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He growled in response, dug his fingers into her hips in a bruising grip and swept her up into his arms.
Settling her on the high bed, he moved between her legs. Grabbed the edges of her silk blouse and pulled.
The pearl buttons flew in all directions.
The urgency in him, instead of scaring her, filled her with power. That she could send his muscled body to shudder, that she could send him to desperate need, it was a balm over wounds Jackson had inflicted so cruelly.
She looked down the same time as he did.
Her flesh was milky white in the moonlight, her nipples tight points of need against her silky bra.
His pithy curse as he traced a long finger against the seam of her bra was a song to her ears.
But instead of touching her as she ached to be, he pulled her to her knees and unzipped her jeans. Tugged them down past her thighs, and feet. Threw them across the room and settled her on the bed again.
Until she sat in front of him in a thong and bra, her bare legs stretched indecently to make space for his broad frame, exposing the heart of her.
But she sat still, the dark of the night giving her a courage she wouldn’t have had if his hungry gaze settled on her. She hated that Jackson was still there in her fears when he shouldn’t be, she hated that she had let him break her confidence.
“Stefan?” she called out to him, only now sensing his stillness.
Grasping her ankles, he pushed her onto the bed. And she slid soundlessly on the luxurious goose down sheets.
In the next blink, the lights came on and he leaned over her lower body in a movement of such sheer perfection that Clio forgot the glare of lights.
His gaze swept over her like a white-hot flame, inciting little sparks wherever it touched. With a gasp, she moved to cover her sex but he grabbed her hands, held them over her head, liquid lust and resolve dancing in his green gaze.
“I won’t let him take away even a single part of you that should be mine today, bella.” He sounded ravaged and angry and determined, all at the same time. “I won’t let that bastard be a silent specter in this room between us.”
Her heart slammed so violently against her rib cage that Clio shivered. That he could read her fears so well made her feel more exposed than her most intimate parts on display for him.
He ran a reverent finger over her rib cage to the hairline over her sex. And Clio caught the moan that wanted to hurtle out. “I can’t bear it if you—”
“You’re so breathtakingly beautiful, Clio, more so than my imagination could do justice. Dio, why would you hide yourself from me? Why would you deny me the pleasure of seeing you when you know how much I want you?”
Clio tucked her face away from his, shameful tears filling hers.
He trailed hot kisses along the seam of her bra, kissed the curve of one breast, and she shifted restlessly. She needed his hands on her breasts, needed to feel his mouth over the tight, aching points.
But, of course, he wouldn’t give her what she wanted unless she stripped herself bare of that last layer. Until she was completely exposed to him.
Until she was all his.
His hand caressed the flesh of her hips, tugging her close, until he was leaning over her and she was looking up at him. “Tell me.”
“I was not hiding myself. I was hoping to not see your reaction, Stefan.”
With a hard grip, he turned her to face him. “Explain.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Being naked in front of him should have made her awkward. But the maddening circles he drew over her hips, the protective circle of his arms, freed Clio from that last fear. “He...I have been unhappy for a while. With myself, my career and, of course, my relationship with Jackson. I...somehow found myself without friends even. And it affected everything I did. How I dressed, how I ate, how I interacted with others. Even...”
“Sex?” He gritted out the word as though the very thought of Jackson and her set his teeth on edge.
“Yes. It became such a chore that one night he said the Hudson River in winter would be more warm and receptive. After that, I kept finding excuses to not do it. That he cheated on me so blatantly and for so long is unforgivable but I can’t help thinking I pushed him to it. That it was something in me.
“I don’t want to see the same disappointment in your face, Stefan. If the lights were off, I could still lie to myself about...”
To bare this last fear of hers felt so excruciating that her words died on her lips. Clutching her eyes closed, she waited with her breath hinging unevenly in her throat.
Seconds piled on top of each other but he said nothing.
