Free BargainWiththeBeast by Naima Simone Page B

he’d doused the light. After removing a small foil packet from his front
pocket, he tossed his pants and underwear to the floor. Naked, he straightened,
and his eyes had adjusted enough to the dark to drink her in like a thirsty man
staring at an ice-old bottle of water. Her sex, a shade darker than the
shadows, drew his ravenous gaze. He’d just sipped from the intoxicating flesh
between her thighs and he longed for more. A sliver of unease pierced his
heart. If he was smart, he’d tell her to get dressed and walk out of this room.
One time—one week—would never be enough to fill this ravenous need for her.
    Xavier approached the bed, climbed onto it and crouched on
his hands and knees over her. Arousal consumed him and he spared only a brief
thought to the scars marring his chest and stomach. Her taste filling his mouth
left no room for humiliation.
    She stared up at him, her features loosened with
pleasure—pleasure he’d placed there. Did she know what she’d given him tonight?
    He mentally shook his head. How could she? How could she
know by submitting to him so generously—so sweetly—she’d healed a part of his
heart, his spirit? Until she’d come in his mouth and on his hand, he hadn’t
admitted to himself how much damage his ex-fiancée’s rejection had wreaked.
    Compounded by the wide berth most women cleaved around him,
he’d doubted a woman could still want him…would see past his face and allow him
close enough to bare the man who still existed beneath the scarred visage. And
now, as she gazed at him in satiation instead of the horror he’d become
accustomed to, a piece of his soul returned to him—battered, but strong and
whole.
    He lowered his head and brushed his lips over hers. Once.
Twice. She circled his neck with her arms and drew him closer. Though blood
raged through his cock, making it pound with insistence to be buried deep
inside her tight sex, the kiss was soft, tender. Almost…loving. Her tongue
tangled with his, sucked and caressed. Each moan and breathless sigh stroked
his senses and shored up another crack in his heart.
    “I need…” You. But he bit back the word that would
reveal too much. “I need to be inside you, Gwen. Let me in.”
    She nodded and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth.
“Yes.”
    Such a simple word yet it rocked his world, his soul.
Leaning all his weight on one hand, he opened the other and offered the condom
to her. “Put it on, baby.”
    With another nod, she ripped the package open and slid the
latex free. Xavier studied her slim fingers with rapt fascination as she
gripped the wide stalk and rolled the condom down his length. He growled as her
touch grazed the sensitive, stretched skin. And when she released his cock, he
almost demanded she return her hand to his flesh. It was that damn good.
    His fingers circled the base of his erection and she sank
her teeth into her bottom lip. The gesture struck him as anxious. As if she
were nervous…
    “How long has it been?”
    She flicked her eyes up to him and her tongue peeked out to
wet her lips. “Seven years.”
    Seven years. Shit. That would mean she’d been
celibate since Joshua’s death. No. His brother had been dead six years. So that
meant… Surprise shot through him, followed by curiosity. But with his dick throbbing
a primitive, hungry rhythm answers to his questions could wait. Fuck first.
Answers second.
    Shit. She’d reduced him to a caveman.
    He inhaled a deep breath then released it through his nose.
Right now he needed patience that had expired about the time she’d stripped out
of her clothes. Somehow he had to find it, because getting inside her small
pussy would require every ounce.
    “Baby, you’re very tight,” he said. “We’ll go slow and
easy.”
    He rose and settled back on his heels. Heart speeding like a
runaway train, he arrowed his cock toward her entrance. He palmed her slim
thighs then eased them wider apart. His cock head parted her folds and
penetrated