Free Shackled: A Stepbrother Romance Novel by Arabella Abbing

grabbing distance, then unhook her bra and push down her skirt right after. She was left standing before me in only a tiny pair of lacy red underwear, ones that would have made my mouth water if I could’ve managed to drag my eyes away from her tits.
    “It’s hot in here,” she said with a shrug before lifting her wrist within my line of vision. “I’m just going to sleep like this tonight.”
    “You sure you want to do that?” I asked even as I absentmindedly clasped the steel around her wrist and snapped it shut.
    “Absolutely.”
    I chanced a look into her eyes and what I saw there floored me. She had been playing at something, and I’d finally figured it out. Or at least I thought I did.
    If I had been a smarter man, I probably wouldn’t have taken the bait. But the way she bit her bottom lip and widened her eyes was more than enough to weaken the last remaining shreds of self-control I had left. Before I even realized what I was doing, I dug my fingers into the soft flesh of her hips and pulled her body flush against mine.“If that’s what you want.”
    “ You’re what I want.”
    Fucking hell.

Chapter Eighteen

Fiona
    I could feel the warning signs the moment our lips met again. Hell, if I was being honest with myself, I’d felt them long before I took my top off.
    They’d started somewhere after breakfast, as his smiles had gotten bigger and more relieved and my own became devious and teasing. The way he’d looked at me at dinner was the most alarming part of the day—after my subtle teasing and fluttering eyelashes, I had caught him frowning at me, searching my face for signs of foul play.
    Like he knew I was playing a game.
    Like it wasn’t a game for him.
    That was the most nerve-wracking part.
    And now, as he kissed me like he was a man dying of thirst and I was the finest-tasting drink that had ever touched his lips, the warning signs became big freaking bells, ringing loudly and telling me that this was a terrible idea. There was no way this was going to end well. It was way too big of a risk to take with my heart.
    Jonathan pulled away, breathing heavily while he pressed his forehead to mine. I wasn’t surprised to feel my own breath coming out in pants, my lips still tingling from the delicious pressure.
    “I want you so much,” he murmured, dragging his lips softly down my cheek and jaw until he reached my neck. The resistance that was growing in me weakened when he began pressing light kisses all over my skin, pausing to nibble at all the spots that made my breath catch in my throat. “You’re so fucking beautiful. You know that, right?”
    “Jonathan…” I whispered, something between a whimper and a sigh quickly following it. Despite the internal war that was going on in my head, I still craned my head back to give him better access.
    The chain jingled noisily as he lightly ran the pads of his fingers down my sides, goosebumps breaking out on my flesh from the light touch. The kisses on my neck turned into sucking and biting as his fingers came back up to ghost around the undersides of my breasts.
    Without thinking, I arched my back, trying to press myself into his palms. When he began to pull away, I reached up and curled my arms around his neck and desperately pleaded, “Please don’t stop.”
    Jonathan chuckled and shook his head. “I’m not, baby. Hold up.”
    He gently untangled my arms from around him and reached for the key, unhooking both of our cuffs before letting the metal fall to the floor with a loud clatter. We looked up at each other at the same time and I could see the wariness in his gaze.
    “You won’t run away from me?”
    “I won’t,” I promised, cursing the way my voice wavered.
    He smiled then, the corners of his eyes crinkling for a moment before it faded away behind the desire. He circled his arms loosely around my waist and walked slowly forward, easing me back until my thighs hit the edge of the bed. Once there, he lifted me up and playfully