Viridian

Chapter 14

"Slow down, Cato!" I yell at him as he pulls me through the hallways.

"Can't keep up?" he laughs, tightening his grip on my hand as we rush through the palace, nearing a set of stairs.

"I'm gonna fall," I manage to say as he starts descending. He turns around, taking me by surprise, and picks me up, throwing me over his shoulder. "Cato!" I wail, grabbing the back of his shirt for some sort of stability as he practically jumps down the stairs. He just laughs in response as we continue down the stairs towards the kitchen. I hear Cato swing the door open and dismiss the workers before walking me over to the counter and setting me down on top.

"You know I'm not a child, right?" I remark as he places both hands on the side of my legs.

"You're the one who couldn't keep up," he smirks.

"Not all of us are 6' 1," I roll my eyes, leaning back on my hands.

"6'3," he chuckles deeply.

"Are you kidding me?" This man's a foot taller than me. I can't. "Anyways," I respond, rolling my eyes again as I bring my legs up and swing them around over his arm before hopping off the counter. I make my way towards the fridge and begin getting out the ingredients. When I feel Cato behind me, I don't give him an opportunity to cage me in again.

"Here," I spin around, handing him the eggs and butter. "Go put this down on the counter and get the dry ingredients out."

"Come again," he looks at me confused.

"Sugar, flour, baking soda, chocolate chips," I list off for him, before returning to the fridge. When the ingredients are on the counter, and I replace the powdered sugar that Cato got out with the granulated, I begin looking for the mixing bowl and preheat the oven.

"You've never made cookies before?" I ask as I begin sifting the dry ingredients.

"I've never really cooked anything," he laughs, the closest thing to shy I've ever seen from him. "I was banned from that after I tried to cover Najiba with a smoothie and stick her in the freezer to make a human popsicle," he remembers.

"Cato!"

"Relax, she never made it into the freezer!" he responds, as if it makes his story less life threatening. "Besides, I was like 8."

"I was gonna ask you to crack the eggs, but now I feel like I should get you out of the kitchen as soon as humanly possible," I laugh, going back to sifting my flour. Cato picks up the egg carton and begins holding it over my bowl. "No!" I stop him, reaching for the egg. Go grab a tupperware and crack them in there. That way you can get the shells out if you mess up," I direct him, earning a scoff from my insinuation that he would mess up. Sure enough, the first egg ends up going straight into the trash with the entire shell in it.

"Now just the chocolate chips," I say, finishing up my recipe. I laugh as Cato pours almost the entire bag in.

"Maybe we should check to make sure it's not poisoned," he asks, reaching over me, sticking his finger into the dough.

"You're so full of it," I laugh, swatting his hand away as I move to get the cookie sheets Cato greased.

"I refuse to believe you've never eaten raw cookie dough, Ms. Baker!" he says as I turn back towards him.

"I never said that," I laugh. "I just don't make excuses for it. I am proud of my cookie dough addiction."

"Of course you are," he laughs, grabbing one of the sheets from me and placing it down, putting the cookie dough on it as I had instructed him to do earlier.

"What now?" he asks as I put the sheets in the oven.

"Now we wait," I walk back towards the counter. "And clean up," I point to the flour on the counter that he spilled.

"The bag was heavy," he shrugs, looking at me with big innocent eyes.

"Whatever," I laugh, beginning to sweep up the flour into my hand. Suddenly, I feel his presence at my shoulder, catching me off guard as he picks up some of the flour and sprinkles it on top of my head.

"Cato!" I shout, swiveling around to meet his evil smile. I raise my hand with the flour, preparing to strike back, Cato's hand grabbing my wrist in mid air, stopping me.

"Gotta be quicker than that, Princess," he chuckles, picking me up and plopping me onto the counter, right into the pile of flour, causing a big cloud of white to cover us both.

"Didn't quite think that one through, did you, Cato?"

"Maybe not," he smiles, placing his left hand on the counter into some of the flour before momentarily touching my thigh, leaving a big white handprint there. "Or maybe I did."

"You're so immature," I roll my eyes, trying to hide my smile. Cato's hand flies to my neck, his eyes glowing with magic.

"You need to stop rolling your eyes at me, Princess," he grumbles, all past playfulness replaced with sheer dominance.

"Or what," the words blurt out before I can stop them. I'm flipped around and bent over the counter so suddenly my wind is momentarily knocked out of me.

"Have you forgotten already? Do you remember the last time I was behind you?" he asks, as I feel my mind melting. Stay strong, Adhira. I gasp as I feel a sting on my behind. "I asked you a question, Adhira."

"No," I manage to get out as he pulls my hair, my back arching.

"I have told you not to tease me," he whispers in my ear as his left hand squeezes my rear, his right remaining in my hair.

"Yes," I say breathlessly, his hand circling around my waistband to the front of my jeans.

"I promised you that I would make it up to you if you did," he growls, earning a gasp from me as he bites my ear. "And I intend to," he finishes, his hand reaching in between my legs over the jeans. "What is it that I said?" he asks me but my tongue feels too heavy to respond. My breath leaves me as he pulls my hair again. "Are you hard of hearing today?" he snarls, tracing his lips down my ear to my neck. "What did I say, Adhira?"

"Y—you s—said," I stutter as his left hand begins making light circles over the seams of my jeans. "Th—that you would t—tea—tease me." I feel him smile against my neck.

"And I will. I will make you forget your name and scream so loud everyone in the palace hears. I will edge you until you are dripping, until it is painful, until you have tears streaming down your face with the need to come, and when you beg and squirm and yell, I will not give it to you. I will leave you aching for me just as you leave me aching for you every time you are near me. You will finally know what it's like." I shiver at his words, feeling a rush of wetness in my core. "Do you remember what else I said?" he asks, grabbing me through my jeans, rendering me speechless. "I said that you will come to me directly," he pushes against my core, pulling himself closer so that I can feel all of him at my rear. "So tell me, Princess," he whispers against my ear. "Do you want this?"

Yes, yes, yes "I—" "BEEP BEEP BEEP!" the oven goes off. Cato chuckles, releasing me, making his way towards the oven. I am left bent over the counter, momentarily unable to move, aching, just as he said.

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Hello my faithful readers! Sorry this chapter took a while, I had a sports event over the weekend so I was kinda recovering from that. I'm already writing the next chapter so I will try to make up the lateness to you by publishing again super soon. (Also if you are the person who reported my tiktok video about Chapter 11, the spicy one, screw you, just keep swiping if it you're not interested.) Otherwise, love you all!

 - Nicole Winters