by Marian Tee
“I don’t know what you’re talking---”
“No matter what you do,” the beast interrupted in a lazy drawl, “you will always find my charm irresistible.”
“T-that’s not true.” But Arabella’s rosy lips were moving faster from left to right now.
“I rest my case.”
“Oh, shut up.” But this time, Arabella could no longer fight off the smile tugging at her lips. Dammit, dammit – why did she find this man so charming?
“That’s better,” the beast said as her lovely face broke into a smile. “Come closer to the fire, Arabella.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Come closer, s’il vous plaît.”
And of course because he had used that magical accent of his, she found herself obeying his command. Even so, she muttered warningly, “Don’t think your accent will always get you what you want.”
To which she heard Aurélien answer oh so mildly, “Je comprends.”
Her teeth gnashed. It was beyond obvious he was just humoring her, the ass.
As she folded her legs under her on the settee, the billionaire invited her to tell him about her day and of course she automatically said no, just to be contrary. “How do I know if you’re not watching me all the time like a perv?”
The beast only chuckled. “It would be my pleasure to be a perv with you, ma belle, but unfortunately I, too, must work.” The beast studied her intently, noticing that her gaze was still faintly troubled. “Something still bothers you. Why will you not tell me?”
“Because I don’t know how to say it.”
“Just say the words,” the beast said gently, “and I will take care of the rest.” But still, Arabella remained quiet. After a moment, the beast hazarded a guess, asking, “Is it your father?”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, no. It’s not about him at all. Papa and I are okay, and I’m---” She hesitated then admitted in a small voice, “When I asked you to let me speak to him last week, I didn’t really think you’d agree.”
“As long as it is within my power, ma belle, I will give it to you.”
“And I’m thankful, really thankful.” Her voice became just a little awkward. Arabella was only used to being affectionate with Maurice, but there was just something about Aurélien Sauvage that made her feel different. The more time she spent with him, the more she wanted to act sweet with him – and wasn’t that gross?
The beast was curious when Arabella suddenly started making faces. “Arabella?”
Oops. Realizing that she had lost herself in her thoughts, she said hastily, “Sorry, I was just…thinking about, umm, Maurice.”
“I see.” The beast didn’t believe a word of it, but he decided to humor her for now, knowing from experience that no amount of persuasion would get his Arabella to admit any vulnerability until she was ready – or she had no choice but to do so.
And usually, it was the latter.
She was delightfully and frustratingly stubborn that way.
“How is your father, by the way?”
“He’s great.” Relieved to have something neutral to talk about, Arabella went on eagerly, “I think he’s not as worried about us – I mean, about me.” She mentally kicked herself on the head. Us, Arabella? Really? There was no “us” between a captor and a captive!
“Anyway.” She cleared her throat. “He still hasn’t suspected anything, in case you’re wondering.”
“I wasn’t,” the beast said truthfully. “You promised not to speak to him about me, and I trust you to keep your word.”
“And I have.” She wrinkled her nose. “Papa is still mourning the fact that I’m a mistress to a mob boss.”
“How, err, imaginative.”
“I had to make up an excuse about the whole hush-hush thing of my whereabouts, so it was either that or I’m having an affair with a married guy.” She then rushed to qualify, “I did let him know you were the nice kind of mob boss.”
“There is such a thing?”
Ignoring the amusement lining his voice, Arabella said with a sniff, “My lie, my rules.”
“I see.”
“Stop laughing at me.”
“I am not.”
“You are,” she said hotly, “in your mind.”
“Oh, so you are not only mistress to, err, a nice mob boss, but now you are clairvoyant as well?”
“Shut up.”
And so he did, but only because instead of talking, Aurélien was now laughing his French ass off.
Her teeth gnashed. God, he was so---
“Arabella?”
She only grunted in response, wanting him to know she was still annoyed with him.
Unfortunately, this only made the billionaire chuckle. “How delightfully childish.”
Arabella saw red. “You---”
“Hopefully, you will show me more of this side of yours next time, but for now.” The beast paused. “I think we have used up enough time on small talk, oui?” And before she could even think of a proper retort, the beast asked gently, “May we now speak of what has been troubling you all this time?”
Oh.
Lowering her gaze, she muttered, “That obvious, huh?”
“Only because I know you well,” the beast answered.
Arabella dug her nails into her palms. And there it was, she thought. The words pleased her. It had to. But it also highlighted what was so very wrong between them, exposed the unaddressed imbalance in whatever it was they had now---
And until they didn’t fix that, then---
“Aurélien.”
The beast’s head jerked up at the stiff way in which she spoke of its former name, and it asked grimly, “What is it?”
Arabella took a deep breath. “I want to see you.”
Try Me
The beast was in a mind to leave. It bristled, it paced, it wanted to growl in frustration, but it could not, knowing that the real sounds it could make would frighten her. Turning to face the mirror once more, it watched Arabella take a seat by the windows. The hem of her silk dress trailed after her as she brought her legs up, revealing a flash of smooth alabaster skin as she did. Moonbeams lent a pearlescent hue to her dress, and with her dark hair flowing in beautiful disarray behind her back, she only lacked a flower wreath on her head and she would have been a wood nymph come to life.
The beast’s lips twisted. If she was a wood nymph, then did that make the beast a satyr? It had never been called that before, but the beast supposed the description was apt. In truth, it was long past caring what people called it.
But what the beast did care about was what its Arabella would think –
I want to see you.
A shudder wracked the beast’s powerful form. Was she truly ready to see its real form?
I want to see you.
Arabella’s words in its mind were as agonizing as lashes. The beast knew how much it had cost her to say them. She was immensely proud and fiercely independent, the kind who would sometimes cut her nose to spite her face even. She would not have asked this of the beast if she could help it –
And yet she had.
“Aurélien? Are you still there?”
There was the faintest tremor in her voice, and the beast cursed silently, despising itself for making her feel so insecure.
“Yes,” the beast rasped. “I am still here.”
The beast heard her sigh of relief, inaudible to ordinary humans but not to the beast, and its self-loathing increased. The beast had her whisked to its island to cherish her, not hurt her!
“Arabella…”
She turned towards the sound of his voice, her heart beating madly. “What is it?” When Aurélien didn’t answer right away, she quickly got to her feet, her heart racing even faster. She had a feeling that if she didn’t do something now, nothing between them would ever change.
And she didn’t want that.
She needed things between them to change, even if she couldn’t quite admit to herself why just yet.
&nbs
p; “Aurélien?”
The beast’s chest heaved at the sound of its former name on her lips. It was too damn sweet, and perhaps – that was the problem.
Arabella started walking.
The beast stilled.
Closer and closer---
What the hell---
Arabella stopped right in front of the mirror.
The beast almost reared back.
She knew.
And almost as if she heard him, Arabella whispered, “Yes, I know.” A smile wobbled on her lips. “I’m not an idiot. And I have watched movies with old castles in it.” As she spoke, she slowly moved towards the mirror---
Towards it.
The beast.
Something inside the beast started to painfully crack, and by the time Arabella came to a stop, mere inches away, it was only then the beast realized the pain was coming from its heart –
The beast watched Arabella placed one trembling hand on the mirror’s cold pane.
Its heart ached, more so than before---
From the other side, the beast slowly placed its clawed hand on the mirror, its large palm swallowing her small one.
Because for better or worse, the beast’s heart had now found its other half, and from here on its heart would beat for Arabella.
“You’re there, aren’t you?” she whispered.
“Yes.” And the beast’s heart ached even more as it saw her long lashes sweep down like dark fans against her skin, just before a solitary tear tracked down one pale cheek.
Her eyes opened, and she sent him a teary smile. “All t-this time.” Her voice shook. “You’ve been so close all this time.” She couldn’t help but move her fingers across the mirror, couldn’t help wondering if she was able to trace his face this way. “Do you see me clearly through this?”
“Yes.”
The answer had her drawing back a little, Arabella suddenly feeling self-conscious.
When the palest of blushes washed over her cheeks, the beast shook its head. “Do not be shy.”
Instantly defensive, Arabella lied, “I’m not.” But then there was the softest chuckle, and she blushed harder.
“You will always be beautiful to me.”
“H-ha!” And because she knew he was really good at having the last word, she pre-empted him, saying irritably, “And stop using your charm on me. It’s not going to work this time.”
“Will it not?”
Aurélien’s voice was husky and with the faintest note of teasing, and her breath caught. It was Arabella’s first time to hear the billionaire speak so, and oh, how her heart skipped a beat at the sound. And then it kept skipping and skipping, until her throat began to tighten, and that was when she realized---
The beast noticed something flicker in Arabella’s caramel brown eyes. “What is it?”
She said simply, “I need to see you.”
Silence.
“I know you have your reasons…” She found her hiding her hands behind her back as she spoke, not wanting the billionaire to see how it had started shaking. “But I just need to see you.”
But still there was nothing from Aurélien, and her hands started to perspire.
“Please, Aurélien.”
The beast expelled its breath in a harsh hiss. “You don’t know what you are asking for, ma belle.”
“But please---”
“It is simply not the right time. Not just yet---”
“Why?” When he didn’t answer right away, she asked uncertainly, “Is it because of the attack? Did it leave you scarred---”
The beast cut her off with a humorless laugh. “The only scars that day left me with are those that cannot be seen.”
“Then why---”
“Enough, Arabella.”
The weariness in his voice made her feel guilty, but she couldn’t make herself back away. She knew in her heart that whatever happened, she had to see this to the end, for better or for worse.
“Please, Aurélien. Trust me. Let me see you. Whatever – however – you look like, it wouldn’t matter to me. I’m not that shallow---”
A hoarse laugh. “Are you not, truly?”
“Try me,” she said fiercely. Silence once again greeted her, and Arabella spun away from the mirror in a fit of frustration. “It can’t be like this the entire time, Aurélien. This is not normal---”
“Normal is overrated,” the beast said grimly.
She whirled to face the mirror again, crying out, “Normal is necessary here, now, between the two of us. Stop hiding behind the mirror and show yourself.” Frustration at his refusal to budge seethed inside of Arabella, straining her temper, and she heard herself demand hotly, “Don’t you see how unfair this is?” Deep inside, she knew she was being childish, lashing out because she was unable to get what she wanted, but she didn’t care. “All this time, you’re the only one who sees me, watching me from behind that damn mirror---”
The beast shook its head. “Calm down.”
“How do I even know you’re not watching me while I undress myself---”
The beast knew it should be busy soothing her concerns away, but suddenly all it could see was the way Arabella’s bountiful breasts were heaving as she flew into a rage.
“And what about when I’m taking a bath?” Arabella planted her hands on her hips as she turned to face the mirror again. “Have you nothing to say for yourself?”
The beast heard her fine, but her heaving bosom unfortunately still had its gaze arrested.
“Aurélien!”
The little plaintive cry only made the beast breathe hard. All it could think right now was whether she would make the exact same sound if the beast touched her---
Its searing gaze slowly lifted to her face.
Would she?
Arabella suddenly felt her throat tighten and her breast catch. Tension came out from nowhere, infiltrating the room, and restlessness burst inside of her. Bewildered, she raised her gaze back to the mirror---
Oh.
She suddenly knew he was watching her---
But it was just not that this time.
No, this time Aurélien Sauvage was devouring her with his gaze, and his hunger was so that she could actually feel its heat caressing her skin. Her lips parted in a silent gasp, and she started to tremble.
“Aurélien.”
It was the softest whimper, but the beast’s cock swelled and hardened at the sound. Desire laced its blood, demanding to be satiated for all the weeks it had burned unanswered inside the beast’s body.
The beast looked at Arabella once more, saw the way her lips were still parted, almost like she was waiting for a taste of its cock---
And when it saw Arabella’s pink tongue dart out to wet her lips---
“You would want that, don’t you?” the beast rasped.
Arabella shook her head. “Want w-what?”
“I have never watched you undress yourself. I have never watched you in the bath. But you would want that, don’t you?”
Oh!
Voyeuristic images invaded her mind, tempting her, seducing her, and suddenly all she could imagine was how it would feel to have him watching her undress, to have him spy on her as she stepped into the bath---
Her breasts swelled behind the cups of her bra, and she stumbled back, the sensation leaving her shaken and appalled.
She could still feel his gaze on her, making her breasts swell even more, and when her nipples started to pucker, she cried out, “No!” But she knew, deep inside, her denial was nothing but a lie. “I wouldn’t ever want---”
“And yet your body says yes.”
Even knowing it was too late, Arabella hastily covered her chest to hide the damning evidence of her need.
A hoarse chuckle.
“S-Shut up!”
“Do not be embarrassed,” was the silky response. “My desire is far greater than yours because I know exactly what I’m missing.”
Her body trembled harder at his words, and as her breasts swelled
more painfully, she could only shake her head in futile denial of what was happening. “I said shut---”
“Do you wish for us to try it now?”
Her eyes widened.
“Would you like to undress yourself before me?”
“N-Never.”
“Are you certain?”
Yes. No. And then all of a sudden it came to her, and Arabella heard herself say, “If I undress myself, w-would you show yourself to me in return?”
Silence.
And as more moments passed and she realized that he wasn’t going to take her up on her offer, his silence was like a humiliating slap on the face, and without a word, she spun and walked away.
Oh God, had she really thought seeing her nude would mean so much to him?
How could she be so conceited?
When the beast saw Arabella’s shoulders start to shake, it cursed under its breath, realizing that Arabella had misunderstood its silence. “Arabella---”
“Leave me,” she choked out.
The beast whitened at the sound of hurt mortification in her words. C’était un imbécile. He was a fool. A goddamn fool, to keep hurting her when all he had meant to do was cherish her.
As Arabella curled herself into a ball under the covers, she felt the whispery sound of footsteps, treading closer towards her---
She squeezed her eyes shut. She knew he was making himself heard, but she no longer cared. It was too late.
“Arabella.”
She shook her head even as tears silently flowed down her cheeks.
“Je suis désolé.” I’m sorry. “But you misunderstand.” The beast swallowed hard. “To have you offer such a thing was – is – beyond my wildest imaginations, something I never even dared myself hope.”
She wished she could say she didn’t believe a word he was saying, but she couldn’t. Even with all the hurt inside of her, she couldn’t just ignore the bleakness that underlined his voice, and she hurt even more. Because of it. And for him.
“Then why?” Arabella whispered without looking at him.
“Because I am a coward.” The harsh words were ripped out of him. “I cannot let you see me yet, Arabella. Please understand. I just cannot.”