he couldn’t do that, he’d started Stark Security. Because what Damien feared more than anything was losing Nikki and the girls. That would destroy him.
In front of him, the door opened and Nikki smiled. “There you are. I was beginning to think they woke up and conned you into reading a story.”
She stepped toward him, but he didn’t let her enter. Instead, he pushed her out into the hallway, shutting the door behind them. “Our room,” he said, noticing the way her eyes sparked with awareness. “Now.”
She pulled off her T-shirt the moment she was through the door, her hands reaching for the button on her jeans.
“Later,” he growled, a wildness rising up inside him as he kicked the door closed behind them and slammed her up against it. She gasped, but didn’t protest. She knew what he needed. To claim—to take.
She knew, yes, but the true miracle was that she needed it, too. His hands closed over her breasts with as much ferocity as he claimed her mouth. She opened to him, giving as much as he was taking, and he slid one hand down her belly, his fingers sliding over her waxed pussy, then finding her hot core. He cupped her, his fingers inside her, and she moaned against his mouth, surrendering to him with an abandon that equaled his own ferocity. Yes. The word echoed in his mind. Yes, yes, yes.
“More,” he demanded, then spun her around, stumbling backward until they both tumbled onto the bed. He wanted her naked and at his mercy. He craved the sensation of touching her while she was helpless. Of sinking deep inside of her. Of giving her pleasure and, in the giving, losing himself in the passion that he had only ever felt with her. His Nikki. His wife.
Hell, his life.
“Off,” he demanded, even as he fumbled at her pants. She lowered her hands to help him, but he pushed them back. “No. Hold on to the headboard.”
She met his eyes, and he saw the heat of anticipation burning there. “Yes, sir,” she said, and his cock hardened in response. He felt raw. Needy. He knew what he wanted to burn out of his system. He knew that the conversation with Dallas was driving much of this craving.
He knew, but it didn’t matter. Because she was at the heart of it. And for Damien, in the end, everything was about Nikki. About their life together. About her belonging to him just as much as he belonged to her.
And now—well, goddammit, now he needed her. Needed her to make him both feel and forget.
“Whatever you need,” she whispered, and he laughed.
“How is it you know me so well?”
“I could ask you the same thing.” She smiled as her fingers tightened around the columns that ran vertically along the headboard. “Right now, though, I don’t want answers. Just you. Please, Damien,” she begged as he tugged her pants the rest of the way off, taking her panties along with them. She spread her legs, and as she once more begged for him to take her, he bent lower, closing his mouth over her sex, tasting her sweet pussy. Christ, he could eat her all night. The taste of her. The way her hips moved as she ground against him, seeking him. Seeking more.
And, oh, dear God, the way she moaned his name.
He was hard. So fucking hard.
He couldn’t wait much longer, and yet ...
With determination, he pulled back, then stripped, tossing his clothes on the floor, but he kept the belt. With quick, efficient movements, he strapped her arms above her head, her wrists bound to the headboard. Her body arched up, and her lips parted. Her eyes were closed, and she murmured, “Yes, Damien, oh, God, yes, please.”
He couldn’t ignore it. He had to have her. Had to satisfy himself and her.
He sat back, letting his eyes roam over her, visually consuming her. The heat and power and fragility of this woman he loved.
She was his reason for working, for breathing. She was his everything, even before he knew her, this need of her—this vision of the woman who would become his own—had been the force driving him forward. He had to claim her. Needed to know that he still could. That no matter what, that thing that they were to each other was still there, driving him through every moment of every day.
“That’s it, baby,” he said as he stroked her clit, her hips bucking in a silent demand for