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"You saw what happened in the drugstore with Sabina. "
I had.
Silence fell between us. I could feel him staring at me, even as I stared at the shaft of moonlight spilling through the window and spreading across the rumpled quilt on my bed.
"Claire?"
I glanced up and found myself captured by what I saw in his eyes. He wanted me, but he wouldn't make the first move. He wouldn't make any move. That would have to come from me.
There was power in that, control, strength, everything that had been taken from me by Josh Logan. I wanted it back.
Tonight I would take it, by taking Malachi.
In truth, this man should have terrified me. He'd broken Josh's nose, picked him up easily and shaken him like a doll. Malachi's physical strength was superior not only to mine but also to that of anyone I'd ever known. However, he'd used his strength to defend me; he'd never used it against me, and I didn't believe he would.
I'm not sure why I trusted him, why I felt as if I knew him, as if I'd always known him, why the sight, the scent, the taste of him seemed familiar, but it did.
I crossed the floor. He continued to lean against the windowsill, his fingers gripping the wood. He'd said he wouldn't touch me unless I asked, unless I begged.
I stopped in front of him, my bare feet framed by his black boots. I held out my hand, and when he put his palm against mine, I urged him to stand.
Our bodies were a wisp apart. If I swayed just a little. . .
His breath caught as my dream-hardened nipples brushed his chest. My head tilted back. "Kiss me," I whispered.
Our lips met; he tasted like the mist - a cool, damp rain. I wanted to draw him inside and feast on the flavor. My teeth nipped, then laved the tiny hurt before I sucked on his tongue until he groaned.
I expected him to take me in his arms, but he didn't, touching me nowhere beyond the kiss. His control was nothing short of phenomenal. When the man made a vow, he kept it.
I lifted my mouth only centimeters from his and whispered, "Touch me everywhere. "
His lips curved, the movement a ghost against mine. "Do you have rope?"
"Huh?"
"I promised you could tie me up. Then you'd have no need to be afraid. "
I inched back. "I'm not afraid. "
"No?"
"No," I said firmly.
And I wasn't - a miracle. What did I know about this man beyond what he'd told me? None of it might be true. But he'd had every chance to hurt me, to take me and force me the way Josh had. Instead he'd been patient and kind. He'd protected me.
I wanted to give him something. Like me.
Taking his hand, I led him to my bed.
I had to see his body in the moonlight, the way I'd seen it as he'd come out of the lake. I'd wanted to touch him then, to run my hands and then my mouth over every inch. Now I could.
As I reached for the top button on his shirt, his gaze remained on my face, both gentle and heated at the same time. Slowly I released each one, revealing inch after glorious inch.
The shirt fluttered to the ground, and I learned his shape with my lips, the rise of a nipple, the curve of his waist, the hard sear of ribs beneath the sleek expanse of skin.
The band of his trousers hung loose from wear, so I lowered myself to the floor and dipped my tongue beneath it while he shuddered.
The screech of his zipper rang loudly in a room where the only sound was the steadily increasing pace of our breath. One tug and his pants pooled near his ankles, caught on the tops of his boots.
