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It was a feeling he couldn’t name that pressed against his heart and it was familiar. He’d felt it then, too.
Careful, remember? You hurt people.
He remembered. But he wouldn’t hurt her. He wouldneverhurt her.
He reached for her hand, brought her fingers to his mouth and kissed the tips of them. Then the urge to move became too intense to ignore and he slid himself out, then back in again, a long, luxurious glide that made them both gasp.
Her hands touched him again, his face, his neck, his throat. Down through the halves of his open shirt to his chest. Touching him as if she couldn’t get enough, as if she was starved for the feel of his skin.
He’d gone too long without a woman who wanted him like this.
He’d gone too long withouther.
Three months of fighting it, of ignoring it. Of pretending the desire for her wasn’t burning as hotly and as strongly as it had those nights in her father’s study. Pretending that it hadn’t grown, fed by that one long, hot night she’d been in his bed.
He’d pushed it aside, ignored it. Done the right thing and acted as though it hadn’t happened. But it had. He’d ached, he’d burned and now that he had her here beneath him, he knew he couldn’t let her go.
That baby was his, but so was she.
He slid his hands beneath her, gathering her close, pushing deeper, harder, driving them on because this couldn’t last. The pleasure was much too strong.
She twisted in his arms, as if she was desperate to get closer, so he found her mouth and took it. Kissing her hard so that they were joined here, too.
Her arms wound around his neck and she moved with him, the pleasure becoming so acute it was almost painful.
The orgasm built and built, then it was flooding through him, drowning him in pleasure, and he could feel it take her, too, her body convulsing around his, a cry of release vibrating in her throat.
For long moments he lay there with her in his arms, unable to move. Unable to even think as aftershock after aftershock pulsed through him. Her face was turned into his neck and he could feel her warm breath against his skin, hear the ragged sound of it in his ear.
That intense possessiveness moved through him and he responded without thought, lifting his head and looking down at her sprawled out on the rug beneath him.
She was all pale silken skin, naked and perfect, the curve of her stomach where their child lay making everything in him want to growl.
‘You are mine, Lia,’ he said roughly, forcefully. ‘You will marry me.’
She didn’t move, looking up at him. Deep in the shadowed blue of her eyes, passion still smouldered. ‘Okay,’ she said.
Surprise rippled through him. He’d expected another refusal. ‘What do you mean, okay?’
She lifted her hand, one delicate finger stroking his cheekbone in a featherlight touch. ‘I mean, yes, I will marry you.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
LIAHADMADEthe decision as she lay beneath him, staring up into his eyes and seeing his desperation and desire, all the blazing intensity that he hid from other people, but never from her.
He needed her, she understood, though what it was that he needed she didn’t know. He probably didn’t even realise it himself, but that didn’t change the fact that he did.
Lots of people had expected things from her, but no one had everneededher. Not the way she sensed Rafael did. And he didn’t require her to be anything or to act a certain way. All he’d wanted was for her to say yes to his proposal and be his wife.
That need had made something inside her echo in response, the ache that she’d never been able to ignore or force away, that had lived in her heart growing deeper and stronger every time she saw him.
How could she let him bear sole responsibility for this and then deny him the means to fix it? If she said no, it would make everything harder and not only for herself and her child, but for him as well.
He was a bastard and he didn’t want that for his child. What he wanted was to help her and, after what he’d said about his mother being a single parent, she could understand his motivation.
Denying him just because she wanted to be chosen for herself felt selfish, especially when all he was thinking of was what was best for their child.
So she wouldn’t be selfish. And she wouldn’t let him have to deal with this on his own.
