A Hunger Most Dark novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: The Terms

I shut the door behind me and stood with my back against it.

"The terms, my lord," Lenore said.

She rose from the chair and walked toward me, barefoot, in the dark green gown.

"My labor and my company. Not my bed. You wrote it down yourself."

"Then why are you in my room?"

"Because I changed my mind." She stopped an arm's length away. "It was my term. I can break it."

"You said that in the stable."

"I'm saying it again."

She put her hands on my chest and pushed me back against the door, and my whole body went tight.

"Don't think this makes us anything," she said. "I'm not here to forgive you, and you aren't here to forgive me."

"Good."

"I want you. That's all it is."

"Say it again."

She gave me a look that was almost a smile.

"I want you, Dav."

I took her face in my hands and kissed her.

It was not like the bookcase.

It was slow, and deliberate, and her mouth opened under mine without a fight.

She tasted of wine and of herself.

She undid the buttons of my coat one by one, and pushed it from my shoulders, and I pulled her against me so hard that she gasped.

"Take it off," I said against her mouth. "The dress."

She turned her back and I found the hooks.

There were thirty of them, small and close, and my hands were not steady.

The silk came down over her right shoulder, and I put my mouth to it, and she shivered all the way down.

I reached for the left.

Her hand shot back and closed around my wrist.

"Not that one," Lenore said, very low.

I stopped.

I waited.

"Leave it covered," she said. "Please."

It was the first time she had said that word to me in her life.

"All right," I said, and I meant it.

She let the gown fall from her hip, and the left sleeve stayed on her arm, and she stood in my lamplight in a thin linen shift, with the shoulder still hidden.

← Chapter 9 · All chapters · Chapter 11 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend