than what had been done to his face.
“Oh, Jamie,” she whispered as she pushed open the cloth and shoved it down his arms. She opened his shirt cuffs, and he pulled free. His eyes opened when his upper half was bare, and he almost wished he’d left them shut. Tears brimmed her eyes as she met his gaze with such dismay at what had happened to him. “How?” she asked again.
He shifted to lie beside her, and she cuddled into his arms, not thinking twice about pressing her lips to his chest where scars pulled his nipple to an odd shape.
“I was a photojournalist. You know…that Life magazine, National Geographic, coffee table book kind of stuff. I was in the middle east—wrong place at the wrong time. I was filming a religious festival when a suicide bomber attacked the participants.” He splayed the fingers of his scarred hand. “I was a mess but still very lucky. Nearly a hundred people died.”
Her tongue flicked over his nipple then she kissed his chest again. Her nails dragged along his good side, sending fire through him.
“You have a remarkable attitude,” she said.
“I didn’t for a long time. I still don’t about some things.” Like his chances with a girl like her. He flexed his fingers on her ass. “But I still have my hand. And I have my life. And I can hold you.”
They lay silently for several minutes, chest to chest, two souls meshing. Despite his hold on her rear and their nudity, there wasn’t an overt sexuality to the moment. They comforted one another, though he wasn’t sure yet what had traumatized her. They accepted each other.
Rayna shifted upward and threaded her fingers through his hair. She kissed him hard. “And you can fuck me. You better,” she threatened good-naturedly.
Rolling, he trapped her beneath him. Her legs bracketed his hips. He flexed into her, wishing he’d already removed his pants. “Or else what?” he asked.
“Or I’ll…I’ll march over to the garage, just like this, and start handing out kisses to any man I see.”
“Oh no you won’t.” He kissed her hard, grinding into her until she writhed and moaned. Wriggling beneath him, she removed her panties while he opened the front closure of her bra. His breath caught as her small, perfect breasts fell free. “So beautiful,” he murmured.
She trembled as he ran his thumb over one tip then took the peak between his lips. He sucked deep until she cried out and shook. Her fingers bit into his upper arms, but that was pure bliss in itself, for he knew the pain was due to her own pleasure.
“Oh yes, Jamie,” she moaned. Her pussy flooded as she moved beneath him. She wanted the hard proof of his desire plunging into her. She pushed up into his mouth as his tongue lashed over her nipple, each pass making her cunt clench with the need to be filled by him.
His satyr smile edged up her desire even more as he slid her bra along her arms. With a wicked grin, he tied it around her wrists then re-clasped it around one of the brass rungs of the bed.
“No fair,” she protested even though being tied up for him made her so hot she could barely think.
“Life’s not fair, sweetness,” he growled, his brogue now almost as thick as the one Patrick had put on yesterday. God, she loved the accent on him. “And now you’re all mine. At my mercy.”
She pulled at her wrists, not really trying to get free. “I was all yours before.”
“Perhaps you should know,” he said. “I have a penchant for tyin’ up my woman.”
At the moment, she had a penchant for being tied up by him. Who would have known? She’d never been tied up before, and her body had never responded so strongly to a man before either. Danger lurked inside him—nothing that would physically harm her. No, it was something that could possess her soul.
“I think you should have a penchant for removing your pants,” she said.
“In time,” he promised. Taking his time, he molded her breasts. His fingers pulled the nipples, pinching and twisting to bring her the slightest pain but great bolts of pleasure. Her body vibrated with it, her pulse pounding, her blood burning. Her pussy was so wet, she knew his cock had to be damp with it even through his pants.
“More,” she whispered, breathing heavily.
Ignoring her plea, he abandoned her chest to move downward. His breath was hot on her