gentle finger on her chin brought her eyes back to his. “I thought I was imagining it before, but you are shy.”
“Pretty laughable, I know, after...after...”
“You went up in flames in my arms?” he completed for her again. “I find your shyness no such thing. But I felt it even through your mind-blowing response.” She hid her face in his chest, felt his chuckle rev below her cheek. “Don’t be even shier now. You affected me the same way, minus the shyness part. Meu Deus...the way you surrendered to me, as if you couldn’t help yourself, as if I’d overwhelmed you.”
“No ‘as if’ about it. You more than overwhelmed me.” She burrowed deeper into him, arousal mingling with relief as he crushed her harder in his embrace.
So this was what desire was all about. This was what had been missing all her life. Him. She must have felt him out there, have instinctively known that accepting anything less, with anyone else, would be shortchanging herself.
Out loud, she whispered, “So this is the kind of crazy attraction that drives people to commit insanities, huh?”
His beautiful lips curved. “Delightful insanities.”
She couldn’t have put it better. “Yes.”
“But even in my insanity, some fail-safe mechanism kicked in and pulled me back from possessing you without protection.”
She gaped at him. That hadn’t even crossed her mind!
Then the enormity of the whole situation hit her. Hard.
He smoothed a hand over her flaming cheek. “I only did so for you. Another unprecedented thing for me.”
“You mean you usually don’t consider your...partner?” she croaked, reeling with belated shock at her own folly.
“I usually consider my partner and myself. This time I only considered you. This was so out of the blue, progressed with such blinding speed...at the last moment I thought you might not even realize what you were risking. So even though it was beyond me to stop pleasuring you, I had to protect you.”
“Oh...” She found no words to express what she was feeling. This was...huge. He could have just taken his pleasure, but he hadn’t. He’d put her safety before his own carnal needs. Her hands squeezed his arm in gratitude, loving the sheer power her fingers felt beneath them. “Thank you.”
He gathered her tighter to him and planted a kiss on her forehead. “Anything for you, minha beleza, anything at all.” He drew away to look down at her. “But now that I’m not about to have a heart attack with arousal, I will procure all precautions, and props.”
Props? The word ricocheted in her imagination as he leveled the full force of his gaze on her.
“Give me your promise.”
“Wh-what promise?”
“That you’ll spend the night in my arms.”
“Oh...”
She really had to stop saying that!
“Then after this night, the next night. And the next.”
Throat closing at his intensity, she murmured, “Wouldn’t you want to see how one night goes before committing to more?”
“I know how this night will go. I will pleasure you to within an inch of your life, make it impossible for you not to crave more.” At her head shake his eyebrow rose again, what she felt certain sent powerful men cowering. “How can you think this won’t happen?”
“Because I have no idea if I can make it impossible for you not to crave more nights.”
“Have I blown a fuse in there with too much pleasure already?” One finger gently tapped her temple, his smile lazy assurance itself. “It’s the only explanation as to why you’d even consider something so ludicrous.”
“If you say so,” she mumbled.
“I do. Now give me your promise.” At her hesitation, he frowned. “Are you worried I might turn out to be a nutcase?”
She coughed. “That is one thing that didn’t even cross my mind.”
“So you’re saying you trust me?” He dragged his teeth along her neck like a vampire searching for the sweetest spot for a bite. Her head fell back, giving him the exposure he needed to find the best one.
A shudder of acute pleasure shook her whole frame as he took that nip. “I’m saying I couldn’t even think about anything beyond what you made me feel. If you didn’t notice, I haven’t exactly been functioning on any logical level since you...‘summoned me.’”
He raised his head, pure male satisfaction gleaming in his eyes. “No, you haven’t. But neither have I.”
It was so gratifying that he confessed her equal effect on him so openly. “I was and still am operating purely on instinct.”
“And your instincts are telling you to trust me?”
“I can’t explain it—” she dived into him again, nodding against his hot-velvet flesh “—but they do.” She looked up, whispering what felt like a pledge. “I do trust you.”
His eyes blazed in response. “Implicitly?”
She nodded again.
“You won’t freak out when I make unusual demands in bed?”
Her eyes grew wider as his filled with that predator’s gleam that made her pulse race in anticipation.
Still, she had to ask. “Define unusual.”
“Unusual in quantity...not quality.” Before she could tell him that wasn’t much better, he added, “At least, not too unusual in quality.”
“There you go again with unrealistic expectations.”
His lips twisted. “You think I’m false advertising?”
“It’s me who has performance...or rather conformance anxiety. I don’t think I can meet your demands in quantity. It’s out of the question I could in quality.”
“Just leave everything to me. As you’ve done so far.” He took her on his lap, caressing her all over. “Any complaints?”
“Only one.” She fidgeted over the massive hardness beneath her, the simmering inside her flaring up again. “That you seem to have created a monster.”
Those perfect teeth flashed as he pressed her against his arousal. “You want more.”
“I want you,” she moaned.
“Not as much as I want you. Ah-ah-ah...” He placed a silencing finger on her lips when she started to protest. “You just have to trust me again on this. Now...your promise.”
She
