He Banned a Baby in Our Contract, Then Found His Daughter novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: The Root Cellar

I knotted my grandmother's scarf behind his head and told him he was not to touch me until I said.

"Where are you putting me?" Lorcan said.

"On the potato bin," I said.

"Of course you are."

It was the third week of April, and the thaw had come.

Water ran off every roof in Gannet Tickle, and the snow sat rotten and grey in the lanes.

My grandmother's root cellar was dug into the hill behind her saltbox, with a plank door and nine stone steps going down.

The earth walls sweated and the air smelled of turnips and cold clay.

A lantern hung from a hook in the beam and threw a gold circle on the floor.

Sadie was with my father.

My father had said he was taking her to see the lambs at my cousin's, and had looked at the ceiling while he said it.

I had spread an old quilt over the lid of the long bin by the back wall.

I sat Lorcan on it, in his shirt and trousers, with his boots on the dirt floor and his hands flat on his knees.

The scarf covered his eyes, and below it his mouth was serious.

"Say something," I said.

"I can't see a thing," he said.

"That's the idea."

"I don't like it."

"Your heart rate says you do," I said, and put two fingers on the pulse in his throat.

It was eighty-eight and quick under my fingertips.

He smiled, slowly.

"Hands," I said.

"On my knees," he said.

"Good."

I undid his shirt.

I did it one button at a time, and I let my knuckles drag down his stomach as I went, and heard him breathe.

I pushed it off his shoulders.

The cold air of the cellar touched his skin, and he shivered.

I leaned in and licked a path up the side of his neck.

There was a tin cup of meltwater on the shelf by the steps, so cold it hurt my fingers.

I dipped two fingers in it and drew a line down his stomach from his ribs to his belt.

He jerked and swore.

I followed the line with my mouth, hot, and he groaned out loud.

← Chapter 20 · All chapters · Chapter 22 →

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