As he carried her to his bedroom, she was his captured mate, utterly at his mercy and excited to be so.
She had an impression of dark blues and silver, a soft light illuminating a desk and a massive bed with an abundance of pillows against the tufted leather of a dark brown headboard.
When he set her on her feet, she tried to carefully pull her wrists free of the silk, but he said, “Leave it. Let me enjoy this a little longer.”
His hot gaze stayed on her as he began to undress, throwing off his jacket, stepping out of his shoes while his hands swept his shirt buttons open.
“You’re kinky,” she accused, trying to ease her underwear back into place.
“And you are going along with it, tesoro mio. What does that make you?” His belt was gone, his fly open so he could yank his shirt free and expose his wide chest.
He was so beautiful with his firm pecs and the disks of his brown nipples, small and tight with arousal. A light pattern of hair decorated the stacked muscles of his abdomen.
“Those hungry eyes.” He made a noise of gratification as he came close enough to cradle her jaw and skim his thumb against her cheekbone. “You havehauntedme.”
She bit her lip, too self-conscious to hold his gaze, but her attention only wound up back on the powerful muscles of his shoulders and torso. She lifted her hands, wanting to touch him, and found herself still bound.
“Dio, I want to keep you like this,” he said gruffly as he carefully unwound the ribbons from her wrists. “I want to tie you to that bed. I think you might like that, hmm, Mirabella?” He turned her and finished lowering the zip on her gown.
“I don’t kn—oh!”
As her gown fell to the floor, he pulled her back to his front, one hand wrapping around her to cup her breast. The other slid into the front of her knickers, cupping. Reacquainting. Gently rocking before reigniting her with a slow drag of his fingertip against the seam of her sex, delving for moisture. Spreading it around.
She shuddered in renewed arousal.
“You want this as badly as I do, don’t you?” he whispered against her ear.
“I do,” she moaned, holding still for his caress. Wanting it to never end.
“Take these off, then.” He pulled his hand free of her underwear and finished skimming his own clothes away.
She had never been naked in front of anyone. Nerves accosted her, especially when she caught sight of the bobbing thickness of his erection. His finger had been inside her. Once. Never anything with that sort of girth.
Flutters of concern rippled through her middle, tangling with intrigue. With years of yearning toknow.
He opened the drawer in the night table, then yanked the blankets away and waved for her to get on the bed.
She shyly settled on the mattress, sitting with her knees tucked to the side, her feet under the edge of the rumpled sheet.
“I need to tell you something,” she said as she watched him tear open the packet and apply the condom in one smooth, practiced motion.
“What’s that?” He reached to grasp her ankle and pulled, dragging her down the mattress even as he loomed over her, pressing her onto her back beneath him.
“I, um…” She set her fluttering hands at his shoulders, urging him to slow down even as he pushed her thighs apart with his own, his superior strength very casual. “I’ve never actually…done this.”
His hand was on the back of her thigh, already guiding it to his waist while he shifted his weight onto one elbow. He froze.
“Are you teasing me?” he asked, gaze penetrating hers.
“No.” Her voice wavered with uncertainty. “Are you mad?”
“No.” His intent expression clenched into one of pain. The hand on her thigh was gripping hard enough to leave fingerprints. “Does this mean you’re having second thoughts? Because I do not have it in me to be heroic. I won’t walk away unless you tell me to. And now would be a very good time to say that.”
“I don’t want you to walk away. I just thought you should know.”
“So that I will be gentle?” He cupped the side of her face. “Were you put on this earth to kill me, cara? Feel me.” He dragged her hand to his erection. “I have been hard for you forthree years. I want to pound you through this mattress.”
“I’m sorry.”
