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He pulled out, and she moaned again, because the plug was still there. And she could feel him, still too big inside her even as he removed himself. He laughed again, and she didn’t have the energy to do anything but stay where she was, draped over the chair with her ass in the air, completely exposed.
She heard him moving around, and assumed he was disposing of the condom, putting himself to rights. She focused on trying to breathe. Then he was beside her, pulling her to her feet and holding her there before him.
And the look on Dorian’s face made the whole world seem to slip to one side.
Tenderness.That was what she saw in those dark, dark eyes of his.
It made her feel inside out. Stripped raw, made new.
He rubbed his thumbs beneath her eyes, and she had the distant thought that she must look a mess, but she didn’t care. Not when he was looking at her like that. As if she was his world.
And here, in this sacred space they’d made between them, Erika believed it.
“I don’t want you to apologize to your brother for me,” he told her, his voice steady. Utterly certain. “I saw him earlier this week. He took a swing at me, and I let him.”
She frowned. “That’s not right.”
“It hurt like hell, and I deserved it.” Dorian shook his head. “I’m a grown man.”
“Still—”
“I don’t need you to get along with my best friend, however nice I might find the idea,” Dorian said intently. “I want you to apologize to him for you, Erika. He’s your brother. Considering the kind of person your mother is, he’s the only family you have. And I know you think he doesn’t care about you, but I’m telling you—you’re wrong.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand completely,” he said quietly, and his fingers brushed over her cheek. “You don’t think anyone can love you.”
Erika felt as if he’d punched her. Revealed her. Destroyed her all over again.
“But I know they can,” he said, still gazing at her with all that intensity and power that made her hum inside, then melt. She had no choice but to listen to him, no matter how ruined she felt. “I know it because I do.”
It was everything she’d ever wanted and more, because it was him. It was beyond anything she could have imagined. It was every gift she hadn’t gotten. It swept away every time she had been forgotten, thrown away, cast aside. Belittled or ignored.
But it was also impossible.
“Don’t tell me it’s too soon,” he warned her. “You’re already in trouble for coming when I told you not to.”
And he smiled when she glowered at him.
“Dorian—” she began.
“No, it’s not fair,” he said, cutting her off. “And yes, Erika, I’m in love with you. I don’t need more time to make up my mind. I already know. I’ve been waiting for you for years. I knew when we woke up that first morning in Berlin that I was never letting you go, and, kitten, I keep my promises. You know this.”
It caused Erika actual physical pain to hear him say these things when sheknewhow it would go. How it always went.
“When you get to know me better, you’ll regret this.” She had to force herself to say it. But the fact was she knew. She knew better than him because she’d seen it play out so many times before. “When you see the truth, you won’t be able to get away quickly enough.”
And she said it simply. Matter-of-factly. Because she knew it was the truth.
“I’ve already seen the truth.” His hands rested on either side of her neck, his fingers on the nape of her neck and his thumbs on her jaw, holding her where he wanted her. And what he wanted, she delighted in giving him. “What do you think we’ve been doing? BDSM is never just the sex, kitten. Not the way I do it. Not if it’s right. And this? Us? It’s beautiful.”
“I chased you all over the planet,” she confessed, her eyes filling with tears. “You told me you would spank me in Greece, and I wanted it. I wanted you. Maybe I knew that if I could just find my way to you, you could fix me.”
“You don’t need fixing, baby.” Dorian shook his head, his gaze fierce. “You’re not broken. A little lost, maybe, so I gave you a compass. But the journey you take is up to you.”
She wanted to fall into his arms and hide there. Instead, she made herself look at him straight on. “How can you love someone you hardly know?”
But Dorian laughed. “You were quick to tell me you’ve known me all my life,” he pointed out. “And even if you didn’t, you know all kinds of things about me now. Deep, intimate things. That you can trust me. That if I’m hard on you, I reward it. That I care enough about you to give you the boundaries you’ve wanted all your life. I demanded total honesty. And you gave it to me. What else do you need?”
