ROSETTE
“I don’t, but I’m not above knowing.”
Axel regarded me with a look that stripped me bare, his gaze unblinking.
“And what will you do when you know about it?” he asked, his eyes roaming.
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I’ve noticed that with him, his eyes never stayed put. They’re always moving, searching. They moved from one feature to another, never settling for one, just taking all of them in.
“I’ll try to understand,” I answered in a breath.
“And what if you don’t?” His thumb stroked my bottom lip, and they parted for him. His gaze grew heated, his breath quickening. He stroked my bottom lip with his thumb, feeling it like his eyes were feeling me.
“Then I’ll try harder.”
He shook his head, chuckling, but there was no amusement in the sound. “Oh, Rosette. This feels like making a deal with the devil. I’ll hold you to that when the timees.”
I nodded, my mouth dry, barely hearing his words. All I could feel was his thumb stroking my lips, parting them and just lingering at the entrance. I wanted him to lean down and im my mouth with his. I wanted him to kiss me until I felt lightheaded.
Last night, he left me still starving and aching. I had to touch myself to relieve that ache, but that barely did anything. He was the one I craved.
Axel leaned down and I screamed, “Finally!” in my head, but then he paused before he pulled away, his hand dropping from my face.
Disappointment hit me like a punch to the gut, and when Axel saw my reaction, he looked… hurt.
“Is that all this is, Rosette?<i>” </i>he asked, the devastation in his voice painful.
“What do you mean?<b>” </b>I asked softly, taking a step forward, but he took one back.
“Lust,” he answered, leaving me more confused. He sighed through his nose, running a hand through his hair and messing up the perfectly styled hair. He bent and picked something off the floor. “I broke your rose.”
He held a rose with a broken stem, but the flower was still perfect. I gave him a look. “How many of those do you have?”
His lips curled up. “More than you can imagine, sweetheart. Go get dressed. I’m taking you out.”
“Where to?”
He shrugged. “We’ll figure that out.”
<b>12:09 </b><b>Thu</b><b>, </b><b>Sep </b>11
“I have ss today.”
“How many?”
“Two.”
:
“Skip them. I skipped a lot of sses in my days and I still graduated.”
I chuckled softly, shaking my head. “You’re a bad influence, Axel.”
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He smiled, showing perfect teeth, and those silly dimples that I’ve missed, and my heart skipped a beat. “I can be badder. Now go dress, and don’t spend an eternity in there.”
I rolled my eyes and walked towards my room. “Never tell ady how much time she should spend dressing.”
I didn’t need to look at him to know he was smiling. “Forgive me, mydy<i>.</i><i>” </i>
I shut the door of my room, resting my back against it, and… smiling.
***
I’ve been standing in front of the mirror for what felt like a full hour, turning multiple times and asking myself, “Was this too much?”
I was dressed in a gown that stopped just below my knees, fitted, and without sleeves, my hair half down and half up, wearing a bit of make–up, and heels to top it off.
Heels<b>! </b>
No, this was too much. He never said it was a date, and this was just eleven in the morning.
This was too much.
“Rosette, sweetheart,” Axel called at my door. “I know you have to go over which dress, shoe, purse, and all that, bute out already. Don’t kill a poor man with suspense<b>.</b><b>” </b>
I took a deep breath. Let me just show him, if he said it was too much, then I would change. I picked up my purse, walked to the door, and threw it open before I could change my mind.
Axel’s back was facing me as he turned. “Thank God. I was-”
He stopped, his eyes going wide as he turned to me fully. His eyes trailed down slowly, then up again, <i>his </i>throat working as he swallowed.
“I know it was too much,” I whispered when he continued to stare, turning to head back into my room, my face burning.
In a blink, Axel was behind me, grabbing me by the hand and turning me to face him.
I looked up at him, my face heated.
<b>12:09 </b><b>Thu</b><b>, </b><b>Sep </b><b>11 </b>
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“Your beauty has left me speechless<b>, </b>I’m afraid,” he muttered, holding my hand above my head and turning me in a circle. He inhaled a sharp breath as I turned for him, and my face burned even hotter.
When I faced him again, his eyes had darkened. “I want to keep you locked up so no one else but me will <b>see </b>you like this.” Still holding my hand, his other hand reached out, pushing my hair back away from my shoulder and exposing my neck, his fingers touching my skin as he did so, leaving me breathless.
Just a single, fleeting touch from him, and that was my reaction. It wasughable, but at the same time really serious.
“If I say you’re beautiful then I’m limiting this sight before me,” he whispered, raising our joined hands and pressing a kiss to it. “There are no words to describe your beauty, and I won’t try.”
I blushed, looking away from him, feeling hot all over.
His fingertips traced the curve of my chin before tilting my face towards him, drawing me into the heat of his gaze until I was lost in his eyes.
“There’s that blush I’m so madly in love with,” he whispered, his eyes soft, tender… intimate. And I could see a lot in his eyes, yet I couldn’t understand them.
“Our eyes are like a gateway to our souls,” I said, barely thinking.
Axel just looked amused. “Oh? Tell me, sweetheart, can you see my soul?”
“I can. But it’s confusing.”
Heughed softly. <b>“</b>I’ll take that as <b>a </bpliment. Come on, let’s get going.”
Still holding my hand, he led me to the door, but then he paused, turning.
“Wait, something is missing.”
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