I blink, taken aback by the intensity of his demand. The room spins as I try to formulate a response. But he’s looking at me with such desperation, such hope, that I find myself nodding.
Already I’m squirming with anticipation. With need.
And after I tell him…I may never be with him again.
“Okay,” I whisper, my heart pounding.
He catches my hand and leads me up the staircase to thesecond floor. I follow him willingly, yet as we approach his suite, a knot of guilt forms in my stomach.
When he pushes open the door to his room, I bite my lip, quickly glancing around before following him inside. It smells of him—spicy leather and outdoors. The scent I’ve grown to love as intensely as I love him.
He closes the door and locks it, and then…
My God. He simply looks at me, and it’s so powerful that I have to look away.
“Emily,” he murmurs.
I meet his gaze, my heart fluttering as he steps closer and pulls me into his arms.
I’m already unraveling, coming apart under his touch. Under his gaze.
This is not just want. This is need.
Still, the guilt eats at me like ivy creeping up an old stone castle.
“I can’t,” I say, voice trembling. “Not until you know.”
“I don’t care,” he says.
And my last thread of resolve dissipates into thin air.
“I don’t either,” I reply.
He grabs me and crushes our mouths together.
It’s not a kiss. It’s a claim. All heat and teeth, like he’s starving and I’m the only thing left to devour. His hands are rough, urgent, dragging me closer like he can’t stand a breath of space between us. I gasp, but he swallows it whole, his lips bruising, his tongue demanding.
There’s nothing tender in it—just raw need.
And God help me, I bloody burn for him.
I slide my fingers into his hair and tug him closer as he lifts me off the ground. He roams his hands over my body with a determined urgency that matches our desperate kisses.
He walks toward the bedroom, still carrying me, and kicks the door open.
“River,” I gasp against his lips, “You need to know?—”
He cuts me off with another searing kiss, pushing me onto the bed and joining me a second later. His hands are everywhere, stroking and caressing, leaving trails of fire wherever they touch. Everything else fades away, including my guilt. All that exists is River and this powerful connection between us.
Rustling sounds as clothes are stripped away and discarded. My heart pounds against my ribcage as though it might burst right out of my chest.
Heat builds between us like a raging inferno. It’s all-consuming, unstoppable, uncontrollable.
I reach for him, pulling him tighter against me as I surrender completely to our shared desperation.
He slides his hands down my side, over my hips, between my legs. “God, so fucking wet,” he rasps.
“For you,” I breathe.
