her lips set off a tremor in his gut. “It’s getting there.”
Hallelujah. He threw his last-ditch inside straight on the table. “Then listen close. Let me take care of you. Physically. You give to your women till it hurts. Take for once. Let me make you feel good. Let me help you forget the rest of the world for a while. Use me, I insist. Do I benefit from it, too? Absolutely. That’s what makes for a great partnership.”
He’d laid the foundation for a new, mutually beneficial agreement. The next move had to be hers. She needed to be in control of her fate, and he needed to know she could never accuse him of talking her into it.
“Now, darlin’, the floor sucks. I’m going to get in that nice, comfortable bed over there and if you want to spend the next few hours being thoroughly pleasured, join me. If not, don’t. You make the choice.”
C hoice.
Instead of seducing her, Lucas had given her a choice. And with that single empowering act, Cia’s uncertainty disappeared.
They were partners—equals—and he’d done nothing but respect that, and respect her, from the very beginning. He got her in ways she’d only begun to realize. Domination was not part of his makeup, and all he wanted from her was to join him in taking pleasure from sex, the way he took pleasure from every aspect of life.
She longed to indulge in the foreign concept, to seize what she wanted—Lucas.
To let his talents wash away all the doubt and frustration and disappointment about Pamela and help Cia forget everything except how he made her feel. He’d stripped the complexity from the equation and, suddenly, sex didn’t mean she’d lose something.
The only way Lucas Wheeler could take a chunk of her soul when he left was if she gave it to him. She wouldn’t. Simple as making a choice. Who knew the secret to avoiding emotional evisceration was to lay out divorce terms first?
She stood and crossed the carpet with sure steps until her knees hit the side of the bed. Lucas lounged against a pillow, watching her, sheet pulled up to midtorso, bisecting the trio of intriguing tribal circles tattooed along the left edge of his ribs.
His eyes were on fire.
He was so gorgeous, and he was all hers for the night. As many nights as she chose, apparently. A shiver shimmied up her back, part anticipation and part nerves.
“You want to know what tipped the scales?” she asked, arms crossed so it wasn’t obvious her hands were shaking.
“More than I want to take my next breath.”
She eyed the length of his body stretched out in the bed. “Ironically, that you were willing to sleep on the floor.”
He laughed, and the vibration thrummed through her abdomen. “So you’re saying I had you at hello?”
“No. I’m pretty sure you had me at Versace. It’s painful to admit I was so easily bought with a designer gown.” She said it flippantly, so he’d know she was kidding.
Except she wasn’t, exactly. It was difficult to swallow how much she liked his gifts. What did that say about her?
“I’m glad one of us thinks this was easy. I’ve never worked so hard to get a woman into bed in my life.”
“An unrecoverable blow to your ego, no doubt.” She cocked her hip and jammed a hand down on it. Had she been so exhausted less than an hour ago that she could barely stand? Adrenaline and a hefty craving for Lucas coursed through her. “And it’s so funny, but I’d swear I’m not actually in bed yet. Perhaps your work isn’t done after all.”
With a growl, he flung off the sheet, sprang up from the mattress and crawled toward her, completely, beautifully naked. Her mouth went dry.
Wickedness flashed through his expression, and the shiver it unleashed in her this time was all anticipation. She absolutely could not mistake how much she turned him on.
This was all for her. Not for him. He’d said so, and she intended to hold him to it.
He rose up on his knees in front of her and extended a hand. She took it and braced to be yanked onto the bed. Instead, he held each finger to his lips and kissed them individually. By the time he reached the pinkie, he’d added licking and sucking and the rough texture of his tongue burned across her flesh.
He pressed her palm to his chest and left it there. Then, he cupped her face reverently. “Beautiful. So beautiful.”
Before she could squawk out a lame “Thank you,” he captured her mouth with his and held the kiss, lips suspended in time, and a tornado of need whirled through her womb.
Slowly, he angled his head and parted her mouth with his lips, and heat poured into her body. His tongue found hers, gliding forward and back in a sensuous dance.
Her nails dug into his rock-hard chest, scrabbling for purchase to keep her off the carpet. The kiss went on and on and stoked the flame of desire higher and higher in her belly.
Slow. It was all about slow with Lucas, and it was exquisite torture. She needed more, needed him now.
She broke away and reached for him, but he shook his head. His hands skimmed up her arms and down her back, came around to the front again, and both thumbs hooked the hem of her tank top. Gradually, he drew it skyward as he watched her from below half-closed lids.
“You’re, um, not going to make me get in the bed?” she asked hoarsely.
“Nope.” He pulled her top free from her raised arms and tossed it over his shoulder, and then he encircled her waist with an arm to draw her closer, his gaze ravenous as it traveled over her bare breasts. “You chose not to get in bed. I choose to take care of you right where you’re at.”
Her nipples rubbed his naked torso and beaded instantly and fire erupted in her womb, drawing a moan from deep in her throat. If he kept whispering that whiskey-smooth voice across her bare skin, it wouldn’t take long to rip a verbally induced climax out of her. But she hoped for a hands-on approach.
He obliged her. One hand glided to the small of her back and pushed, jutting her breasts up and allowing him to capture a nipple with his tongue in a searing, swirling lasso.
She gripped his shoulders, lost in a slow spiral toward brainlessness as he sucked and laved at her sensitive flesh.
He switched sides and treated the other nipple to his magically delicious mouth. When he skated hard teeth across the peak, her legs buckled. Why hadn’t she gotten in bed?
His hand delved inside her shorts, along her bare bottom. His fingers slipped into the crevice, lifting her and crushing her to his torso, supporting her.
The shock of Lucas touching her there had her gasping, but a solid pang of want swallowed the shock. “Madre de Dios.”
Lucas groaned against her breast. With it still in his mouth, he mumbled, “I love it when you talk dirty.”
A throaty laugh burst out
