to devour her, to take things slower. Her strength was clouding my mind, and she nearly made me dizzy when she used her elbows to prop herself onto the edge of the stall, so her chest was more prominent. Lilly puffed out her breasts toward me. She urged me on, encouraged me. I couldn’t stop staring as the crests of her swells bulged from her blouse, the buttons straining against the cloth that held them, threatening to pop at any moment. All it would take was a single flick of my finger to expose her body.
My mouth peppered tender kisses that alternated with love bites and left blooming, pink marks on her golden skin. I treated her with delicate kindness until my overwhelming need to take her made me lash out with a firm grab of her butt or a bite to her flesh. I never drew blood; I would never harm her—not again. I kissed her fiercely, savoring the taste of her sugar-sweet lips. When our mouths weren’t occupied by one another’s, we fought to muffle our sounds of passion. She shuddered in response to my every nip at her skin, and each of those tiny shakes was like a gold medal. My signature crooked grin lifted my cheeks as her flesh prickled over every inch—another reward.
As her excitement rose, her nipples became visible through her stretched blouse. I pinched one delicately, inciting another cry of longing from my lover. Her moan wrapped around me as I bit her collarbone again, the lowest and softest of rumbles came from deep within her chest. Lilly managed to wiggle her way out of my grasp and directed our tangled bodies to the empty stall at the barn’s end.
The moment we reached our destination, she shoved my pants down, exposing my boxers and my erect cock straining against the cotton. I kicked them into the empty space behind me, used to store loose hay for the livestock. Her eyes were on me, tracing my hardened, upright manhood with lust. As she fell backward into the sweet-smelling straw, I tugged her shirt over her head and landed on top of her.
Straddling her, my knees dug deep into the dried grass on either side of her hips. My firm grip on her breasts over her bra brought me another prize—a moan of pleasure. Like that of a wolf, she trained her steel-blue eyes on me—so enchanting. I could fall into them and be lost forever. Every little noise urged me on, and I slid down her body, trailing kisses down the line etched between her breasts to her bellybutton. My fingers undid the clasp to her pants, and I started to tug them off of her hourglass hips.
What were we doing? How did it come to this? I had come to the farm to clear my head and relax, but instead, I found the cause of my clouds—what I had been missing. One night she was my prize at prom, and the next, she was gone forever—yet there she was, years later. I was lucky; how could I not be? Lilly kicked her pants free from her ankles and spread her legs before me, her panties the only thing hiding her bare form.
I took a moment to sit up and pull my shirt off as it hung from where she tore it. The heat from the day had glistened my rippling abs with a layer of sweat. Her fingers ran over my skin, tickling me, tracing every line down to my belt. I stared down at the woman beneath me. She was so familiar yet so different than I had remembered—a mystery to me, but still someone I knew so well. Lilly had grown from a college-bound young woman into a strong and independent force who knew how to get what she wanted—and she wanted me. Thank God she wanted me. Her face glowed, and the prickling sensation that ran up and down my back overtook me.
I could no longer wait.
Flinging myself forward, I vowed to take her in before she disappeared again. This time forever would mean forever.
1
Lillian
The balcony was the only place I could find any kind of privacy. No one went out there. Not a single member of my family was interested in what the view of the rest of the city had to offer. I had the outdoor space all to myself. I had decorated it with a few houseplants in quirky pots, a glass coffee table, and a wicker chair with a matching ottoman. I could often be found there on early gray mornings reading some romance novel or thriller—anything to make my heart race in that boring place.
I was standing at the balcony’s railing as I listened to my mother shouting about business on her cellphone in the room beyond the sliding glass doors. She was always yelling at the person on the other end of her calls. I couldn't help but feel sorry for whoever was unfortunate enough to interact with the woman. Truth be told, I often felt sorry for her, too.
Through the family business that my mother stayed home and ran, and my father traveled abroad to grow, our family had become prosperous enough to obtain a massive amount of wealth. Our apartment was the highest in the building downtown, and my mother said, at one time, I should feel like a princess overlooking Manhattan. Well, allow me to say, I felt less of a princess and more like a peasant, maybe even a fly trapped against a window, trying to get out. I could take a glimpse at that life yet wanted no part of it. I didn’t belong there. All of it was too much for me.
Looking down on the city, I stroked a lock of golden hair out of my eyes and tucked it back into the ponytail I had secured with a paw-print decorated pen. My eyes were as blue as the sky that I rarely saw, and they brought me tons of compliments. I wondered if people in the city even knew what the sky looked like. Perhaps my eyes were actually gray like the smog that always hung over the city and not the brilliant blue I imagined them to be. The residents would undoubtedly know what that looked liked… That was all we ever saw. I flexed a long, delicate arm and clicked my finely filed nails on the metal railing with impatience.