pleading. “You need to know, I decided to end us due to fear and coercion. I thought I was endangering you.” He entwined his fingers with hers. “It was never what I wanted. You are all I’ve wanted.”
She stared down at their hands. “God, there’s so much you don’t know. And I fear your reaction when you discover it.”
“You have me regardless. No matter what is said and done, you have me.” He pressed her hand to his chest. “It’s yours. I’m yours. And all that’s left is for you to be mine.”
Leila fell silent. Her tears stopped falling, and her eyes bored through his as if she were staring deep into his body. Everything had become heightened, her touch hot enough to burn through his flesh, his heart pounding against her palm, seconds from beating out of his chest.
He took in a shallow breath. “Please, Leila. Say you’ll be mine. Please.”
A soft, assured voice escaped her lips. “I’ll be yours.”
He choked over his words. “You will?”
“I will.”
Jumping to his feet, he threw his arms around her in triumph. This was what he needed: her face buried in his neck, her fingers digging into his back, clinging to him. He rested his head against hers.
“I’ll earn your forgiveness. I’ll never be so stupid again, I swear it.”
Leila erupted into tears, and he dragged his hands down her cheeks. “Leila, please don’t cry.”
“Oh, shut up, you’re crying too.”
“But I deserve it. This trouble is all my doing, I have no one to blame but myself.”
“That’s not true,” she said. “I should’ve been frank with you. I should’ve told you everything weeks ago, the moment you entered the palace.”
“No, stop it.”
“I’m so sorry—”
“Leila, hear me. You are my greatest gift—the one beacon of light in this hellish place.” He took her hand in his, pulling her in closer. “You are mine. And you should apologize for nothing.”
Leila sprang onto her toes and kissed him, filling his hollowed chest with warmth. Her body curved into his, sinking into the exact place it belonged.
“I want to hear everything,” he said. “Whatever you have to say. I’ll listen intently. I won’t say a word.”
She nodded between hurried kisses, and he took her face in his hands. “Are we all right?”
Her breathing wavered. “Yes, darling…”
His lips pressed to hers before she could finish. One kiss turned into many, each heavier than the last. The world had suddenly become whole and right, as having her in his arms had become the soundest decision of his life—his true purpose regardless of what anyone said.
A soft touch broke through the moment. Leila took his hand, guiding it down the front of her lace robe, stopping at her belt. She threaded his fingers through the strip of fabric, loosening it, and the front of her robe crept open, revealing a hint of her breasts, a small, sweet navel.
A glimpse of her bare flesh.
Tobias sucked in a breath. “Oh my God, you’re naked.”
“Not quite,” she said. “But I could be…”
Tobias went still, frozen stiff—until everything within him ignited at once. He launched toward her, kissing her hard as she wrapped her arms around him. That glimpse of skin pressed against him, but it wasn’t enough; he wanted more, and fortunately Leila seemed to feel the same, leading him across the room.
To the bed.
They stumbled between voracious kisses, collapsing onto the sheets in a pile of entwined limbs. He tried not to be presumptuous, but all caution escaped him once Leila yanked his pants down and squeezed his bare ass. Squirming, he kicked his pants past his ankles to the floor.
He was on top of Leila. He was in her bed. And he was naked.
Tearing her lips from his, she gazed down his chest, his stomach, then locked on to his groin, and her eyes went wider than he had ever seen before.
She lunged forward, kissing, then nibbling his lip. Everything about her had turned fierce, and her boldness only fueled his hunger, his body pulsing with want and need. As he flipped her on top of him, her hair spilled down her shoulders, pouring over him in sweet-smelling swirls. He peeled the robe from her back and tossed it aside, and his throat caught: milky skin, round breasts, the curve of her hips, and everything in between.
“Oh my God, you’re so beautiful.” He scanned her up and down. “Oh my God, you’re perfect.”
Leila dove into him, pressing her tongue into his mouth. The air around them became stiflingly hot, and he