Page 5 of Daigo

"Enough." He did not raise his voice. Her husband had the ability to freeze you out with a look or just a single word. But she wasn't afraid of him. She knew him better than anyone else, loved him more than anyone else, and was confident of his love for her. He fought it constantly, Lord knows why, but it was there and it was obvious.

"I don't want to be caught in the middle of this cold war between the two of you," he continued. "I've asked you to try and get along with her and you refuse to comply. She's my mother, for God's sake."

"And I'm your wife." She shoved off the quilt and had him wishing she were still covered. The nightgown was snug and transparent. It stopped shy of her upper thighs. The straps hung over her shoulders, the material sliding off her breasts. Need raged through him like a hurricane. "I deserve your respect-"

"My respect!" He advanced, like a panther stalking its prey. "I have nothing but respect for you. You twist me around your little finger because you know you have that power." He was at the side of the bed. "What the hell more do you want from me, Shelby-Anne? I've given you everything." He slapped a hand to his chest. "You have my heart, down to my soul. I cannot breathe when you're near. You twist me into knots. Is that what you want to hear? You forced me to make a decision-" He flung his hands out. "I've done that. Isn't that enough? What the hell more do you want?"

She was shaken by his confession, shaken to the core of her. His words had her trembling. "I want you to be on board." She held out a hand, dropping it when he didn't reach out. "I cannot do this without you." Her eyes turned limpid, twisting him up even more. "You have to understand that I need this and so do you."

His hands snaked out to haul her up against him. "I need you. Why the hell can't you understand that from the first time I laid eyes on you, I've needed you." His fingers bit into her shoulders as he shook her. "Just you. I cannot lose you. I cannot-"

"You won't." She offered the promise quietly, shaken to the core by his admission.

"You don't know that." He started to release her when she levered up and wrapped her hands around his neck.

"Don't," she whispered achingly. "I don't want to fight with you anymore." She went for his weakness. Brushing her lips slowly over his, she wrapped her hands around his neck, fingers sliding through the lush strands of his dark hair.

He tried to resist, at least to prove to himself that he could just walk away from her. He was pissed – had been pissed for a couple of weeks. But with her curves pressing against him, the feel of her breasts, the nipples branding into his chest, he gave up. He needed her, with an intensity that frightened him.

She made him vulnerable, a feeling he had never experienced before. His father had drummed it into his head. "Women are necessary for procreating and acting as hostesses. And of course, for offering pleasure in bed, nothing more. They certainly have no place in the corporate world. They're decorative ornaments to be shown off at functions and act as hostesses. Never make the mistake of giving them an inch of power."

He had grown up thinking that, until he met her. Shelby-Anne had changed things for him in such a short amount of time that it had his head spinning.

Smothering a groan and drowning out the cold sound of his father's voice inside his head, he took what she was so willingly offering. His hands went around her slender waist as he crushed her against his starving body. He had deliberately stayed away from her – the four-poster bed was large enough to offer them space. But he had suffered. The awareness of her was so acute, it left him sleepless at night.

He took the kiss deeper, his mouth savage, his hands roaming over her body with a restlessness that spoke of two weeks of torture. He felt the control slipping and knew instinctively that this was going to be fast and rough. Shoving her back against the pillows, he made quick work of getting rid of his clothing.

"Daigo." She reached for him instantly, her fingers trailing over his chest. She felt the muscles quivering, acknowledging the fact that she could do this to him, that she could get this reaction from him. "Daigo." She repeated his name like a prayer, her voice soft and soothing. Instead of calming him down, it had the opposite effect. Desire raged through his body like a hurricane.

Gripping her shoulders, he hauled her on top of him and simply ripped the delicate lace of her nightgown from her body. He wanted his hands on her. He wanted to feel her flesh, the softness of her caramel skin. Her shocked cry had him surging upwards to palm her breasts. The feel of her rigid nipples did things to his insides. Bending his head, he took one between his teeth. She tasted of honey and dark desire. The texture of her skin made him yearn for even more.

Straddling him, Shelby gripped strands of his hair, her back arched, her body quivering as he continued to torture her with his mouth. His teeth scraped the sensitive flesh and had her crying out, fingers digging in and holding on for purchase as he sent her flying.

No one had ever had this effect on her and no one ever would as long as she lived. No matter how infuriating he got or how much he pissed her off, he was it for her. She had known that from the very beginning. She was helpless to resist him. She was his, completely, irrevocably his.

Lifting his head, his eyes fierce and dark, he gripped the twists she had piled on top of her head, wrapping them around his hand.

"I adore you," he rasped. He was exploding with need, the control slipping away from him. "But you already know that, don't you?"

"Yes." With trembling fingers, she smoothed the lines creasing his forehead. "I adore you too. You're the only one. I'm not afraid to love you, darling. Loving you makes me strong and confident." Tears blurred her eyes and made him weak.

"Don't," he whispered raggedly. He couldn't stand against her tears. Loosening his grip on her hair, he stroked her cheek, his fingers gentle. "You'll break me in two if you continue to cry."

"I cannot help it." She sniffled, fighting back the tears. "It's overwhelming. You overwhelm me."

"You do the same for me." With a sigh, he shifted her so that she was lying back with the pillows at her head. Leaning over, he brushed his fingers over the smooth cheeks, his eyes holding hers. "The first time I saw you, it felt like I was struck by lightning. There was this sharp, jagged pain inside my gut. It felt as if someone was doing a number in there." He brushed back tendrils of hair that he had loosened with his fingers. "I resented you for it."

She smiled at the memory. "You looked so aloof, distant, and intimidating. When I came up to you after showing Mei around, you scorched me with your gaze. I wondered what on earth I had done to deserve your contempt."

"Self-preservation." He continued brushing her cheek and willed the mad passion to go down to a low simmer. "I'd never felt that way before and it shook me up. I told myself that it was just lust." He kissed her forehead. "You're, after all, a beautiful woman and I'm a man who appreciates beauty." He continued to trail kisses over her cheek. "I told myself that it would pass. When I left your store, I could not settle. I kept seeing you in that snug-fitting sweater and your hair escaping the scarf. I wanted to touch you." His voice was going ragged. "Ask me what I did that night."

"What did you do?" she whispered.

"I took a woman I was seeing on and off to bed." He touched his tongue to the seams of her lips. "I wanted to erase you from my mind. It didn't work, of course."

"You came the next day," she recalled, fingers wandering over the bunched muscles of his shoulders. "You were so angry."

"I didn't want to feel that way." He eased his tongue into her mouth and breathed her in. The taste of her was more addictive than anything he had ever craved before.