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The wine bottle hit the table with a little more force than was necessary. ‘Reiko …’
For the first time since she’d met him, he seemed at a loss for words. With widening eyes, she watched a flush creep over his taut cheeks.
She laughed. ‘Oh, my God, I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I’m not sure what came over me.’
‘I am sure,’ he replied. ‘Look at me, Reiko,’ he rasped huskily. ‘Look at me properly and tell me if it’s embarrassment I’m suffering from.’
She looked. And swallowed. His fists were clenched on the table, a pulse jumped in his temple, and his whole body was held taut in a grip of an emotion she’d become acquainted with all too well.
He was supremely, spectacularly aroused. From her simple, truthful words. The notion was so intensely powerful, so devastatingly power-drenching she couldn’t immediately form adequate words to answer him. ‘I … I’m …’
‘You’re ready,’ he stated. ‘I trusted you with something important to me. How did that make you feel?’
‘Respected. Cherished. Like I matter to you.’
‘How do you feel about me? When you look at me, do you see a man who will hurt you again?’
She sucked in a breath. ‘Not intentionally,’ she replied honestly. ‘But—’
He scraped back his chair. ‘No more buts.’ Without taking his eyes from hers, he reached out a hand.
Tentatively, she placed her hand in his. He swung her up into his arms as if she weighed nothing.
After spending countless hours imagining what his suite, especially his bed, would look like, Reiko barely saw it as Damion kicked the door shut and lowered her to her feet.
He reached for her, sealing her lips with his in another searing kiss that sent her heart rate soaring skyward. Beneath her roaming, frantic hands his muscles warmed to her touch, his skin heating up as their kiss grew more fervid.
But the heat threatened to cool when he reached for the hem of her cotton top.
‘I … Do you mind turning the lights off?’ she murmured against his lips.
He raised his head and speared her with a direct, probing look. ‘Why? I’ve seen the scars on your face and arms. It’s no use hiding them from—’
‘Damion, there are more scars—worse scars,’ she blurted out, the heat receding to be replaced with the familiar drench of pain.
She tried to step away, but he held her still, his narrowed eyes scouring her face.
‘Show me,’ he commanded.
‘No. We can do this … it … with the lights turned off.’
‘I want to see you. Every inch of you. And you won’t deny me. Now, do you want to take your clothes off or shall I do it for you?’
His implacable stance made her heart dive into her stomach.
‘Damion, please …’
‘Every inch. Trust me and take off your clothes.’
He stepped back to give her room, hands locking behind his back as if to physically restrain himself from touching her. That single gesture, the knowledge that he knew she was scarred and still wanted her, made her feel a powerful emotion that lent her fingers the strength to reach for her top.
Grey eyes devoured her the moment she bared herself to him, his gaze lingering longest on her lace-covered breasts. Then he frowned. ‘I don’t see any scars.’
Taking a deep breath, she caught the long, heavy curtain of her hair and looped it over one shoulder. Slowly, her heart hammering with each passing second, she turned around. Reiko felt his gaze on every single one of the long, livid scars criss-crossing her nape and back. Knew the moment he stepped closer,
bringing his forceful presence with him.
What she wasn’t prepared for was the slow, almost reverent touch of his fingers tracing her scars. Or the touch of his lips against the deepest scar in the small of her back. Shocked, she glanced over her shoulder.
