He stopped in front of her, his gaze holding hers. “It wasn’t you, Anna,”
“Then…what?” She searched his face, looking for clues.
“I had plans when it came to you. And those plans did not include tearing your clothes from you and taking you like a damn animal.” He lifted a hand and thrust it through his hair in an unfamiliar, agitated movement. “That was not how your first time was supposed to go.” He cursed again, his gaze narrowing. Then he stepped forward, reaching out to her and drawing her close, searching her face. “Are you alright? Did I hurt you?”
He was so warm, his hands gentle on her hips. But she remembered his intensity, remembered the hunger of his kiss, the raw demand of it. The way he’d thrust inside her without hesitation, possessive and rough. It shook her with longing right down to her soul.
“No,” she said thickly. “No, you didn’t hurt me.”
He lifted both hands and cupped her face, frowning at her as if he couldn’t quite believe her. “Are you sure?” His thumbs stroked her cheekbones, a gentle, almost tender touch that made Anna shiver.
“You make me so hungry, Anna. And I thought I had better control over myself than that. But apparently not where you are concerned.”
So. He’d lost control and she, the woman who’d never been what anyone, not even her own father, had wanted, had made him lose it. The cold inside her melted away. She stared up at him, leaning into his palms and the gentle stroke of his thumbs. “I don’t care. And I lost a little bit of control myself, too, if you must know.”
His gaze was enigmatic, whatever thoughts he had locked securely away behind the walls in his eyes. And she could see those walls. They were meters thick. And of course her insatiable curiosity immediately wanted to know what was behind them, what he was hiding from her, even though she shouldn’t.
She shouldn’t want to know anything about her unexpectedly passionate husband and yet she did. Not that she didn’t know things about him already, about his parents and his long dead brother… His thumb moved gently on her skin again and her thoughts scattered in a whirl of sparks.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have walked away like that. But you surprised me. You shocked me and I thought I was unshockable.”
She blinked. “But…why?”
His thumbs paused, the look on his face intensifying. “Because I have never wanted anyone as badly as I wanted you.”
Her pulse gathered speed, the muscular heat of his body warming her straight through. The material of her robe was soft on her skin but she wanted his hands there instead. And maybe he knew that. Maybe he could see, because one hand on her cheek spread out in a slow movement, sliding down over her jaw and her neck to rest in the hollow of her throat. The tips of his fingers pressed lightly against her pulse, measuring it. Feeling the pace of her desire.
The eyes had gone the deep, inky black of midnight, and just as dark and mysterious. “Shall we try that again?” His voice had become darker too, roughened and hungry-sounding. “Slower this time?”
“I don’t need slow.” She was shivering again, leaning into the hard strength of his body. “I just need you.”
But something in his gaze flared in response and one corner of his beautiful mouth turned up. “In that case, you shall have me.”
He didn’t grab her this time, though. Instead he picked her up in his arms and went back into the room. He laid her on the bed and then he stepped back, pulling his own clothes off until he was naked. As naked as he’d been that day beside the lake. She couldn’t help herself then, shrugging off the robe and slipping off the bed, going to him.
His body was perfect, and when she put her hands on him he didn’t move, allowing her to explore. To touch the wide, muscled plane of his chest and then the hard corrugations of his stomach. The powerful contours of his arms and the lean shape of his waist. His skin was golden and smooth and velvety, and when she pressed her mouth to it he tasted salty and delicious.
His fingers pushed into her hair, cupping the back of her head as she kissed down his chest, her hand stroking lower, finding the hard length of him hot and powerful. She touched him, stroked him, watching the flex and release of his muscles in response to her touch. He was mesmerizing. She wanted to go down on her knees and worship him, but he stopped her, pulling her close instead, his mouth hungry on hers. He didn’t let her protest. Instead, he picked her up and carried her to the bed, laying her out on the mattress, then moving over her. He kissed her deeply, making her moan, and then his mouth went lower, to her throat, tasting her skin the way she’d tasted his.
Anna shut her eyes as Cedric kissed down her chest to her breasts, his tongue on her nipple, teasing her. She gasped and arched up, her hands in his hair. “Yes,” she sighed. “Cedric,”
The heat of his mouth closed around her nipple, the pressure drawing a moan from her. She sighed again, arching higher. “More, please, more.”
“If this is you being demanding then you’ll have to do better than that, Anna,” he murmured. “Perhaps you need some more provocation. Allow me to provide it.”
And before she could respond he moved to the other breast, his hot mouth covering her nipple and sucking lightly on it. Another raw sound escaped her as sensation burst through her in a bright glitter, like sparks against her skin. And, though a reflexive concern rippled through her, she ignored it. Because she’d lost control of herself the first time and it had been okay. He’d pushed away from her, but it hadn’t been her fault.
It was because he wanted her. Who had ever wanted her the way he had? No one.
So she did nothing as he moved down further, easing her thighs apart. And when his wicked tongue found the beating heart of her, she gave herself up to the sensation completely. Pleasure glittered in her blood, sparks of electricity winding everywhere as his fingers spread her wider, his tongue exploring deeper. She moaned, arching her back and lifting her hips, forgetting herself. Forgetting herself utterly.