Society's Expectations & Too Many Complications {Finalist}

Chapter 18

Sebastian crashed his lips on me, with a force that I would have thought ugly before. But now it just felt glorious. My hands-previously curled into fists- rose as if under a different command, and curled into his hair. Soft hair that felt gorgeous under my hands. Soft lips, that felt just right on my own.

It was as if desire that I had never felt before awakened in my breast, a feeling that I had never associated with Sebastian. I lost myself as he kissed me, as he went from hard to gentle and caring as if I was the most precious thing in the world.

It might have been hours that he kissed me, days and I would not have known. All I could feel was that my fingers were curled into his hair, that his lips were on mine and that his arms cradled my face like the most delicate of a flower's petals.

But then I remembered. Remembered that I had just been about to kiss a man, that I should not be feeling like this, that I should not be doing this. That he had just spent an entire dinner trying to disgrace me. And that I was angry that he was confusing my world with his kisses.

So I disengaged myself and with all that fury I had, I slapped him. The SMACK! resounded across the room, normally such a room of silence as before. Sebastian dropped his hands, one going to his cheek. There was a red mark there that I had put there, a fact that I found hugely satisfying.

"Well that was different than what I expected," he muttered, still shocked from my hit. Just to give him another taste for that lavicious tongue, I gave him another slap, this time on the other cheek.

"You shouldn't have expected anything," I spat at him, the red-hot anger pumping through me, fuelling my speech. "That was- that was-"

"Exactly what you wanted?" Sebastian offered, though that wicked smile of his had another edge to it.

"No!" I refused him. "I- I- I did not want that at all! You cannot just-"

"Seduce innocent women?" he suggested, those dark eyes of his glinting with amusement, though it was coloured with a spike. "Didn't see you complaining."

Again, I went to slap him, this anger still a continual parade upon me. Except, this time Sebastian saw it coming. Catching it easily, as if I was just a toy, I hit with my other arm, but he caught it again, leaving me with both my wrists in his grasp. Forcing them down, he edged closer to me, those lips coming closer to me.

"When all your weapons are gone, what lies beneath?" he asked me, with an urgency towards him that scared me. "What truly lies under that anger, Rosalia?"

Truly? I did not know. Because that red-hot anger faded so fast as he touched my arms, that anger turning into a wild hope that those enchanting lips of his would entrance me once again.

"This," I said wildly towards him, begging my mind to release me. So I did. Raising my knee, I landed a solid hit right between his legs, which had saved me from the street rat accosting me and would hopefully save me again.

Yet whether it was from my feelings or from Sebastian, I could not tell.

"Argh!" he groaned, his arms sliding from his hold upon me and going to protect if I attacked again. Falling to his knees, I escaped and when out of the drawing room, locked it from the outside, something that I had never quite found a use for, until now. Calling a manservant, I ordered him to escort Sebastian Darrows out.

If the servant was surprised, he did not show it, though with the background of shouts and curses you could hear from the room behind me, I wouldn't be shocked if he did find it a tad strange.

"As you wish, milady," he said immediately, going to the door to let Sebastian out. As he left with the struggling man in arms, I whipped up the stairs, not eager to let Sebastian give me another look that would remind me of what we had just shared. Going weak in the knees was not a feeling that I enjoyed, especially from when it was given from the wrong man.