beautiful.
And perfect…
With his mouth descending.
His tongue invading.
His fingers still tightening against my head. Hurting…just enough to make me moan and widen, letting him explore my mouth in deeper plunges of passion, hotter sweeps of heat I cannot and will not deny…
“Oh!” It spills before I can even get air back in, when he finally pulls back. The edges of his lips quirk, followed by a gleam in his eyes that cannot be mistaken. The lion is already proud of his kill, and his feast has barely begun.
And the prey could not be happier.
“You liked that, hmmm? Answer me,” he prompts, when all I give is a wobbly nod. “And remember how to do it, girl.”
“Y-yes, Mr. Court. I—I enjoyed it. A great deal.”
“Good.” His stare lowers, taking in my whole face with thicker regard. At the same time, he snags his lower lip with heart-halting slowness. “Because I have much more to give you.”
“Th-thank you, Mr. Court.”
I have no idea if it is the right thing to say, though the fresh spark in his eyes is encouraging. Exhilarating. My breath catches all over again in my chest. What is going on ? This is different than simply anticipating a good fuck with him. Yes, that part is always good.
But this…
Is different.
There is something new here. New…to him. And…to me.
Is it the island? This room? The constant adrenalin we have both been subsisting on, due to what brought us here?
And do I really care?
I only know I love the feeling of it. Every frightening, heart-halting moment of it.
Even as he slips his hands free from me—pulling the T-shirt up and over my head on the way. “Lose these on your way to the bed.” His growled instruction comes with a flick at my lacy panties. “Then lie down on the side of it, with your head down and your sweet bare ass raised for my pleasure.”
I swallow hard.
“Yes, Mr. Court.”
Set the lion free.
FIVE
*
Cassian
S he is a dream .
She has to be.
I had no choice about falling in love with her—my soul told me that from the second our eyes met—but right now, I officially worship her. Long to fall to my knees as I kiss the backs of hers, then slowly make my way to her toes, kissing each in utter gratitude, confirming she is, in fact, a complete reality.
But I can’t do that right.
Because of this gift she is openly giving me.
Her nudity. Her vulnerability. Her trust. Herself.
“Good girl,” I praise, shocked about the paste glob my mouth has turned into while stripping from the cotton shorts I was sleeping in. Commando’s my usual preference but we’re houseguests in a land still on high alert, inside a guest bedroom with a non-locking door. Not that I’m worried about Syn or his little bride intruding. Earlier, the man himself pulled me aside to make sure I knew about all the amenities of our accommodations—including the fact that the closet doesn’t just contain extra clothes hangers.
The closet I now step to, and slide open.
“Cassian? I-I mean…Mr. Court? Wh-what are you—”
“Miss Santelle.” It’s threaded with calm and command at the same time, compelling her head back to the bed’s gold coverlet. “Do you trust me?”
I swear to God, her quiver shakes the air. And then, in a sublime rush, her surrender. “Yes.” Her declaration is proud. “Yes, I do.”
“Then you’ll continue doing just that, won’t you?”
“Yes, Mr. Court.”
The next few minutes are among the most silent—and electric—of my life.
I’m not a card-carrying member of any wild and kinky “scene,” but have dated enough members of some to know my way around a spreader bar. But while the equipment is familiar, absolutely nothing about the rest of this is. She isn’t just another moaning female, ready to take as much from me as I do from her. I’m not just a horny prick searching for an interesting spike in my sex life, something to distract me from the noncommittal biology that’s about to happen. This is…energy