bare. She wore nothing underneath, and he could smell her feminine musk. The scent drove him wild with desire, but he forced himself to go slowly, to not frighten the girl.
Beast rubbed her thighs, warming her flesh. With a sigh, her legs parted ever so slightly, her body melting into the hay.
He reached the junction of her thighs, the one part of her body that threw off heat. His thumb rested on the tender bud he found, more beautiful than any rose in his garden.
“Have you ever been touched here?” he asked quietly, his voice thick.
“No,” she whispered. She was wet for him, slippery beneath his hand.
Beast slid one finger inside her tight channel. “You’re not a virgin, Belle. How is it that no one has touched you here?”
She gasped, tilting her hips up to meet his fingers, still keeping her eyes shut. “But I am a virgin, sir. Well—the baker’s apprentice last year…just a little kissing in the barn loft. He didn’t know how to do…what you’re doing.”
“Do you like it?” Beast asked, stilling.
“Please, don’t stop,” she said, her breath catching.
Beast chuckled. “I didn’t ask you if I should stop, Belle. I asked you if you liked it.” He quickened his pace, rubbing tight little circles over her bud.
“Yes,” she gasped. “Yes, Beast.”
With a delicate cry, Belle came, covering his hand in her juices. Since she wasn’t looking, Beast brought his hand to his mouth and licked his fingers clean. It was too bad he’d already promised not to eat her, because she was absolutely delicious.
“Look at me, beauty. Look at my eyes.”
Belle lids fluttered open and she gazed into Beast’s eyes. “I’ve never seen a beast such as you,” she whispered.
“You think I’m a monster.”
“That wasn’t what I was thinking, sir. I was thinking you look quite…majestic. Like a mythical creature.”
The Beast held his smile at bay so as not to frighten her. “Flattery.”
She smiled and turned her head, and his hand fell from her face.
“You don’t want me to touch you when you can see what I look like, is that right?” he asked. “Do I still scare you, after all that?”
“Any man who kept me captive in a dungeon and then approached me late at night would scare me.”
“Well, beauty, that is a good point. But I am not any man.” This time he couldn’t keep from grinning, all of his fangs bared at her. “I am the Beast .”
Belle cried out in horror and lashed out at him, cutting deep across his chest with something painfully sharp.
He howled in pain and anger.
What happened? The girl had gone from post-orgasmic to homicidal in short order.
She jumped up, still holding her weapon, hurtling herself past him.
“I’m sorry, Beast,” she called as she flew up the stairs out of dungeon.
Beast held his hand over the bleeding wound on his chest. Where had she gotten a weapon? And worse, why had she left him, right when things were starting to get interesting?
He was torn between rushing after her, or letting her go. Perhaps keeping her prisoner was a bad idea.
But it had been a decade since he’d become the Beast, and this was his first—possibly last—opportunity to get to know a woman without having her run screaming.
Which, of course, is exactly what Belle had just done.
The moon shone brightly through the cell window. Nighttime. The wolves would be out.
While he was safe from wolves, little Belle would be in danger. He had to go find her, and worry about whether he’d keep her or not until after she was safe from harm.
She still had her weapon with her…a saw of some sort. When he rescued her, she might cut his head off with the damn thing.
The idea didn’t bother him as much as he thought it would. If he couldn’t have her, he might as well give up hope of ever changing, and die a Beast.
***
Belle ran through the cavernous front hall. “Open the door,” she cried to the fairies. “Please, open the door!”
The door flew open and Belle tumbled