Chapter 4 Within My Grasp

The adrenaline sings in my ears. With each eloquent move, it is with slow agony that she effortlessly carries every inch of perfection up the stairs. After endless minutes of torture, I take my seat, praying that she will come to sit next to me. And as she comes to stand in front of me like a goddess...I can't fucking speak.

"Well, Mr. King, you got something caught on your tongue?"

"Please, call me Hunter."

"Well, Hunter, you wanted me to come to sit with you. Are you going to sit and devour me with those hazel eyes?"

"Now, Raven, have you perhaps been staring in my direction?"

"It is hard to miss you when you can't keep them off me."

She is damn right there; I have not taken them off her from the first moment I laid them on her, and having her in my presence, so close to me, is something that I have desired for near to a week now. Now, she is finally here, and all I can do is mumble like a fool, and yes, I am devouring her with these hazel eyes.

But what is more captivating is those deep brown ones that have nothing but the brightest sparkle within them. Does she not know what a beauty she truly is? Does she not know how any man will crawl at her feet. The very way that I have done for the last seven days. Yet, she seems to hold something in those eyes that I cannot place. There is something that seems to make that smile turn around in sadness.

That is something that I will change, I might not know how to love, but I know how to give. I shall give her whatever her hearts desire and more...that is if she will be mine.

Though, do I truly give her much of a choice? Well, she is mine; she just needs to learn that yet.

And yet again, I have been caught staring at her for one second far too long.

"Hunter, are you going to move up or sit and stare at me for the rest of the evening?"

"Do excuse me, but I cannot get over how much your beauty captivates me."

"Seriously, do they actually fall for that? Or do you just have to call them princess, and they are whimpering?"

"Oh, princess, the only one that will be whimpering will be you."

She only but shakes her head at me and slides into the chair. She gasps as I move closer, and my broad shoulders touch her. I see what my closeness is doing to her, and I push our legs tightly together.

Just looking at her beauty does not only take my breath away, but it knocks all air out from my chest. Now she is sitting here and doing this damn seductive thing with those supple red lips. I have never been known as a man that loses control, but I would lose every bit that keeps me together if she will be mine forever.

So I lean in for a fraction of an inch and softly whisper in her ear, "Please let me."

As my warm breath lingers over the tip of her ear, she but only whimpers my name, "H.u.n.t.e.r."

I smile at her, feeling that for the second time tonight, I have claimed a victory, "I told you that you would whimper." But yet there is something more that I want; there is more that I want than just seeing what my presence does to her body.

So I lean in once again; this time, she moves that fraction away, "Princess, please let me in for one second."

"Let you in?"

I take my thumb to her bottom lip and gently run it from one corner to the other. They are soft and smooth; her deep cherry lipstick makes it slide with ease. She stops and nearly forgets to breathe as I move my thumb over and between the seams of her slightly parted lips.

The heat between our bodies is unmistakable. Her breathing is short and shallow. She whispers, but her trembling lips only cause her words to whimper. I see my name forming around her lips, but I do not hear it. She is drowning in the power that I have over her body.

"Princess," my voice is low and can barely be heard underneath the music.

"Yes, Hunter."

My heart but skips one beat, she allowed me to call her the very thing she should be called without protesting, yet this is not what I desire, so I slowly lean into her, "Please, let me," the words come from my lips as if I am nearly begging.

"Let you...?"

I do not let her finish; I move my lips breath by breath even closer to hers. We are so close now that we are breathing the same breath. I look down to her lips and back to meet her eyes. She closes her eyes, and I move forward, closing that final gap between our trembling bodies. The instant that we touch, the first thing I notice is how much she tasted like cotton candy. As I tuck as her bottom lip, she stops and pulls away.

"Stop, Hunter. I can't do this."

I look at her, confused. Is she rejecting me once again?

"Princess, what have I done wrong?"

"Hunter, you are not the type of man that I need in my life; you are not even the type of man that I want."

"Then why are you here? Why are you sitting next to me?"

"Because I am here for Viviana."

"You know that is not true. Please stop pushing me away,"

She takes the chilled glass of whiskey from my hands and sips on it slowly. There is a long and painful silence between us for several moments, and when she finally speaks, I wish that she has never spoken at all.

"I will keep on pushing you away for as long as you keep on chasing me. You do not know how to treat a woman like me. You cannot own me."

"Princess, I have never owned any woman; I would like them to be mine, but never did I say I own them."

"You do know that is a load of bullshit that is coming from your mouth. You owned me the minute you laid your eyes on me."

"Is it that wrong to want something?"

"Yes, Hunter, when it is something that you cannot have."

How can one woman be so difficult? I have never had to work so hard to get what I want. Yes, it is given to me, and if not, then I will simply take it. Every woman desires to be with me; why does she not want the same. Well, she is not the same as every other woman, that is why I want her. And I will have her. It seems that tonight shall be another one that will be riddled with failure.

But yet, she has not moved away from me, and as I move but another inch closer to her, she nearly drops the glass that she is holding so firmly in her hands.

My eyes can't help to wander down to her lips again, every part of me wants to kiss them, but instead, I put my hand on her knee and slowly run it up her leg. She gasps but yet she does not move it away. "Can I tell you a secret?"

I watch as she wants to push my hand away, yet she lets it linger; after a few seconds, she finds the words to speak, "Yes...?"

"You are wet."

She pushes my hand away in an instant and moves even further away from me. "I am not!" She snaps back at me, looking somewhat flushed and irritated.

I point over to her legs and only but laugh at her. She has not noticed that the contents of her drink have messed over her legs, which tells me that she is feeling the very same feeling that I am. That heat that is creeping up from under and threatening to consume me.

"Raven, your drink, you messed your drink on your legs."

"Oh...I am sorry...I thought you were..."

"Having naughty thoughts of you in my head?"

"Yes, something like that."

"Oh, princess, when it comes to you, my thoughts are near damn close to dirty."

I take my hand and softly caress her cheek, she closes her eyes and leans into my touch. With a shaky breath, I prolong her name with every syllable that I speak, "Raven."

"Hunter?"

"My god, princess, I crave you so much."

I place my hand at the small of her back and pull her closer. She is doing that thing with her lip again; she is causing my body to tremble as I run my lips softly against her cheek, then down the smooth skin of her neck.

"Hunter, please..."

I see as her body slightly shivers. I know it is not the cold of the night but the intensity of my touch. My lips roll down her shoulder to her collarbone. I stop and take a deep breath.

"Please, will you let me now?"

I do not wait for her to answer; I knot my hands in her hair and slowly draw her head closer to mine inch by inch, wink by wink. I cannot contain myself anymore; I want to claim those lips. I can feel a hunger grow inside me as I beg for her to let me in.

But next, I have Mason standing next to me in utter frustration, "Hunter, we have to go."