‘To live the way I choose. I choose to do this, Nick. This is my mistake. I want to fix it.’
He was closer now, close enough to reach out and touch, and the conflict between wanting to keep her safe and wanting to agree with her plan was there in his eyes. He lifted his hand to her cheek, his eyes almost black, his tension a living thing.
‘I can’t do this,’ he muttered roughly.
‘Which this are we talking about?’ she whispered as his lips came closer to her own and his hand slid from her cheek to cup the back of her head. ‘This as in kissing or this as in agreeing to my plan?’
‘Any of this,’ he said, and captured her lips with his own.
She expected anger from him, the remains of it at any rate, but his kiss was unexpectedly sweet, his hands in her hair so very gentle as he traced the bump on her head.
‘Does it still hurt?’ he murmured roughly.
‘No.’ She slid her hands over his chest, luxuriating in the feel of him, so warm and solid and, above all, alive. He kissed her again, deeper this time with a needy edge to it that she matched with a helpless, aching need of her own.
‘How about now?’
‘No.’ With her hands digging into his shoulders and her skin on fire from his touch. She had no defences from this man, not one, but still she tried to dissuade him, for his sake as well as her own. ‘You’re breaking all the rules,’ she whispered as his hands slid to her shoulders and his long, sure fingers started toying with the straps of her gown. ‘A bedroom is definitely not a public place.’
‘I know.’ In that gravelly bedroom voice that set a woman to shuddering all by itself.
‘And the door is shut and the curtains are drawn.’
‘No audience,’ he muttered, and set his lips to her shoulder in the exact place her straps had been.
‘And I don’t know about you,’ she said desperately, in a last-ditch effort to remind him of the rules, ‘but this is really starting to feel like sex to me.’
‘It’s not sex,’ he said with utter certainty. ‘It’s foreplay.’
Hallie gave in, gave up, shivering in pleasure as his mouth feathered over her shoulder, tracing a slow, torturous path along her collar-bone. He lifted her effortlessly onto the counter and found her nipple with his mouth, through the thin barrier of silk that her dress afforded her, but it wasn’t enough, not nearly enough. She wove her fingers through his hair, revelling in its soft, silky texture as she arched back and he slid the straps of her dress down her arms. The bodice followed and then her breasts were bared for him and his fingers grazed her puckered nipples with a touch so gentle she didn’t know whether to weep with pleasure or scream with frustration. ‘I won’t break,’ she said huskily, by way of a hint.
‘I know that too.’ His smile was crooked. ‘You’re probably indestructible. I noticed that today. It’s just that you look so damn fragile.’
‘I’m not fragile,’ she said. ‘I’m not even a virgin any more.’ And then he bit down on her aching, swollen breasts and she screamed her approval as sensation shot through her.
‘God help us,’ he said fervently as he swept her into his arms and carried her over to the bed.
Hallie clung to him as they tumbled onto the pillows, wanting him over her, inside of her, wanting it now. Her heart beat wildly and her breathing was fast and urgent as she undid the buttons on his shirt, pushed it aside, and surged against him, glorying in the rasp of skin on skin as her nipples pressed hard and tight against his muscled chest. More, she craved it, demanded it, fumbling with his belt, with the fastening of his trousers, only to have him push her hand aside with a half-strangled laugh.
‘No,’ he muttered. ‘Ladies first.’
‘Whatever happened to equality?’ she grumbled.
‘Equality is overrated.’ His smile was slow and wicked as he eased her gown from her body and then her panties. ‘Ladies first is a good option for you right now. Trust me.’ He took her hands and drew them above her head and she let him do it, let him do whatever he wanted. She was naked for him, utterly naked except for the diamonds at her ears and around her throat. She felt completely exposed, utterly vulnerable as he loomed over her, his eyes intent. ‘Close your eyes,’ he whispered and she did as he commanded, whimpering with pleasure as his lips traced a path from her wrist to her elbow. He stopped when he reached her elbow, stopped to curse beneath his breath before tracing the area surrounding the angry red graze with gentle fingers. Hallie shivered hard and he moved on, his hands tracing a path down her body for his lips to follow, the soft underside of her breast, the slight curve of her stomach, and everywhere he touched her muscles contracted and the pleasure built. She knew what was coming when he spread her thighs wide and moved lower, knew it and craved it but he made her wait, made her plead while he scattered tiny kisses over her hips and his thumb circled the sensitive folds of her flesh.