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If practicality didn’t deter him, perhaps an insult would. “What if you’re a terrible lover? Or you have a tiny little… endowment?” I said, whispering the last word.

Yves took my hand and set it on his chest. Slowly, he dragged it down his stomach and lower still, one inch at a time, watching my face the entire way, giving me time to pull back if I wanted to. Until I was cupping the hard length of his arousal.

My fingers tightened around it, and he let out a groan of pleasure.

“Is that big enough for you?”

I swallowed. “I could make do.” Wetting my lips, I said, “If we do this, how will I ever look at you the same way?”

“I don’t want you to look at me the same way. I want you to be the first person to see me fully awake, fully alive. I want you to keep looking at me differently so I don’t slip back to my old ways. Hold this memory of me, Cora. And don’t ever let it go.”

The assertion stole my breath and pushed more color into my cheeks.

“You don’t have to give me an answer now. I just want you to think about it.” He paused. “And know that I will also be thinking about it.”

Then Yves released me. He backed up a few paces, and the air rushed into the space where he’d been. I sat there on my knees in the middle of my bed with my hand curled around nothing.

He turned toward the window and flipped the latch.

“Yves?” I called out, unable to stop myself.

He turned to face me. “Yes?”

“How-how often will you be thinking about it?”

He opened the window, and a breath of air drifted in. With a pained look on his face, he muttered, “Constantly.”

After confessing all of that, after placing my hand on him, he was really going to leave?

Every argument I’d built since he appeared in my room collapsed. Curse this man.

I scrambled up from the bed. “Wait!”

He was back across the room before the word finished leaving my mouth.

“I have no pride left where you’re concerned. If I had any to begin with.” His voice had dropped so low I had to lean in. “If you need me to beg, I will beg. If you need to see me on my knees, say the word.”

He reached up and pushed the hair back from my face, and his hand was shaking.

“I haven’t felt a woman’s warmth in over eight years. I haven’t wanted anyone else before you.” His thumb moved across my cheek. “I don’t know if one night will solve all my problems or make things worse, but I would do unconscionable things to find out.”

The tenderness in his voice, the vulnerability. I didn’t know what to do with his confession. I couldn’t solve his problems. But… I rolled my lips together, staring into the deep green of his eyes.

Maybe one night was all he needed. Maybe it was all I needed, too.

I shoved Yves back into a chair. He looked up at me like a starved man. “Please, Cora.”

I watched his gaze rove down my body as I began to drag the hem of my shift up, up, up, until it was around my hips and he had a good look at what he wanted. Then I sat on the edge of the bed, holding his gaze.

“This is the only time I ever want to see you beg.”

Then I set my foot on his chest and pushed him back against the chair. “You can taste me. You can have me. But it will mean nothing. Do you hear me? Nothing.”

Carefully, Yves moved my foot to his shoulder. His hands climbed up my calf. Fingers digging in as he leaned forward. Our eyes met between the V of my thighs.

“I want you to say that again when you’re coming on my tongue.”

Chapter 32