She shook her head, fighting to keep tears at bay.
“You’ve put yourself at the mercy of the next owner of the Montgomery Hotel.”
As he confronted her with the reality of her situation, her blood thinned. He’d backed her into a corner, one she’d constructed for herself. She didn’t see any escape.
“I’m the only thing standing between you and the future you want. You need me. Take my offer,” he said coaxed as sensual warmth returned to his tone.
“Please,” she whispered, desperation scraping her insides. “Don’t make me do this.”
“What will it be, Ellie?”
Frozen, her heart crushed by his conquest, she felt the walls closing in around her. Her eyes slid shut.
“Tell me you don’t want this.” His lips pressed against her neck.
He dragged his hot mouth over her skin. Sipping, tasting, fraying her determination and resistance.
“Tell me you don’t miss what we had.”
The stiffness in her limbs eased as his mouth seduced her body. She didn’t want to give him what he wanted, at the cost of what she needed. The price was too high.
“I can give you what you want, what you need,” he said. “All you have to do is say yes.”
One word. So simple, yet so impossible. She shook her head again, even as she felt desire winning the battle over her struggle for self-reliance.
“Give in to me. I’ll take care of you.” His lips trailed up her neck, along her jaw, a fiery path promising pure ecstasy. His warm breath stirred the hair by her ear. His tongue flicked over the rim, probing the canal.
Ellie inhaled sharply. How easy he made the offer sound…
No matter how much she wanted to deny it, she needed him. Despite his devil’s bargain. Temptation battered her judgment. Confusion and carnal need tangled inside her.
“Let me take you.” His teeth tugged at her earlobe, while his hands hand cupped her bottom, revealing his taut desire. “I can give you everything you desire.”
She moaned in surrender.
“Tell me you want me.”
“I—”
“Say it.”
She wanted to lose herself in their sexual synergy. She wanted pleasure to overcome her fears. “Yes,” she whispered faintly.
“Say it again.”
“Yes, I want you.”
“That’s my girl.” He scooped her into his arms and carried her to his suite.
There, he laid her down on the silky sheets. He stood over her as he undressed. The vision of his naked body, muscular and hard and perfect, dissolved her troubled thoughts.
At this moment, he belonged to her as much as she belonged to him. For this brief time, they were equals.
Pulling back the sheets, he joined her. Ellie traced her fingertips along ridges of his flat stomach as he undressed her. He released a sound of encouragement, and she felt emboldened to touch him everywhere, sliding her palms across the smooth expanse of his skin, excited by the way his arms flexed as he unzipped her gown and slid it off her body. Her hands curved around his broad shoulders, embracing the incredible sensuality he delivered, offering the emotional investment that had been missing at the lighthouse.
Within minutes his skin was scalding to the touch. He raised himself over her and settled between her thighs. “I’ve wanted you in my bed for so long. I’ll be good to you, baby.” His words came in hot puffs against her breasts. “You’ll never have to worry about anything again.”
That vow alone held tremendous appeal. No one had taken care of her or looked out for her best interest in years. Surrounded by self-centered and self-destructive men since Carter left, she desperately missed that sense of security, of effortlessness, that he dangled in front of her.
His mouth closed on one nipple, his tongue flicking, teasing. She sighed, sliding her hands into his hair. He tended to her breasts one at a time, licking and sucking, driving her mad with desire. His mouth traced the underside of her breasts.
Then he traveled down her stomach, his tongue dipping into her navel. Descending further, his teeth scraped her hipbones. Her hips rolled forward, begging for more.
With a low laugh, he murmured, “Soon.”
His mouth explored her legs. He nibbled her ankles, kissed the arches of her feet, swirled his tongue along the backs of her knees. He tended to her exclusively, making her feel precious, cherished.
“Please,” she begged, spreading her legs.
She felt him smile against her inner thighs. “Your wish is my command.”
Then his mouth was there. Licking, tasting, and sucking on her, driving her toward abandon. She squirmed under his exquisite attention.
He held her down.
She moaned. “Don’t stop...oh, God.”