you things and doing stupid shit until you stop making that face.”
“Nero—”
He broke off her words as he suddenly moved her. She never thought of herself as small or easily budged—but he was strong. Very strong. She was lying on her back on the lounge now, with him over her. He was straddling her legs, pinning her down.
He buried his head into the crook of her neck, and she felt his lips there, kissing her. His teeth nipped at her. She gasped. Without intending to, she arched into him.
“That’s it,” he praised, urging her to turn her head away to give him more room. She did. She wanted to stop him, but she didn’t know how.
As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. She was always melancholy. Octavia accused her of it all the time. It made her unapproachable, Octavia had said. But now, his touch chased it away and left something in her that felt like it was stretched tight as a wire. Something that might snap at any moment.
He lavished her throat with his lips and his tongue, nipping at her, kissing her, roaming up to her ear and down to her collarbone. His fingers gathered the strap of her dress and her bra and gently pulled it aside, giving him more room. And also pulling the fabric dangerously low over her breast.
But he moved so slowly. He didn’t rush her. He didn’t take. He gave her every chance to fight him. “Oh, Hope…Hope…you’re so beautiful…Gods, that’s the face I want to see every day. Not sadness. Do you know how happy you look when I touch you?”
He moved his hand up her arm, drifting over her shoulder and then dangerously lower. No. No, this is wrong. I shouldn’t let this happen! He drifted his hand lower, and lower still. He let his palm graze over the swell of her breast, waiting for her to protest. Waiting to see if she would tell him to stop.
She didn’t.
He pressed the weight of his hand against her body, cupping, caressing, toying with her. She bit her lip to hold back a moan and turned her head away from him.
“No. No hiding. There’s no one here. Just us. And you don’t hide from me. You don’t run, and you don’t hide, you understand? Not now, not ever.” His voice was thick with pleasure and need. “I’m not going to fuck you now, no matter how much I want to. No matter how much I—” He groaned as he squeezed her harder, and she finally let out the cry that had been trying to escape. “I really, really need to. We’re going to take it slow, you and me.”
“This isn’t slow…”
“Trust me. It is.” He shifted, and suddenly he was sitting with his legs on either side of the lounge. Her thighs were up over his, and he was between her legs, her dress riding up dangerously high. “Oh, Hope…”
He turned her head and kissed her. He stole her gasp and her protests with his lips, working over her with a ferocious hunger. With his weight on one elbow by her head, his other hand roamed her body, caressing her, pressing his fingers into her in all the right places.
She felt like she was on fire. Her body was roaring with its own need. It wasn’t anything she’d ever felt before. Everywhere he touched, she wanted more. Every time he moved on to somewhere else, she was disappointed.
How could she resist something she had never experienced? How could she say no to something that felt so good?
When his hand wandered down between her legs, she jolted and broke the kiss. “Wait—” It came out as a breathless gasp.
He shushed her, kissing at the corner of her lips. “I want to make you feel good. That’s all.”
“I—you said you weren’t going to—”
He chuckled. “Is that all you think a man can do for a woman? Stuff her and rut her and walk away?” He tsked and kissed her cheek. “You have so much to learn. Oh. One other thing.” His voice lowered to that vibrating growl that seemed to resonate with something inside her. “Open your mouth, pretty girl.”
It was just like what he had told her to do at the party. Just like before, she shivered and didn’t know what to do. He flicked his tongue along her lower lip. It felt like being touched by fire. His tongue was hot—hotter than it should be by far. His hand