Until the World Falls Down

Chapter 13

13

L eaning in, Enver placed a gentle kiss on my forehead. “We do not have the time for that.”

The horrible, humiliating feeling of rejection washed over me. My entire body turned hot again, now in the wrong way, as memories of times with Julian slammed into me. I never asked him to do anything for me because he always refused. I’d quickly learned not to. I should have known better with Enver. I should have kept my mouth shut and?—

“Even forever would never be enough for me to enjoy you to my content. But we have time for me to worship you where you want me the most,” he continued, his voice almost a purr as he slid the skirt of my dress up my thighs until it gathered around my waist. Lazily, he trailed a finger over my hip bone, dipping lower until he brushed against the fabric of my underwear. “This is where you really want my tongue, is it not?”

He didn’t even have to ask. We both could feel how wet I was by the way cool moisture clung to the lace as he pressed his finger further into me. I reached out and grasped his arm, unsteady on my feet from his touch.

“I…” I trailed off, the whiplash of my emotions getting the be tter of me, discomposed by my self-imposed memory of Julian. The arousal I’d felt faltered slightly, now combined with an echo of abashment. Even though Enver agreed to my request, I couldn’t push away the persisting humiliation of previous rejections from Julian that had popped into my mind. To be denied intimacy again and again—and not just sexual intimacy. Everything.

Enver abruptly withdrew his hands, letting my dress cover my thighs again. “What is it?”

“Nothing, sorry,” I said, refusing to look him in the eye. “We can continue.”

“Tell me what you are thinking,” he said, cupping my face and tilting it up, forcing me to meet his gaze. “If you have changed your mind, then I will stop. I want you to enjoy my touch, not endure it.”

“No, that’s not it.”

“Then tell me.”

“Julian wouldn’t really ever do anything for me,” I admitted after another moment. “So, when you said we didn’t have time, it felt like a rejection and reminded me of him. That’s all.”

Enver released my face, a flicker of irritation crossing his face. “I see.”

I quickly grabbed his hand in mine, my heart sinking. “I’m sorry. It’s not fair of me to compare you to Julian. I shouldn’t have?—”

“I take no offense at being compared to someone so inconsiderate and inadequate when the comparison is irrefutably in my favor,” Enver told me, shaking his head. “I take offense that he would deny you at all. You should know how you deserve to be treated and understand how he never deserved you. You should be cherished, adored, and pleasured. Never denied.”

I shivered at the steadfast glint in his obsidian eyes as he gazed down at me. “Enver.”

He took my hand that held his and brought it to his lips, gazing down at me over it. “I will never deny you any pleasure nor deny myself the joy of giving it to you. Remember that.”

I would. I would remember nothing but Enver for the rest of my life. I knew now that even if I escaped his labyrinth, he would always be at the back of my mind, invading any intimate moment I’d ever share with another. He would be the standard that I compared all my future lovers to. The thought should have unnerved me, but I couldn’t bring myself to be anything but overcome with want and affection for the man who so easily undid me.

“I intend to show you just how deserving you are,” he murmured. “Until you will not forget it. Do you want that?”

“Yes,” I whispered back. “Please.”

“Turn around,” he ordered.

I did as he said, and his hands touched my neck, moving my hair to the side so he could untie the ribbons of my corset bodice. The dress fell off me to the polished floor, and Enver helped me step out of it, pressing in close to me. He kissed the back of my neck and the curve of my shoulders as he unhooked my bra, letting it drop to the floor as well. I closed my eyes as his fingers slipped into my underwear, pushing it down my thighs as he kissed along my spine.

Being naked in the middle of the grand ballroom with Enver fully dressed beside me had me breathless with arousal. He continued to plant a trail of kisses down, lowering himself into a kneeling position behind me, and I nearly jumped as his lips brushed against the curve of my ass cheek. I tried to move away, but his hands gripped my thighs, keeping me in place.

“Do not move,” he commanded, kissing me again.

My hands clenched, wishing I had something to hold on to as he descended further, licking a hot stripe across the back of my thigh before nibbling at the soft skin there. He continued to litter my thighs with kisses, and then his hands left my thighs to squeeze my ass, and he made an appreciative noise .

“Lovely,” he said before rising to his feet again.

My face flamed, and he moved to stand in front of me, his eyes sweeping across my nude form.

“Spread your legs for me.”

I adjusted my stance obediently, and his pupils dilated with desire.

“Good,” he praised, his hand tangling in my hair, pushing my head forward into a kiss. “So obedient for me.”

When he released me, he pushed me back harder than I was expecting. I gasped, losing my balance, but instead of falling to the floor, I fell onto something cool and firm. I immediately recognized the peculiar sensation of his shadows. Umbral armrests were on either side of me, and a backrest pressed against my shoulders, rising above me. Tendrils crept over my wrists, winding around them, keeping me bound to the dark throne the shadows had formed beneath me.

Enver loomed over me. “Keep your legs spread.”

My thighs parted as I shifted into a more comfortable position on the throne.

“Wider.”

I spread them until they bumped against the base of the arm supports, preventing me from stretching any further. More tendrils materialized, wrapping around my thighs and the legs of the throne, snaking all the way down to my ankles, binding me completely.

“You are so beautiful like this,” Enver said, drinking in the sight of me for a moment before reaching down and pinching my nipple. “Tied up and docile, ready to receive whatever I decide to give you.”

I moaned, and his hand slid around to cup my breast, massaging it with his long, slender fingers. “Please. Fuck .”

“You say that word often when I touch you,” Enver remarked. “What does it mean?”

I tried to focus on his question as he toyed with me. He was asking this now ? “Fuck? It depends,” I said through a groan. “You can use it as an exclamation or noun… or verb.”

“A verb?”

“Yes. When I use it with you, it’s because I want you inside me. When I want you to fuck me.”

His lips twitched into a smirk. “Is that so?”

I arched my back, wanting more. “Please, Enver.”

“Still so eager for me,” he all but cooed. “Tell me what you want.”

I closed my eyes, my head falling back. “You.”

“Be specific, my little lover.”

“ Anything .”

He tweaked my nipple again as he leaned over me, his voice a low rumble against my ear. “Anything? You should know better than to say that to me by now. What if I wanted to keep you tied up here forever? Spread open and helpless, entirely at my mercy?”

My hands twitched in their restraints. His response should have intimidated me, but it did the opposite, sending arousal flooding through me. “Enver, please,” I tried again.

“Or… what if I were to have my shadows fuck you while I watched?” he murmured, his breath hot against my neck. “Would you like that?”

My breathing stuttered. His shadows? I shuddered, my mind inundated with images of his shadows writhing against me, using me in a way that both intimidated and excited me.

“Oh, I think you would,” he said, his hand trailing over the swell of my breast, over my stomach, down to the dripping apex of my thighs. “Do you want to find out now? How it would feel to have my shadows fill you until you cannot think of anything else? I would love nothing more than to watch you come undone by my creation and command.”

I lifted my hips, trying to press myself harder against him. “No, I want you,” I said .

“You said anything,” he responded, and a shadow brushed against my inner thigh, nudging in closer. “Remember?”

My eyes shot open again, my mouth opening to protest, but as soon as our gazes locked, the pad of his thumb swiped across my clit, and the notion left my mind. I barely managed to hold back a whimper, melting back into the throne as he repeated the action, rubbing slow circles into my sensitive skin.

“Are you ready to tell me what you want now?” he asked, his thumb moving lower, his shadow inching closer to my entrance, causing my hands to clench in response.

“I want you to taste me,” I whispered, my cheeks flushing, but the shadow dropped away from my thigh.

“Taste you how?”

I stared at him, and he gave me an expectant look in return. My tongue felt heavy and useless in my mouth as I struggled to form the response he wanted to hear, unconfident in voicing my desires. “I…”

“Is it too hard for you to say? Would you like me to help you?” he offered, lifting his hand to tuck my hair behind my ear.

I nodded, falling into his touch.

“Repeat after me, then,” he said, pulling his hand back. “‘I want you on your knees before me, Enver.’”

I took a steadying breath. “I want you on your knees before me, Enver.”

“Good.” He obeyed my echoed command and knelt in front of me, his breath fanning across my navel as he gazed up at me. “Now say, ‘I want you to fuck me with your tongue until I come.’”

My heart skipped a beat. He’d picked up on how to use the word fuck quickly. “Enver?—”

“Say it.”

The demanding, husky edge to his voice had me complying immediately. “I… I want you to fuck me with your tongue until I come.”

“Very good,” he responded lightly. “You are so desperate for pleasure. Is there anything else you would like me to do? Do not be shy now. Remember, I will not deny you.”

I knew he wanted me to come up with something on my own this time. His breath teased me as he waited for my answer, and I squirmed on the throne. “I want more than just your tongue on me. I want your fingers on me. In me,” I said, hot embarrassment creeping up my neck even though what was about to happen would be far, far more unreserved.

Enver smirked. “It would be my pleasure. Or, should I say, your pleasure.”

I let out a moan in response as his fingers dug into my hips, tugging me forward on the throne until his mouth hovered over my wet, throbbing center. His tongue darted out, tasting the moisture there, and he hummed in satisfaction before flattening his tongue against me, licking up and down in broad strokes.

I gasped at the contact, arching my back, straining against the shadows holding me down. His tongue delved deeper, greedily pushing into my folds, then moving down to circle my entrance, dipping in teasingly before retreating. I bucked my hips up, and he pulled back briefly, only to move in again and lick a path up to my clit, which he then sucked into his mouth, focusing all his attention there. His tongue flitted over it again and again, sending jolts of pleasure through me that had my toes curling.

My thighs shook, and he released my clit, opting to take a moment to kiss my inner thighs, his lips ghosting over the sensitive skin there, leaving behind a damp trail of my arousal. “You taste even better than I remembered,” he told me, his thumb moving to tease my clit again, making me moan. “And sound even sweeter. I cannot get enough of your lovely little noises. Do you know how hard they make me?”

God, I didn’t think someone’s voice could turn me on so much. Yet Enver’s words alone had me aching, his thumb’s slow caress almost paling in comparison to the need his words evoked in me. “Enver, please.”

“Are you enjoying yourself, pet? Am I pleasing you?”

“Yes,” I breathed.

“Then I want to hear your appreciation and encouragement,” he said. “Let me know how much you love what I can do to you with my tongue and fingers, or I will stop. No more sounds out of you unless it is you praising me. Understand?”

A rush of excitement followed his demand, and I looked down at him, letting out a shaky breath, trying to gather my courage. He stopped his teasing circles as he waited for my response, his cheek pressed against my thigh. “You make me feel so good, Enver. Like no one ever has before,” I told him, grasping at the shadows of the throne to steady myself, my voice sounding strange to me, speaking words I’d never usually say. “I-I could come by the sound of your voice alone.”

He rewarded my obedience by returning his mouth to its previous position, his lips replacing his thumb, his tongue flicking against me in quick succession.

“That feels good,” I moaned, struggling to speak when the only thing I could focus on was the way his mouth moved against me so perfectly.

He pulled back, glancing up at me from between my thighs. “You can do better than that. Praise me, my little lover.”

My mind scrambled to find the right words as he went back to sucking, then trailed his tongue lower to plunge inside me, fucking me with it as I’d demanded before. My hips rocked against every thrust, trying to feel him deeper. I let myself get lost in the sensation, letting go of my inhibitions. “I love your tongue,” I whimpered. “I love the way it feels inside of me. You feel so good. I don’t want you to stop, please…”

He brought his thumb back to my clit, and I jerked against my bindings, the dual sensations causing my head to spin. I wouldn’t last long. Not like this. My hands clenched and unclenched as I tried to fight off the pleasure building in me. I didn’t want it to end yet. But, as if sensing I was close, Enver redoubled his efforts, his tongue and thumb working together to bring me over the edge.

My head fell back, and I moaned loudly. “E-Enver, you’re going to make me come,” I gasped, my eyes fluttering shut.

Praise , I reminded myself. He wanted praise and encouragement.

“I love what you’re doing to me. Please don’t stop,” I continued, my breath coming in short bursts as heat and tension coiled in me, making the words slip out unabated. “Keep going, just like that. I love it. I— ah —I can’t…” My words died on my tongue, pleasure getting the best of me, a moan ending my attempt at praise.

Enver let out a low groan against me, his tongue retreating from inside of me. Before a whine of protest could even form in my throat, he sunk two fingers in instead, thrusting deep as his mouth found my clit again, his lips sealing over it, tongue encircling it as he sucked.

A choked gasp left my lips as his fingers curled inside me. My legs quaked with pleasure, and I tossed my head back and forth, biting back a moan. “I-I’m so close. Please, Enver. Please ?—”

My voice broke off as the pleasure building inside me crested, waves of pure ecstasy crashing over me as his fingers continued to push into me as I came, feeling myself pulse around him. My body arched up against the shadows that held me to the throne as his unrelenting tongue and fingers continued their ministrations, drawing out my orgasm until I whimpered with the overstimulation.

“Wait,” I gasped.

“Again,” he demanded.

I fell against the backrest of the throne, pleasure burning through me, my body quivering as he pushed a third finger inside of me. “Fuck!” I cried, unable to catch my breath, every nerve in my body on fire. Torn between wanting to come again and wanting him to stop, I twisted against my bonds. Sweat beaded on my forehead, and a low whine escaped me, my toes curling as his fingers pumped in and out of me. I wasn’t sure if I was going to come again or die.

Then his tongue swiped over the perfect spot, and the tension inside me snapped again. I choked on a cry as stars flashed across my vision.

I slumped against the backrest when his touch finally receded, my eyes falling shut. My pulse pounded in my ears, my body twitched from the strength of my orgasms. Fabric rustled as Enver stood, his hand appearing on my jaw, turning it upward to pull me into a searing kiss. I sighed into it, tasting myself on his lips, and he groaned in return, his teeth finding my lower lip, giving it a gentle nip before pulling away.

“And?” he prodded. “Did I pleasure you well? Judging by your cries, I believe I did, but I desire to hear more of your voice as you tell me exactly how much I pleased you.”

“Don’t be greedy,” I mumbled, worn out.

He chuckled, stroking my cheek. “Why not? I believe you would love it if I were. I am insatiable, remember?”

I suddenly wanted nothing more than to sleep. I shifted to sit up again, reluctantly opening my eyes. My gaze zeroed in on the bulge in Enver’s slacks as I did so. I swallowed, looking up at him, seeing his chin still glistening from my arousal, his dark hair a mess over his forehead .

He shook his head as if reading my thoughts. “This was only for you. I expect nothing in return.”

“But you’re…”

“I can take care of it myself,” he told me. “I have over a century of experience in that respect, after all.”

I blushed at his implication, but he didn’t seem bothered by it. “And where did you get the experience for everything else?”

My question seemed to throw him. His brows furrowed for a moment before he answered. “Natural talent,” he said, but his voice lacked the confidence it usually held.

“Oh, I wasn’t saying it was bad or anything?—”

“No, your enjoyment was apparent,” he said, cutting me off, still sounding distracted.

He fell into silence, and I studied the way his lips pulled down into a frown. “Um, can you have your shadows release me?” I asked, suddenly feeling exposed.

“Oh.” He cleared his throat, and a second later, I could move my arms and legs again. “My apologies.”

I pushed myself onto my shaking legs, reaching down for my dress. Weariness wore on me, as if the relaxed state I entered after orgasming reminded my body that I hadn’t slept in over twenty hours. My eyelids felt heavy, and I struggled to pull my dress over my hips, nearly falling to the side.

Enver grasped my hips, holding me steady. “Are you all right?”

“I’m just a little tired,” I told him, letting myself rest against his body as he moved closer to me.

“You need to sleep.”

“I can’t. I have to continue the labyrinth before I run out of time.”

“Your time is not running at this moment.”

I inhaled sharply. “You can do that?”

“Only when you are with me,” he explained.

“Then— ”

“I cannot use it to help you,” he reminded me gently. “Remember what I told you would happen if I helped you?”

I tensed. I’d fail if he helped me. “Isn’t letting me sleep helping me, technically?” I asked, worried now.

Enver shook his head. “No. It is acting on my desire to keep you close to me.”

“Aren’t you the one who set my time limit in the first place? Why can’t you just get rid of it?”

Enver scooped me up into his arms, my dress sliding off my hips as he did so, leaving me bare again. Startled, I clung to him, wrapping my arms around his neck. “I…” He hesitated, frowning down at me. “I have something to confess to you.”

My heart sank. “What is it?”

“Let me begin by saying I now wish I had not done it.”

“What is it?” I repeated, arms tightening around his neck as we exited the ballroom, reappearing in his bedroom.

I glanced around, no longer seeing the destruction caused by Enver’s previous emotional state. Everything had been reconstructed and mended, returning to its normal extravagance.

“I created the time limit for you even before you insulted me,” he said.

I lowered my gaze at the reminder of when I’d called him a monster. “That’s it? Why did you make it sound like you had something serious to say?”

“When I created your time limit, it was bound to our contract. That is why I cannot change it now.”

For some reason, hearing this didn’t upset me that much. “What’s done is done,” I said slowly as Enver carried me over to his bed, “but why did you create a time limit for me when you haven’t done that for anyone else?”

“I hope you believe me now when I say it is because I wanted you from the moment I first laid eyes on you. You are the first person I have truly desired. The first person I have wanted to claim. The first person I have wanted to keep as my own. I created the time limit to ensure you would fail and be forced to remain by my side as my lover.”

Instead of terror, a thrill rushed through me—one I tried and failed to nip in the bud. I shouldn’t have felt so intoxicated by the idea Enver wanted me so badly that he planned to manipulate me and keep me captive from the moment he saw me, but I did.

My heart beat faster, my hands tangling in Enver’s disheveled hair. “You really wanted me that badly?”

“Yes. I still do. Very much so. How much more do I have to convince you of that? Your mere presence drives me to the brink of insanity with the desire I feel toward you. Every moment you are away from me, I am left with an emptiness that I feel more profoundly than the one created by my absent heart.”

I stared up at Enver as he laid me on his bed, and my breath stuttered as his body followed mine, caging me in.

“And even when you are here with me, that ache does not go away,” he confessed, gazing down at me with a look that was full of both longing and heat. “While your touch can lessen the pain of wanting you, knowing you do not belong to me is a constant torment.”

“Enver,” I whispered, left breathless by his admission.

No one had said things like that to me before. He offered me the things I’d always wanted to hear so willingly. No hint of hesitation, no hint of deception. It made me wonder what it would be like if he could feel love. If he could care for me as intensely as he wanted me. If he would love me the way I always wanted to be loved.

“Only having you completely will ease this torture you cause me, my little lover,” he said, cradling my jaw in his hand. “Only when you are mine will I feel whole once again.”

“I don’t understand,” I said. “Why me? ”

It was never me.

Never.

Not until him.

“I do not have the answer you are looking for,” Enver responded, his hand sliding down and behind my neck, cupping it. “I am simply drawn to you. Something inside me tells me I need you. As stars need darkness to shine. As shadows need light to cast them. I need you to exist.”

The answer I was looking for? What did he mean by that? Before I could ask, his lips descended on mine, capturing them in a tender kiss. My eyes fluttered shut, and I tried to pull him down, wanting his weight on me as our mouths moved against each other’s leisurely.

But the muscles in Enver’s arms flexed as he resisted my efforts. He broke our kiss to press his lips against the shell of my ear. “You should sleep.”

“I want you to kiss me more,” I said.

He obliged, scattering kisses down my ear and onto my neck. The puncture wounds Dio had left stung dully as his lips passed over them, moving to the ones he’d left on me in return, and deep down, I finally felt a flicker of recognition of the danger in Enver’s confession. He would do anything to have me. I needed to remember that. I needed to make sure I didn’t get too swept away by his words and actions to forget it.

Even if staying here sounded more and more tempting with every minute I spent with him.

My exhaustion crept up on me, even as Enver’s lips sent heat coursing through my body again as he littered my collarbone with kisses. He didn’t stop moving, meticulously covering every inch of my skin with his kisses, leaving no part unclaimed.

“What are you doing?” I asked, fighting to keep my eyes open.

“I told you earlier forty-eight hours would not be enough time for me to worship you the way I wanted to,” he responded, his lips now brushing against the tops of my breasts.

“Why is that?”

“Because I would lay kisses upon every inch of your beautiful body,” he murmured, kissing the hollow of my throat. “Caress every curve and contour. Taste every expanse of sweet skin. I would take my time unraveling you.”

I swallowed, and his gaze found mine, full of fervor. “You said we don’t have time for that.”

“I meant only forever would provide me with enough time to worship you the way I crave to,” he responded. “I should have told you that your time stops with me and fulfilled my promise immediately rather than letting you believe, even if only for a moment, that I was denying you.”

A yawn escaped my lips. “Did you say that because you didn’t plan on telling me that my time stopped when I was with you?”

“Yes.”

“I saw the grains of sand falling through the hourglass, though.”

“An illusion, so it seemed like time was still moving,” he told me. “Although I did not deceive you about the amount of remaining time.”

I didn’t have the energy to be mad. “You went that far to hide it, but you still ended up telling me?”

“You need rest. I feared you would continue the labyrinth in your state and collapse somewhere I could not find you. Then, your time would undeniably be wasted.”

“Now you’re the one full of contradictions,” I murmured, his lips kissing a trail down between my breasts and across my sternum. “You want me to fail, yet you keep helping me so I can succeed.”

“I do not understand it myself. ”

As I didn’t understand why I couldn’t convince myself Enver was the enemy. Not my friend. Not my lover.

He placed his relentless kisses along my ribs, and I sighed sleepily. “Then, are you trying to make good on your promise now?”

I could feel his lips quirk up against my skin as he continued his path. “Consider it a preview."

“Enver, I’m tired.”

“Then sleep,” he responded, but didn’t stop his attentions. “Fall asleep to my kisses and dream of my touch.”

He pulled his blankets over us, disappearing under them. As his lips pressed against my lower stomach, we lapsed into silence, and his quiet breathing and gentle caresses slowly lulled me to sleep.