Her cry was muffled by his lips when he captured her nipples between his forefinger and thumb and pinched them.
He had been treating her like she was something precious and breakable—but his eyes told her she wasn’t.
Not tonight.
Not anymore.
Tonight, she was going to be unravelled. Touched. Claimed.
And she was going to do the same to him.
Because neither of them could wait any longer.
This wasn’t just fire…
It was an inferno hot enough to seal two souls into one.
Alexandros silently cursed—in a good way. Dani was beneath him, flushed and breathless, her braid spilling across the pillows like silk. He wanted to see it unbound like her, spread out so he could bury his fingers through the silky strands.
Her eyes—wide, luminous, unguarded—searched his face, and for a moment, everything inside him stilled.
Not from hesitation.
God help him, she was beautiful. Not just her body, which was soft, fierce, and curving under his hands like it had been made for him—but the soul in her gaze. The fire. The courage. The vulnerability she never let anyone else see.
She was his. Even if she didn’t know it yet.
He knew. He had known from the first moment he met her. Memories of her since their first meeting flashed through his mind. Her smile, her laughter, the twinkle of her teasing eyes. A shudder ran through him when the memory of her lying unconscious, covered in blood rose.
Never again. Never again,he thought, remembering how close he had come to losing her—losing this.
He brushed a trembling hand down her cheek. “Dani…”
Her fingers slid up, wrapping around his wrist. “Don’t stop,” she whispered, pressing a kiss to the inside of his wrist. “Please. I want this. I want you.”
He exhaled slowly, anchoring himself in the heat of her palm. “You’re so beautiful. We need to slow this down. You tell me if you want to stop. At any point.”
She blinked in confusion before her cheeks flushed with color. He remembered he was her first. Her chest rose and fell as she drew in sharp little breaths.
“Maybe you should be the one telling me that because I think slow is highly overrated at the moment. Youhaveno idea how much I want you—have needed you.”
He leaned in until his lips brushed her ear and released a moan when her hands slipped down to the fastening of his trousers. She wasn’t going to make this easy for him.
When has she?he mused before all reasonable, rational thought flew from his mind.
His lips covered hers with a sense of desperation when she tuggeddown his zipper and slid her hand under his boxers to wrap her hand around him.
His hips jerked forward when she began her sensual caress, sliding up and down his shaft, exploring him with a reverence that scorched him.
Nothing had ever undone him like this—like Dani. It was as if all of his nerve endings were alive. Every breath that brushed his skin, every caress sent small electrical microbursts through him. From her wild cries, Dani was experiencing the same reaction.
She gave him a brave, wobbly smile. “Love me.”
Her two words hit him like a strike to the chest—raw, undeniable.
He captured her lips—not with hunger, not with desperation, but with devotion. His lips moved slowly, savoring hers, coaxing her open, letting her feel every ounce of the emotion he hadn’t dared speak aloud.
She arched into him, her hands sliding up his back. Her fingertips explored the muscles there as if she was memorizing every inch. Her sigh was soft, a melody of surrender and wonder, and it made his pulse roar.
