she could be. Which is what made this situation so hazardous. “Look, whether you want to continue this or not is immaterial to me.”
“It’s everything to you.” He clasped her waist and hauled her against him. “Now that you know what you’ve been missing, it’s difficult to do without it.”
“I can do without it, thank you very much.”
“Are you sure about that?”
She was only sure of one thing—he could do things to her that no man had ever done with only a look.
Without the least bit of warning, he pulled up the back of her robe and ran his hands over her bare bottom. “For someone who doesn’t want it, you’re certainly prepared to get it.”
She shivered slightly despite her efforts to stop it. “I didn’t have the opportunity to get dressed after my bath.”
“You didn’t have any intention of getting dressed after your bath.” He took his hands from her bottom and brought them to the robe’s sash, releasing it with only a minimal tug. After parting the fabric, he took a step back and a visual excursion down her body that was already flushed. “Now to decide exactly what I’m going to do to you, and where I’m going to do it.”
She closed her robe and redid the sash for the sheer pleasure of having him open it again. “I don’t remember giving you permission to do anything to me.”
He gestured to the door. “Go, then. I’m not going to force you into anything.”
Damn him. And damn herself for her inability to resist him. “Well, I suppose since I don’t have anything better to do, we could spend some time together.”
His smile was smug and tremendously sexy. “That’s what I thought.”
Clasping her hand, he led her to the chaise and sat her down. Then he took the chair across from her, tugged his T-shirt over his head and tossed it behind him. Selene held her breath when he toyed with his fly before lifting his hand and settling it on his thigh without lowering his zipper.
He was taunting her. And she wasn’t going to let him get away with it. “You can take off your pants, Adrien. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”
He stretched his long legs out before him and laced his hands atop his belly. “Don’t be so sure about that.”
A tiny shiver ran up and down her spine. “A bit egotistical, are we?”
“This isn’t about ego. It’s about your experience.” He leaned forward and nailed her with his deadly gaze, the medallion dangling from his neck serving as a reminder of his strength of will. “Have you ever really looked at a man before, Selene? Studied all the details of his body?”
She’d lost her virginity in the dark after a fraternity fling and had married a man who was a lights-out kind of guy. “I guess I would have to say no, not really.”
“Then you still have a lot to learn.”
“Let’s get to it then.” Obviously she was suffering from an overdose of enthusiasm.
“Not yet.” He slowly rose from the chair and stood before her. “We’re going to take this slowly.”
“I don’t want slowly.”
He pulled the sash, parted her robe again and slid it off her shoulders. “You’re going to get slowly whether you want it or not. Now recline on the chaise.”
Selene scooted up against the angled tufted back and stretched her crossed legs before her, propped her elbow on the rolled arm and draped her other arm across her middle. In a way, she felt like a queen waiting to be tended by a dark, dangerous knight. She found it odd that she didn’t feel uncomfortable over being totally nude in his presence, until he continued to stand there, sizing her up like a sculptor preparing to mold his next masterpiece.
In a fit of self-consciousness, she started to fold her arms across her breasts until Adrien said, “Don’t you dare cover yourself.”
“Okay.” Her voice sounded pathetically weak, which complemented the way she felt at the moment.
“You have no idea how beautiful you are, do you?” he asked.
“I’ve never thought much about it.” Other than she’d always believed her nose was too sharp, her hair too thin, her brown eyes too wide set and nondescript. All those little worries that women often obsessed about when things could be so much worse.
He moved a little closer. “Did he ever tell you that you’re beautiful?”
She sighed. “I don’t understand your preoccupation with my ex.”
“Because he’s the reason you’re unable to let go.”
Maybe so, but what were Adrien’s reasons? She wanted to ask but she didn’t want to anger him and, in turn, send him away. “I was under the impression I let go quite well last night.”
“Not completely. And that’s what I want from you tonight. I don’t want another man in your mind aside from me.”
He had no idea how deeply ingrained he’d been in her mind since they’d met. “I can manage that.”
“Good. But as tempting as you look right now, there’s not enough room for both of us on that damn lounger.”
Selene pointed to her left. “There’s always the bed.”
“And there are other alternatives, too.”
Obviously Adrien had an aversion to beds, Selene decided. And to lights, her next thought when he snapped off the floor lamp, sending the room into darkness. When she heard the rasp of his zipper and the rustle of denim, she stopped thinking altogether, her mind caught in the grip of anticipation even though she couldn’t see much more than the outline of his body.
“Stand up,” he said.
When Selene left the chaise, he clasped both her hands and held them against his chest. “I’m giving you the chance to learn all the details.”
“How can I when I can’t see you?”
He took her palm and pressed it against his face. “After last night, you should know the answer to that.”
She did know the answer—by using her hands. While Adrien stood there, his arms at his sides, she began by streaming her fingertips along his jaw before tracing a line along his full lips, pausing to briefly touch her lips there. She traveled down the column of his throat, past his Adam’s apple, and used her splayed palms to explore his collarbone before roaming down to the solid plane of his chest covered in a slight dusting of hair. When she grazed his nipples, she detected a slight shudder that led her to linger for a while longer before breezing her hands down his sides and over his rib cage.
Deciding to save the best for last, Selene moved behind him and felt her way over his broad shoulders, joining her hands in the middle of his back to follow the path of his strong spine. His skin grew damp beneath her palms and the cadence of his breathing quickened as she discovered the dip below his waist. She fashioned
