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‘You’ve kept me awake for weeks.’ He grimaced. ‘I tried to deny it, ignore it. But this desire wouldn’t abate. I’m not in the habit of denying myself anything, or anyone I want. As much as I despise myself for feeling this … I want you, Angel.’
Angel’s brain couldn’t compute the significance of what he was saying, and certainly couldn’t compute the tumult of emotions that had threatened to swamp her when he’d called her Angel. All those nights she’d woken sweating from torrid dreams … he’d been thinking of her too?
She tried to push back again, but Leo held her effortlessly. His head bent closer and Angel twisted hers away in desperation. He whispered near her ear with deadly silkiness, ‘You came here that night to humiliate my family, and you tried to humiliate me. And you came here tonight to steal from us. You won’t get away with it, Angel. You can’t expect to keep playing with fire and not get burnt.’
Angel turned her head back, seriously panicked now. She’d never stolen anything in her life! ‘But I wasn’t. I—’
But the rest of her words were silenced under the devastating crush of Leo’s mouth to hers. He was ruthless, he was angry, and he plundered and took until Angel felt weak tears smart at the back of her eyes and her hands were fists trying to beat ineffectually against his rock-hard chest.
A weak moan of pleading came from deep in her throat. Finally Leo pulled away, and she felt his chest moving against hers with his harsh breaths. It should have disgusted her, scared her, made her recoil when she saw the heated look in his eyes, but it didn’t.
It made her quiver deep down inside, somewhere very vulnerable. As if she’d been waiting for this. As if, despite everything, this somehow felt right. In that moment Leo’s hand gentled on her head, his fingers massaged her skull, and the movement weakened her further. She couldn’t cope with tenderness, gentleness. She felt a thumb move across her cheek, and only realised then that a tear must have crept out.
Leo smiled, but it was tight. ‘The tears are a nice touch, Angel, but unnecessary—along with trying to pretend that you don’t want me.’
He shifted slightly, so that Angel fell more into the cradle of his lap, and she gasped when she felt the hard evidence of his arousal against her belly. The shocking reality of it made moisture gather between her legs in a very earthy recognition of a mate. She couldn’t believe she was having this reaction, and yet from the moment she’d seen him emerge from the pool …
She was caught by his eyes as if hypnotised. Everything melted away: who she was and why she was there.
When Leo bent his head again, this time he wasn’t cruel and harsh. His touch was firm and seductive. His mouth settled over hers and caused a deep sigh to move through her.
With an expertise she dimly acknowledged Leo forced her mouth to open to him, touching his tongue to hers and causing a flash flood of liquid heat to her groin. Angel moved instinctively, barely aware of what she was doing, just sensing that she wanted … more.
Leo hauled her even closer, growling something in his throat as his mouth continued its dark magic on hers. Angel was vaguely aware that her hands had unfurled and had climbed up over those impossibly broad shoulders. She was now clinging to his neck, arching her body into his, fingers tangling in the surprisingly silky strands of his hair.
When Leo took his mouth from hers she gave a little mewl of despair. She opened heavy eyes to see him smile with sinful sexiness and her heart turned over. A lock of glossy black hair had fallen forward on
to his forehead and Angel pushed it back with a trembling hand, barely aware of what she was doing, just following some deeply felt instinct.
Leo’s hand settled at the waist of her jeans, and after a heart-stopping moment snaked under her top. The feel of him touching her bare skin made her pulse rocket skywards. His hand crept higher and higher, to where she could feel her breast grow tight and heavy, until after an excruciatingly slow moment he cupped the soft mound and pulled the cup of her bra down.
Angel bit her lip. She was seriously out of her depth, and she felt as if a part of her was standing apart and watching with mounting horror as she let him touch her so freely. But she was caught in the grip of something so powerful she couldn’t move.
Leo moved his thumb back and forth over the tight puckered tip, and then with a brusque movement he thrust up her top to bare her breast to his gaze. To see him looking down at her breast made Angel feel faint with a rush of desire. And then, when he bent his head … Her mind was screaming at her to pull away … but she couldn’t. When he flicked out a tongue and then sucked that peak into the hot, swirling cavern of his mouth Angel’s head fell back. Her hands gripped his shoulders tightly.
She was fast being transported to a place of no return. The pleasure was so intense that she was afraid she’d burst. Leo brought a hand between her legs, forcing them apart to cup between her thighs, and she was lost completely. She’d never felt this out of control of her own body before.
He caressed her through her jeans, the material acting as a paltry barrier to his expert touch. He knew exactly where she ached, and all the while he suckled mercilessly on her breast. Angel cried out in desperation: for him to stop and for him never to stop. The sensation of her jeans and his hand moving remorselessly against her was excruciatingly exquisite.
Angel felt her body tensing. She’d lost any hope of regaining control by now. The world had ceased to exist. This was her reality.
With a husky whisper she entreated him, hardly knowing what she was looking for. ‘Leo …’
Everything went very still. But Angel hardly even noticed until, with sudden ruthlessness that almost bordered on cruelty, Leo stopped what he was doing and thrust her back from him with two hands on her shoulders.
For a long moment Angel stood in shock, breathing swiftly as the earth righted itself again. Her heart thumped painfully and a light sweat had broken out all over her body. He rearranged her top and bra so she was covered again, with an abruptness that made Angel wince. The material chafed against her still sensitive nipple.
She just couldn’t believe— Her thoughts ground to a halt when she realised her hands were glued to his chest, fingers curled and clinging to the material of his shirt. Hurriedly she dropped them as though burnt. Angel also realised then that her legs were incapable of holding her up, and she nearly collapsed in a humiliating heap at Leo’s feet before he cursed and picked her up, bringing her back over to the chair and sitting her down.
Angel let her hair fall around her face. She couldn’t find a word to articulate how awfully raw and exposed she felt. Leo had set out to humiliate her and it had taken a nanosecond before she’d turned into a groaning wanton in his arms. How he must be laughing at her. He’d accused her of stealing just seconds before he’d kissed her, and she’d all but lain down and given herself to him.
Her cheeks burned so hot they felt on fire. She could remember the way she’d said Leo, breathlessly, huskily, just as her whole body had been about to tip over the edge into an experience she’d never had, an experience that her jangling nerves craved to know even now. She’d thought she’d been in love with her boyfriend at college, and he hadn’t even managed— She gulped. Yet here, with someone who clearly despised her … Mortification twisted her insides into hard knots.
‘Angel—’
His voice was suddenly too close, and Angel jumped up in a reflexive surge of horrified anger at how she’d reacted. Too late she saw that Leo had been holding out a glass of what looked like brandy, and she could only watch dumbly as it was knocked out of his hand with the force of her jerky movement, spinning away to crash into the corner of the room, glass shattering, alcohol staining the parquet floor.
She looked at Leo in shock. ‘I’m so—’
