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She rolled to her back, staying within the circle of his arms.
“Mm hm,” she murmured.
He didn’t look like an alien. His silver-gray eyes shone at her with warmth. As she gazed at him, her heart swelled with emotion. Warm and powerful.
A realization swept through her. This was love.
She loved him.
But how could she love a man she’d just met?
She remembered when Lisa, a woman at work, had told her about the first time she’d seen her baby. She’d said she’d felt instant, compelling love. She’d known she would do anything for the child, even lay down her life.
That’s how Aria felt. She could not imagine this man no
t being in her life. Never seeing his face again. His eyes. His devilish smile. Never hearing his deep voice. Never feeling his exquisite touch.
She would rather die right now than give him up.
And that presented a problem. Because he’d told her she was soul-mate to his king, not him.
She ran her hand across his cheek, feeling the coarseness of new beard growth. He lowered his face to hers. The feel of his lips brushing hers in a heady kiss sent spirals of electricity swarming through her. She matched her mouth firmly to his and speared her tongue between his lips, then curled it around his. His fingers slid along her scalp and cupped the back of her head as his tongue snuggled against hers, following her movements in a warm, erotic dance.
The rhythm of her breathing accelerated. Her hands stroked over his shoulders, then down his back. She pulled him closer and arched against him, crushing her body to his—but it wasn’t enough. A blinding need to immerse herself in him, to become one with him, blasted through her.
Her tongue swirled around the inside of his lips while her hands slid to his chest. One stroked the tight, hard muscles of his well-defined abs. The other found his nipple and teased it between her fingertips. She parted from his lips and covered his other nipple with her mouth. Her tongue dabbed mercilessly, then she sucked. Hard.
His quick, indrawn breath encouraged her. His cock pulsed and hardened against her belly. Her hand slid down over his stomach to his erection, then she wrapped her fingers around it, loving the feel of rock-hard muscle under skin as soft as kid leather.
She gazed at him. “Tai, I love you.”
The glow in his eyes froze. She felt him withdraw before he even moved a muscle.
He pushed himself to a sitting position, propped against the pillows. “No, you don’t.”
She sat cross-legged, tucking the sheets around her waist. “Yes, I do.” She reached out and stroked his cheek but he pulled away.
“You just think you do. We’ve shared a lot of intimacy and you’re not used to that.”
“No.” She shook her head in emphasis. “That’s not it. I really love you. And if you tell me you don’t love me, I won’t believe you.”
He stared her straight in the eye.
“I don’t love you.”
Aria’s eyes widened as a crushing pain started around her heart, then spread through every cell of her body. She’d said she wouldn’t believe him, but now, staring at his icy, gray eyes, she wasn’t so sure. Could she have read him so wrong?
“But…the way you touch me…” She cursed herself as tears prickled at her eyes.
His gaze softened. “Don’t get me wrong, Aria. I care about you.”
Anger flared in her. She flung herself away, wrapping the sheet around her nakedness, then stormed across the room.
“I know, we can be friends, right?”
She clutched the sheet to her body like a flimsy barrier. How could she have let this happen? Tears threatened, but she blinked them back. She’d opened her heart, let love in for the first time in her life, and…
She swallowed the huge lump that had formed in her throat.
