“Rafe,” she pleaded. He knew what she wanted. He knew what this body of hers needed.
“Babe,” he said, pulling his cock slowly from the depths that were clinging to him so tightly he thought he was going to lose it.
“I’m going to make love to you, slowly. I’m going to make love to you so slowly there won’t be anything left for you to feel . . . nothing but me.”
Her eyes blinked open, her lids hooding the light bursts that flecked her eyes when she was aroused. Her hips circled, coaxing him to move with her, and he carefully pushed back inside her. She moaned, her eyes drifting shut as her back arched off the bed, her breasts pushing against his chest.
When she was taking all of him, he brushed away the hair that had fallen over her face.
“I’ve only felt you,” she whispered. Her eyes fluttered open and held him with a vise that was the very grip keeping his heart in his chest. Champagne eye softened, bursts of light absorbing him while her hand lifted to his face “You’re the only person who’s ever made me feel . . .”
Yeah, he was a fucking goner.
• • •
He lay on his stomach, his strong arm wrapped tightly around her waist, her legs tangled through his. They just lay their together, spent and elated, breathing the same air that smelled of sex and Rafe.
But she couldn’t shake the fear that was crippling her. She wasn’t afraid for her own heart. Rafe had broken down every indestructible wall and formed his own barrier around her heart, protecting it. She knew undoubtedly that this man loved her. That this man would love her like no one ever had and like no one ever could.
But she was scared.
He deserved a woman who would take his heart that he was offering and protect it the way he would protect hers. He deserved a woman who knew how to love him in the fierce way he loved.
“What’s going on in that beautiful mind of yours?” he asked, shifting their bodies so they were curled onto their sides, tucked into each other.
Her body melted into his and he lifted his arm for her to nestle into the crook of his shoulder. He swaddled her with his body. She felt so small folded against him, wrapped in his arms, his legs, his warmth. He was so much, always so much. Overwhelming, breathtaking.
She kissed his chest, his arms sweetly crushing her as her lips peppered his skin.
His breathing altered, no longer smooth, but deep and strained while he contracted his arms around her. “You’re not thinking about walking away from me again, are you? Because, babe, I’m not letting that happen.”
“Rafe.” She sighed.
“No,” he said, tightening his hold around her, not trapping her, but comforting her. He was safe, warm . . .
“I’m right here, babe. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Until I have to dance?”
He flinched. “I can’t tell you I accept that, Fallon. You’re mine.” His hand skirted over her, his finger trailing between her breasts, over her stomach, dipping between her thighs.
Heat scorched, burned, turned to flame as his fingers caressed deep, then withdrew.
Brushing her legs together to relieve the dull ache he’d put there, she lifted her chin to look at him.
“I can’t see you on that stage if you’re undressing. I can’t fuckin’ do it, Fallon. I don’t want you to fuckin’ do it.”
The anger she thought would ascend never came. Knowing what she knew about him now . . . she understood, and she sympathized. This was Rafe, intense, protective, passionate.
“That’s why I don’t want you there,” she said, stroking his cheek. “I can’t say I would want other women looking at you if the roles were reversed.” She lifted her brows, waiting for a smile to form, but nothing came.
“I can make you a deal. If I dance onstage, I’ll give you your own private show afterward. Only I’ll take my clothes all the way off.”
A hard smile lifted his lips, unsure, struggling, but trying. “You’re not going to cave on this, are you?”
She shook her head. “It’s a part of me, Rafe.”
His muscles moved beneath the stubble on his jaw, tense. “I don’t like it, babe.”
“I’m not asking you to like it.”
He sighed. “I do, however, like the way this deal of yours sounds. Completely naked, dancing just for me?”
She nodded, her heart swelling. He was trying. His distress was lining his eyes, but he was trying, for her. “Yes. Completely naked, just for you. I’ll even break my rules and allow touching.”
He shook his head, his smile softening a little, lifting into the one she loved. “Bribery, huh?”
“Is it working?”