Her body was on fire.Her thoughts scattered. Her heart drummed out a rhythm she couldn’t control.
“Ye like that?”he purred, watching her with dark eyes. “Ye want more?”
She nodded,unable to speak.
His thumb teasedher just right, his fingers plunging deep, faster now. Every movement, every thrust, was calculated. Controlled.
This man knewher body already. He was claiming it with every curl of his fingers.
“Hector, I-I…”
“Say it.”
Her eyes opened,glassy with need.
“Say what ye want,Gabriella. Say it, or I’ll stop.”
She whimpered,tried to move her hips faster. He stilled.
“I told ye,lass. This is on yer terms. I’ll give ye everythin’. But ye have to ask for it.”
Tears prickedthe corners of her eyes. Not from pain, but from the painful need that sat like a knot low in her belly. She wassoclose.
Still,her pride locked her jaw.
He waited.Watching her. His fingers still deep inside her, but unmoving.
“Please,”she breathed. “Please dinnae stop?—”
“Nae enough,”he murmured, withdrawing his touch completely.
She gaspedas the emptiness hit her. Her whole body ached from the loss.
“Nay, Hector—”
He sat backon his heels, his chest rising, his manhood still hard, glistening in the firelight, his jaw clenched tight as he stared down at her.
“Ye thinkI dinnae want to bury meself in ye right now?” he said through gritted teeth. “Ye think this is easy, walkin’ away when every inch of me is cryin’ to take ye?”
She reached for him.He caught her wrist mid-air.
His voice dropped,softer now, almost broken. “If I take ye now, Gabriella… it willnae be because ye were desperate to have me inside ye. It’ll be because ye’re ready for me to own ye. Because ye gave me yerself, with yer voice, yer body, and yer beggin’. And until then…”
He kissed her wrist,then climbed off the bed.
She lay there trembling.Body flushed. Breasts rising and falling. Legs still parted, sex throbbing with the absence of his touch.
He picked up his plaid,slung it over one shoulder, and gave her one last look.
“I’ll go for a walk.Cool off before I do somethin’ we’ll both regret.”
The door closed behind him.
She didn’t movefor a long time. Just lay there in the silence, her skin still tingling, her heart a confused mess of longing, shame… and something deeper.
Love.
It hit her like a boulder.
