Once Forbidden(7)

Devlin sighed. “How do you know? Spend the day with me. Travel with me. See what my life is really like,” he prodded, keeping his voice soft and hypnotic. “Let me take you away—just for today.”

Sarah looked at him for a long moment before answering. “Where?” She didn’t bother covering herself. He’d already seen her—touched her.

Devlin shrugged his shoulders. “Australia, perhaps,” he said quietly. “It’s dark there.”

“Let me finish in here. I’ll be out in a few minutes,” she said with a calmness she was far from feeling.

“I’ll have to wait in here, Sarah. I can’t go into your room; not if your blinds are open.”

She sighed. Of course he couldn’t. It was almost sunrise. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

His smile was full of promise as he looked at her, letting his eyes rake her from head to toe. “I could wash your back,” he offered huskily. Her ruined face wasn’t at all a deterrent for him. It was her spirit he’d fallen for, and that hadn’t diminished from the fire.

“No, not when I’m like this,” she said brokenly.

He smiled and kicked off his shoes and moved his hands to the buttons on his white shirt. “You’re beautiful,” he said huskily. “Touch your face,” he ordered, making it a command she was helpless to disobey. In the blink of an eye she was as she’d been. It was what she needed from him now after all. “Let me in,” he repeated. He would be with her and that should prevent another emotional storm. His error had been in letting her awake alone.

“Yes,” she said, touching her face and upper chest, letting her hands trail to her breasts.

He tossed aside the shirt and moved his hands to the buckle of his belt. He wanted her to watch him. He moved slowly, knowing he was intensifying her desire as he did so. “Do you like what you see?” he asked, his voice deep and low.

“You know I do,” she whispered. She stepped aside for him to enter the shower stall. There wasn’t really enough room for two people inside it, but she backed against the wall.

Devlin smiled as he walked into the shower. He knew that she didn’t yet realize that he didn’t see her with the beautiful face. He was immune to his own illusions. Still, he found her the most intoxicating woman he’d ever known. His eyes trailed down from her head to her soft breasts and flat stomach and to the light curls beyond. He hardened instantly.

He stepped inside the small space and drew her into his arms, letting her feel the long hard length of his penis against her belly. “Tell me you want me,” he demanded again, though he didn’t compel her to answer. He wanted this to be her choice.

“I want you,” she said readily. She groaned as his hands found her breasts, and tilted her head up for his kiss.

He kept his eyes on hers and lifted her. “Put your legs around me,” he said huskily. When she’d complied, he drove inside her in one powerful thrust. Her inner muscles clenched around him almost immediately and he groaned, moving forward so her back was against the shower stall wall. “Yes, like that,” he growled. “Just like that.” Lowering his head, he kissed her hard, driving his tongue inside and drinking in her essence.

Devlin lifted his head and saw nothing but those beautiful eyes, dark with passion now. He lowered his head and nipped her neck gently. He felt the pulse beating there and wanted desperately to sink his teeth in and taste her. But he didn’t. Not now. He felt the hot rush of his blood as she moaned her pleasure.

He didn’t prolong his lovemaking; he drove her ruthlessly to climax, driving into her deeply with each powerful stroke. Her legs wrapped around him tighter and still he thrust, making her take all of him. “Yes!” he said on a groan as he felt her clench around him, her climaxing shudders sending him over his own edge.

When it was over, her head rested weakly on his shoulder. He continued to hold her, not quite ready to let her go. “This is what you want, Sarah. Admit it to yourself if not to me.”

She looked up at him, her gaze steady. “Yes, this is what I want,” she admitted, her voice raw.

His eyes sharpened. “What exactly is it you’re agreeing to, Sarah? Do you want me to change you? Do you want me to give you a new life?”

He waited tensely for her answer, reading her eyes carefully.



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Chapter Four





“I’m afraid, Devlin,” she said at last, lowering her eyes.

Devlin made a sound low in his throat that could have been a growl or a curse, but his voice was gentle when he spoke. “Tell me what you’re afraid of, love. I don’t think you’re afraid of me. I would never cause you harm.”