Heartless Prince by Brook Wilder
Chapter 34
Leda
He was breaking my heart.
Somewhere between the dinner and his short but halting admission about the fact that he wasn’t supposed to be the Don, I had let go of any residual anger that I had for Lucas. It was crazy to think that I didn’t hate him.
I couldn’t. He was trapped in a life that hadn’t been his choice, just like I was. He did evil things—I mean, my being here was a product of that—but I could see the hurt in him in the brief moment it swam to the surface of his eyes.
He knew nothing but violence in his life. There were dark secrets he didn’t tell me about, secrets that he held close to his heart.
And his mother… Was she like Angelica Griffin? A woman who had been abused by a Don for his own diabolical reasons and Lucas her constant reminder?
Was Cosimo his real father? It would make sense for a Don to hand off his empire to a random person that was not of his blood.
Unless he was.
Pulling myself back to the present, I reached up and cupped his cheek with my hand, feeling it jump in response. “Everyone is worth saving.” Even you.
To my surprise, he closed his eyes as he took a shuddering breath. “You’re fucking killing me, Leda.”
“Well, I hope not,” I nearly choked on my words. “Because I’m not very good with dead bodies.”
A choked laugh escaped him, and his intense blue gaze found me again. “I can give you pointers.”
My breath caught. Was he teasing me? Was Lucas Valentino joking with me? This had to be a dream.
I slowly moved my hand from his cheek to his forehead, smoothing my thumb across his skin.
“That’s a bit morbid,” I whispered, tracing his eyebrow next.
“I’m a bit morbid,” he growled when my finger slid down the arrogant slope of his nose.
I believed it, but he was also attractive in a dark, mysterious way. My stomach tightened as I brushed over his lips next, wishing that they returned to press against my skin. I expected Lucas to pull away at any moment, to hold me down as roughly as he did before. Instead, he stood there—still as a statue—and allowed me to trace his features.
I didn’t even think he was breathing at this point. I dropped my hand, my cheeks burning at what liberties I was taking.
“Can I make a request, Lucas?”
His pupils dilated. “You can.”
Somehow I didn’t believe him, but that would be something I would work out later when I was alone. “Will you kiss me?”
Lucas’s jaw clenched. “Why?” he asked, his breath stirring my hair.
Why did I want him to kiss me? I really didn’t know, but it felt right.
Lucas felt right.
“I don’t know,” I told him, my hands sliding up to touch his chest. I felt the rapid beat of his heart under my palm, and my lips parted. Was he really into this as much as I was? Was he affected like I was?
“But I want you to kiss me.” I told him again.
His hand released the railing. When it slid behind my neck, I shivered at his touch. My body reacted in familiar ways from the brief encounters we had between us.
My breath quickened as he moved closer until our bodies touched. His leg was wedged in between mine. Oh God, I hoped that the railing was bolted tight, or we might end up tumbling into the darkness from the way he pressed me against the iron.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re right,” he said softly as he angled my face toward him. “You don’t.”
His lips covered mine, and I whimpered against the feather-light touch. I half expected him to kiss me with ravenous hunger. The gentleness took me off guard.
He nipped at the corners of my mouth until my lips parted and he swept in, his tongue tasting of whiskey and mint. The flame that had been simmering in my stomach now ignited to a full-blown wildfire, and my hands slid up to his shoulders and around his neck in an effort to pull him closer.
I wanted this.
Oh, I wanted this like there was no tomorrow!
Lucas molded his lips over mine, his free hand finding my hip and pulling me into him as his other caressed the nape of my neck lightly. He held me almost like a cherished possession, and I didn’t want the feeling to ever end.
When he finally pulled away, I nearly tumbled against him.
“I want you, Leda,” he said, his nose nuzzling my ear. “I want to have you. Will you allow me?”
Was he… asking? It didn’t feel like he was asking. It felt like he was begging me to allow him to do something. I pushed the thrill deep down inside, even as warning lights went off inside my head.
I didn’t care.
I wanted him just as much. “I want to see you naked.”
Lucas pulled away so suddenly that I thought I had run him off with my request. I hadn’t seen him naked before. I’d only been intimate with his cock and truly little else. Of course, in my dreams, I had conjured up what his body looked like many times. But I wanted to see it now.
When he reached for the buttons on his shirt, I realized I was about to get my wish.
“Are you sure, Leda?” he asked huskily.
I nodded and he obliged. When he shed his shirt and tossed it on the chair, I gasped.
Even in the soft candlelight I could see the scars, and my throat closed unexpectedly. There was a tattoo on the left side of his torso, too dark for me to see, but the silver scars dotting his torso told the story he hadn’t been willing to.
Unconsciously I stepped forward, and Lucas’s hands stilled on his jeans. “What are you doing?” he asked roughly, watching my hand touch the large scar on his shoulder, like someone had tried to hack his arm off.
“What happened to you?” I asked instead, my finger tracing the deep groove. What did Lucas suffer through? Were these scars the reason he kept those walls so tight around him?
If so, I couldn’t blame him. Not even Nico had these kinds of wounds.
Lucas caught my hand and pulled it to his chest. “Another time.”
Another time. Always another time. Fine. I would wait, but he was going to tell me everything one day.
Wait. Was I really thinking about this being more long term?
Gazing up at Lucas, I realized that I was.
