you won’t be able to test the theory.” She said it with a lot more boldness than she felt, but she realized that she’d made the decision the moment she’d taken a step toward him.
She wanted him again. If they left it at the night at the opera, it would never truly be over. It had been too fast. Too intense. A memory that was scorched around the edges, covering it all in the hazy smoke of fantasy. There was no way it had been as good as she remembered. No way it had been so all-consuming, so soul-destroying.
She lifted her other hand and cupped his cheek, sliding her thumb over the rough shadow of stubble that covered his jaw. “I want you,” she said.
“Really?” he bit out. “Because I seem to recall you running from me as though I had forced you the last time you begged me to touch you. I wasn’t a fan of that.”
“I’m not going to run this time,” she said, her voice trembling. Even as she said it, she wasn’t sure she could keep her promise.
Because the closer she got to Alik, the less hazy her memory became. The longer she left her palm on his face, against the heat of his skin, the more he burned into her. And she was shaking, terrified that being with him again would reduce her entirely to ash. She was shaking, afraid of what she felt. Of what she intended to do.
But she couldn’t turn back, either.
“Promise,” he said, leaning in, his lips skimming her cheek. He nipped her ear, lightly, leaving behind a light sting that he soothed with the tip of his tongue. “Promise me,” he repeated.
“I promise,” she said.
“Tell me you want me.”
“I want you, Alik.”
It was enough for him. It must have been. He pulled her up against his chest, kissing her hard, deep. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him to her, kissing him back, matching his desperation, his hunger.
The beast he woke up inside of her was something she’d never known about before. The desire, the need, from a part of her she hadn’t been aware existed.
She knew about desire, she knew about pleasure, but this…this was new. This need that verged on pain, this hunger that bordered on insanity. She felt like he was air, like having him was essential, something she couldn’t live without.
It made it impossible for her to think. And that thoughtlessness was bliss.
“Bedroom,” she panted as he kissed down her throat, his teeth scraping her collarbone.
“Mine or yours.”
“Whichever is closer.”
“Yours,” he said, picking her up and carrying her down the hall. She wrapped her arms around his neck, awed by his strength, which, she was sure, was the reason he’d done it. That and to make her feel tiny and feminine. Both had worked.
He pushed the bedroom door open and set her down, then slammed it shut behind them. He flicked the light on, a wicked grin on his face.
“What?” she asked. “Why did you turn the lights on?”
“Didn’t you say that you’ve had sex with the lights on?”
“Yes, but…” Just not quite so purposefully.
“I want to see you,” he said, pushing his pants down his narrow hips. “It’s a priority this time around.”
Her jaw slackened a little bit when he was naked in front of her. Completely. She’d seen most of him, but not all of him at one time. He was utter masculine perfection, hard-cut lines of muscle, deep scars that were marring his skin, a map of his life, marks that had been inflicted on him by those who had meant him harm.
And the ink on his skin, marks he’d chosen for himself.
“They say men are visual,” she said, “but I’m feeling pretty visual myself right now.”
“As am I,” he said, skipping over the compliment. “Show yourself to me.”
Her breath shortened, became labored. It was such a strange way to put it. Evidence of the fact that English wasn’t his first language. But it meant more this way, too. She was showing herself to him.
A part of herself she had never seen or known about. A part no one had ever seen or known about. Deeper. More sensual. The only question was if she was brave enough. Not simply to uncover it for him, but to reveal it to herself.
Maybe if she’d had a choice, she wouldn’t have done it. But there was no choice. This thing, this desire, it was bigger than she was. And tonight, it won over