Page 225

She turned her head slightly. ‘Did you enjoy it, Kai?’

‘What? The sex?’ He slid the cloth up, gently running it over her breasts, circling her nipples, feeling them harden beneath his touch and hearing the catch in her breath as he touched her. ‘Wasn’t it obvious?’

‘I don’t know, you looked…’

‘I looked what?’ He paused, an odd discomfort tightening inside him. Had she picked up on his anger just before he’d run her bath? He hoped not, because that was something he definitely didn’t want to talk about.

‘I don’t know,’ she said after a moment. ‘It just made me wonder if I’d done something wrong, and you hadn’t liked it.’

The note of uncertainty in her voice deepened his discomfort, becoming a pinching sensation just behind his breastbone, and he didn’t like that, either. He should tell her that yes, she was bad in bed, and that he didn’t want to do it again. It would hurt her, but that would be a good thing. That would stop whatever was between them becoming something more than it should.

Except, that would be a lie, and he couldn’t bring himself to lie to her. She was an honest person, and she deserved honesty in return.

‘You didn’t do anything wrong,’ he said. ‘And I did like it. I liked it very much.’ Too much.

As if that had been the answer she’d been waiting for, he felt the stiffness melt out of her, bringing with it another unwelcome realization. He liked that he’d been able to reassure her, because he didn’t want her doubting or second-guessing herself. Not about that.

‘Really?’ she asked.

‘Really,’ he murmured in her ear, then slid the cloth down over her stomach and between her thighs, pressing it gently against her sensitive clit.

He didn’t want to talk anymore, and he didn’t want to think anymore. He was starting to second-guess himself, and he was tired of it.

She gave a shaky little gasp as he pressed harder, giving her a slight amount of friction, but only enough to build her hunger, not sate it. ‘Oh,’ she breathed. ‘You mean it?’

He shifted, pressing the hard length of his cock against her. ‘Does this feel as if I mean it?’

She sighed and leaned back on him, her hips moving against the press of the cloth. It felt like a surrender, and something raw and possessive shifted inside him, which was yet another emotion he didn’t either want or need, but he couldn’t help it. Liberty had never been with anyone else but him, and that made her his.

Don’t you remember the last time you thought a woman was yours?

Of course he did. It wasn’t as if he could ever forget. But again, that had been a long, long time ago, and he was different now. He was older and had put those softer emotions, those youthful naiveties, behind him. He was the one in control this time, and he would not let a few unexpected feelings take it from him.

‘Kai…’ Liberty’s voice was husky and full of need.

‘Tell me what you want,’ he demanded, letting desire flood through him, because that at least, was something he could allow himself. ‘Tell me, Libby.’

‘I want you,’ she whispered, her hips moving with his hand between her thighs.

‘Where do you want me?’

‘Inside me.’ She shuddered as he reached around and cupped her bare breast in one hand. ‘Please, Kai. Please…’

He liked the desperate note in her voice. He liked knowing it was all for him. He wanted to take her right now, in the bath, but they had no condoms, so he moved, getting out of the bath then scooping her up out of the water. Then he dried her, taking his time as he moved the towel over her damp skin, running into issues as she tried to touch him in return. Eventually, he threw the towel onto the ground and lifted her up onto the vanity, before getting a condom from one of the drawers and rolling it down. Then he spread her thighs wide and pushed deep inside her, both of them sighing with the pleasure of it. She wrapped her legs around his waist, her hands sliding up his chest to his shoulders, looking up at him.

Her eyes were smoky gold and full of heat, her face flushed, and she gazed at him as if he was something magical, something incredible. It was intoxicating. He gripped her hips, his fingers digging into her soft flesh as he thrust inside her, deep and hard, the heat of her winding around him and holding him tight. Touching that frozen piece of him, melting the layer of ice that surrounded it. Thawing it with the warmth in her eyes and the delicious heat of her body.

Briefly he was conscious of a sliver of fear at the thought of it melting entirely, and what it would reveal if it did. Then the thought vanished as the pleasure set him on fire and he burned to ash along with her.

Chapter Eight

LIBBY WOKE THE next day in Kai’s bed, feeling warm and utterly physically sated. The day and night before had been glorious in ways she had never imagined.

After the bath, Kai had taken her back to bed and they’d spent the rest of the day there, him showing her what she liked and then showing her what he liked in return. It had been a revelation. Especially, when he’d made her lie back and then used his tongue and his fingers to lick and caress and stroke every inch of her body.

Everything he did made her feel wanted in a way she’d never felt before. Beautiful, too, and sexy. Things she’d hadn’t ever thought about herself, and definitely not things anyone else had ever told her. There had even been moments when she’d believed him.

Afterwards, he’d made her stay in the bedroom while he went downstairs to make them some food, before bringing it up on a tray, along with a bottle of wine. They’d lain in bed, eating and drinking, talking about books and movies and other easy things. He didn’t ask her any personal questions, and she decided to do the same, no matter how curious she was about him.