The Essence of Fate by Alison E. Steuart

Author:Alison E. Steuart [Steuart, Alison E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-04-13T16:00:00+00:00

Nineteen

Charlotte

I’ve been awake for thirty minutes, replaying the last twenty-four hours in my mind. I really need to go pee, but my muscles are like jelly after the orgasm marathon Ian took me on last night.

I truly did not know it was possible for sex to be that good, to feel that powerful. Maybe it’s because he’s a master at it or because I’ve finally accepted that I have feelings for him. Perhaps it’s something else. What I do know is that I have to stay strong and continue moving past my fears, because now that I’ve walked through this door, I’m never turning back.

Rolling onto my side to stare at him while he sleeps, I smile. He’s so much less intimidating this way. Still abnormally good-looking, but he isn’t radiating that magnetic energy that makes it hard for me to catch my breath, or staring at me with those turquoise eyes that put me in a trance. Like they did last night when I saw him sitting across the restaurant.

It’s hard to believe that was a little over twelve hours ago—when I stood in front of him after getting past the heart attack he gave me, and he told me that he had fallen in love with me. I felt like my entire life changed in that moment and I was someone else. For that brief time, I felt so happy, like something clicked into place and I was finally my true self. Then it all came crashing down when he told me goodbye, for good. I was so distraught, I don’t even remember going back to the table. Gabriel was concerned because I didn’t seem well. I do recall that—it’s how I was able to cut dinner short. There was no way I could maintain my composure for very long.

Once I got home, it took me an hour to drum up the courage to call Ian. I’m not sure what I was expecting to happen when I did, but him barreling through my door ten minutes later and changing the meaning of my existence wasn’t something I fully anticipated. Though a part of me was terrified, not so much of him but of what could happen by letting down the walls that protected me, I’m actually glad he did. Knowing his feelings for me combined with the intensity of all that was sparking between us, before we even touched, I may have fallen in love with him, again, in that split second before he held me in his possessive embrace.

There was a raw power radiating from him when he walked through my front door, slamming it behind him as his momentum never faltered. His wild eyes focused on nothing but me, he took me in his arms without a word or need to ask, and kissed me with such desperate hunger I was on the verge of weeping. I will likely relive last night in my mind until I take my last breath…and maybe beyond that.

No longer able to hold it, I quietly get out of bed and head to the bathroom.

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