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“You can tell me, sweetheart,” he purred, the words silky and smooth, like satin over bare skin. “The possibility has been driving me out of my skull all night.”
He’d been here all night?
Bare shoulders filled my vision as he loomed over me. Oh, my. Bax had shed his clothing before getting in my bed. Had he shedallof his clothing? I tried to raise up and look. All I saw was golden skin stretched over glorious muscle.
“I kept my trousers on,” he murmured into the sensitive skin of my throat. “I didn’t wish to frighten your delicate sensibilities.”
I shivered at the scrape of his morning whiskers, so delicious and unexpected. For some reason, I didn’t want him to think of me as a boring, sheltered innocent. Even though the description was mostly true.
“My sensibilities aren’t so delicate, as I proved last night.”
“You’re so goddamn pretty with your hair down.” His lips brushed the underside of my jaw. “You should never pin it up.”
Closing my eyes, I sank into the mattress. My body vibrated with the need to touch him, to satisfy my curiosity about his lean frame. Did he feel as hard and rough as he looked?
He kissed along my collarbone. “Mmm, this is my new favorite way to wake up.”
I had to admit, it wasn’t terrible. Wildly inappropriate, but not terrible.
A knock sounded on my door. I froze, cold terror sliding through my veins. Bax continued to kiss my skin, clearly unconcerned.
“Miss, are you awake?” It was my maid, Mary.
“Give me a few minutes, please!” I called back.
“Very good, miss.” I heard the breakfast tray rattling as my maid departed down the hall.
I shoved Bax's shoulder. “Get out of here. You had no right to come into my bedroom.”
He rolled onto his back and stretched, showing off his long half-naked body. “I said anything I want, yeah?”
“That does not include sleeping.”
“It does if I say so.”
“You cannot sleep in my bed. It is unseemly and improper.”
The side of his mouth lifted ever so slightly. “I love the prim and proper way you talk. But you aren’t a good girl, are you, Belle?”
“You hardly know anything about me.”
He chuckled. “Sweetheat, you wear undergarments that would make a Tenderloin floozy blush. You sneak out with your father’s pistol and shove it in my face at the fights. Best of all, you fingered your clitoris last night because a gangster asked you to.”
Humiliation scalded my skin. I didn’t like that he saw me so clearly. “You need to leave.”
He moved a hand to his chest and slowly dragged it toward his belly. “Are you sure? I might be persuaded to stay.” The sight of his long fingers brushing over his big body sent ripples of excitement along my spine to war with my anger. I could still picture his big hand wrapped around his male appendage, stroking.
“Get out, Bax.” Was my voice unsteady? Why was my heart beating so fast?
Rolling toward me, his eyelids swept open. We stared at one another, the air crackling with danger and possibility, but I couldn’t predict what he was planning to do. Still, I didn’t waver. He could not walk all over me, no matter our agreement.
Fighting my nerves, I put as much bravado as possible in my expression. Slowly, he unfolded and raised off the bed. He found his shirt on the floor, tugged it over his head and shoved it into his trousers. Then he pulled up his suspenders and sat on the bed to put on his shoes.
Once he was dressed, he started around toward my side of the bed. His hair tousled from sleep, he was more attractive than any man had a right to be at this time of morning. I clutched the bedclothes like a shield, more terrified of the excitement rioting inside me than of Bax.
He neared and I held my breath. What was he going to do? My bare toes curled into the bedclothes, my mind racing through possibilities. He placed his hand above my head. There was a strange light in his eyes, and it caused the place between my legs to grow damp.
He leaned down, his voice quiet. “You need to come to terms with our agreement. That is, if you still wish to find your father.”
