The Ultimate Playboy(74)

                Feeling a little bit bolder now she knew he wouldn’t easily overpower her or dismiss her, she took a deep breath, drew her T-shirt over her head and flung it away.

                ‘Ruby...’ Warning tinged his low growl.

                She wavered but the look in his eyes stalled her breath—hunger, anger, a touch of admiration, that little bit of wonder and vulnerability she’d seen earlier on the deck all mingled in his hypnotic eyes.

                ‘I would, but the look in your eyes is scaring me right now. What’s to say you won’t devour me the minute I set you free?’ She trailed a finger down his chest and revelled in his hitched breathing.

                ‘I won’t,’ he bit out.

                She shivered again at the menace in his voice. ‘Liar, liar.’

                ‘Madre di Dio, do you really want to lose your virginity so badly?’

                She shook her head and her hair came free from the loose knot she’d put it into. ‘No, it isn’t actually that important to me. What I want, what I crave, is to make love with you.’

                His eyes darkened. ‘Why?’

                She tamped down on what she really wanted to say. That he’d shown her another way to view herself. Another way that didn’t make her skin crawl for feeling sensual pleasure.

                ‘Do I have to have some noble reason? Isn’t crazy chemistry enough? I was absolutely fine before you touched me. You woke this hunger inside me. Now because of some stupid principle, you’re trying to deny me what I want. What we both want. I won’t let you.’

                His chest heaved. ‘I won’t let you either. Not like this.’ The roughness in his tone gave her pause. When she looked into his eyes, that bleakness she’d spotted in the kitchen on their first morning in Macau was back. ‘If you want me, release me.’

                She wanted to kiss that look away, to utterly and totally eradicate it so it never returned. Leaning down, she did exactly that, luxuriating in the velvety feel of his warm lips. He kissed her back but she could sense the agitation clawing under his skin and she drew back a little. Caressing his chest and shoulders, she touched her lips to his again in a gentle offer of solace from whatever demons were eating him alive.

                A rough sigh rumbled from his chest.

                ‘Narciso...’

                His lips trembled against hers. ‘Release me, Ruby.’

                Heart in her throat, she repeated the words he’d said to her in Macau. ‘I already have.’

                Shocked eyes darted upward. A split second later he was flipping her beneath him, ripping away her panties and flinging them over his shoulder.

                Molten eyes speared her as he tugged off his pyjamas, his gaze settling possessively on her damp, exposed sex. ‘Sorry, Ruby mio, I lied.’

                ‘About what?’ Her voice trembled.

                ‘About not devouring you.’

                Hot, sensual lips grazed down her cleavage to her navel, the rasp of his growing stubble sending electrifying tingles racing through her body. His tongue circled her navel, then strong teeth bit the skin just below.

                Her shudder threatened to lift her off the bed.

                One large hand splayed on her stomach and the other parted her legs wider. Watching him watch her was the most erotic experience of her life so far.