He gritted his teeth, for the first time in a long while considering denying himself. Because he shouldn’t care if she didn’t touch him or kiss him, or get that delicious body on his. It shouldn’t matter to him in the slightest.
If it doesn’t matter, why are you even thinking of refusing her?
Dante had no answer to that.
He smiled, though for the first time in years it felt forced, more like a grimace than a smile. And he tried to make himself sound nonchalant. ‘Well, don’t just stand there, kitten. Come closer and let me see you.’
And perhaps she heard the strained note in his voice, because an expression that looked an awful lot like satisfaction flickered over her lovely face. Then she moved back over to the bed, clearly in no hurry at all, and looked at him very deliberately, the same way he’d looked at her. She was flushed now, the pink extending down her throat and over the pale curves of her breasts, and it deepened as her gaze dropped to where he was hard and ready and aching.
And stayed there.
Electricity crackled the length of his body.
What the hell was she doing to him? He didn’t let himself get like this, not with anyone.
‘I can get hard for any woman,’ he murmured lazily, trying to keep the hoarse note out of the words. ‘But it’ll take more than you being naked to get me off.’
She gave him a brief, scorching glance. ‘Who says I want to get you off? Maybe I just want to play with you.’
Sneaky kitten. So this was a power play, was it? She’d seen the general state he was in and thought she could take advantage, clearly.
Well, she could try. He might be finding it a tad more difficult to be his usual cool self, but when it came to bedroom power games he was the master. Even cuffed to the bed.
‘Obviously I’m not going to object to that.’ He let his voice get lower, become seductive. ‘But, if you want to play, you’d better know what you’re doing.’
‘Who’s to say that I don’t?’ She reached out and stroked lightly over the hard ridge just behind his fly.
More electricity crackled along his nerve-endings, the light brush of her fingertips maddening. Dante ignored the sensation. Instead, he gazed at her from beneath his lashes, letting the look in his eyes burn hot.
She was inexperienced—that kiss she’d given him had proved it well enough—and even though it wasn’t something he’d normally use to his advantage, given the circumstances, beggars couldn’t be choosers.
‘That kiss for a start.’ He let his gaze roam over her, blatantly sexual. ‘Best to know what you’re getting into, darling. I’m a lot for a little kitten to handle.’
A deep-blue spark glittered in her eyes as she stroked him yet again. ‘You’re very arrogant for a man tied to a bed.’
‘And you’re very confident for a virgin.’
The deep pink flush staining her skin became scarlet, gilt lashes sweeping down, veiling her gaze and hiding her expression. And he was conscious of a very particular kind of satisfaction spreading through him. Firstly, for guessing right and, secondly, for the fact that he was perhaps the first man she’d ever touched like this. The first man with whom she’d ever been naked.
He normally steered clear of virgins, as he wasn’t a man an innocent should get entangled with, but he couldn’t deny that for some reason he liked the thought of this particular woman being a virgin. He liked it very much.
A virgin with a gun. How...intriguing.
‘Don’t be embarrassed, darling,’ he said, watching her intently. ‘Even I was a virgin once.’ Though, thinking back, he honestly couldn’t remember how or when he’d lost it.
She didn’t say anything for a long moment. Then suddenly she lifted her head and moved to the bed, climbing on top of it and straddling him. The weight of her was slight, but the heat of her bare skin seeping through his clothes was astonishing.
His breath caught as the blatant sweetness of her perfume surrounded him, but underneath that was something light and fresh, combined with the musk of feminine arousal.
Pretty, pretty kitten.
She rose above him, the pressure of her body against his groin an agony, the sway of her lovely breasts making his mouth go dry. Her skin was glowing, a sheen of perspiration at her throat, the look in her eyes all fire and challenge.
There was not a hint of shyness in her, or at least none that she let him see.
‘I’m not embarrassed.’ She reached for the top button of his shirt. ‘Why would I be?’
Her naked heat had sharpened his hunger while her refusal to back down ignited something far hotter. Something he’d thought he’d killed long ago.
His determination to win.
He smiled, allowing some of his sexual hunger to show. ‘No reason at all. But if you want to play with me then I do suggest learning the rules of the game first.’ He paused. ‘You don’t want to lose on your first try, do you?’
For the merest second an uncertain expression flickered over her face. Then it was gone.
‘But I’m not going to lose,’ she said coolly, pulling open the buttons on his shirt one by one then spreading open the white cotton, baring his chest. ‘I might be a virgin, but I’m not stupid. And a man is only a man.’ She pressed her palms to his skin, the heat of her touch like a brand, her blue eyes burning into his. ‘Like you said, Mr Cardinali. You’re at my mercy. And there’s nothing you can do about it.’
* * *
Dante laughed that intensely sexy laugh of his, the sound heating everything inside her to boiling point, making her skin feel hot and tight, as though she wanted to claw it off and step out of it.
He was giving her the most blatantly sexual look from underneath his lashes, all liquid darkness and heat, and the feel of his muscular, powerful body made her lose all her breath.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Biting him, taking off her dress, touching him, was supposed to tease him, taunt him with what he couldn’t have. Prove her strength to him and also punish him for making her lose her nerve so badly.
And yet the only one feeling as if all of this was a punishment was her.
She hadn’t expected that bite to ignite something inside her. She hadn’t expected his mouth to be quite so soft or for him to taste quite so delicious, like dark chocolate, fine whisky and all the seven sins rolled up into one.
She hadn’t expected the way he’d looked at her naked body to make her feel as if she was going to burn to ash where she stood. Or that touching the hard length that pressed against the wool of his trousers would feel so astonishingly good.
She hadn’t expected the intense throb between her thighs to be quite so demanding either.
Damn him. This was supposed to be a strong moment
