‘But should you leave yet?’
‘They’ll just assume I’m taking my delectable new wife home because I can’t resist her.’ Which wasn’t untrue. It unnerved Cassian, the fact that he wanted her as much now, if not more. Lately he’d found his desire for a lover waning quickly. Surely this would follow the same pattern?And then what?asked a little voice,You can go back to your empty existence pretending to be something you’re not? Taking unsatisfying lovers to bed?
Cassian scowled at himself and took Lili’s hand and led her off the dance floor, taking care to shield her from other dancing couples.
* * *
‘That pizza was amazing, thank you,’ Lili said as they walked back into the reception hall of the palazzo and she bent down to slip off her shoes with a little groan of relief. She caught them by the straps and before she knew what was happening, Cassian had lifted her into his arms.
He said, ‘Is this okay?’
Lili nodded, a little speechless, but suddenly self-conscious with a belly full of food. She hated comparing herself to all the willowy women he was usually seen with but she couldn’t help it. ‘You don’t have to carry me, I’m too heavy.’
‘No, you’re not.’
Lili clamped her mouth shut. Frankly, she felt too safe and secure in his arms to argue. He brought her to his bedroom and put her down. It was like her room, sumptuously decorated and with period features without being overwhelming.
In her bare feet she felt a lot smaller next to Cassian. He started taking off his clothes with an efficiency that had him naked in a matter of seconds. Lili drank him in. The broad chest, wide shoulders, corded muscles. She felt like sighing in pure awe.
‘Can I undo your dress?’
Lili nodded and turned around, presenting her back to Cassian as if it was the easiest thing in the world.
‘Is this okay?’ he asked. She nodded and pulled her hair over one shoulder. His hands came to her shoulders first, massaging gently and then harder when she said, ‘That feels good.’
Liquid heat entered her veins and coursed through her body as his hands moved down, fingers tracing her spine, making her skin rise into little bumps. Then he was pulling down the zip, all the way to the top of her buttocks.
The dress loosened around her breasts and then she let it fall down and he tugged the material at her hips until it fell all the way to the floor. Now she only wore pants.
Cassian came and stood in front of her. Lili pushed the underwear down and stepped out of them. They were naked. There was something very elemental about facing each other like this. Bare skin. Nothing to hide behind.
Desire surged up inside Lili like an unstoppable force. She’d been starved of touch for so long. She said, ‘Please touch me, Cass.’
He took her hand and led her over to the bed. ‘Lie down,’ he instructed.
He looked at her. ‘Where do you want to be touched?’
‘All over.’
His eyes were like molten silver. He smiled and it was pure sin, as he started at her feet and worked his way up her body. It was hard not to let emotion mix with desire when she thought of all the years she’d spent in a self-enforced purgatory of isolation, but any emotion was turned to pure molten heat when Cassian reached her thighs and parted them and that devilish glint in his eye was all she saw before he put his mouth on her and drove her to her first climax of the night.
* * *
At first, Lili wasn’t sure what was happening. All she knew was that she couldn’t move. She was being held immobile by rings of steel. And it was dark. Fear and panic were immediate and acidic all the way from her gut to her mouth. Adrenaline coursed through her body and she fought with all her might to be free. Her elbow landed against something soft and there was a muffled groan and suddenly the bind was released and she leapt up.
It took her long seconds to realise where she was. And that she wasn’t being held captive. Moonlight shone in through a window, illuminating Cassian’s bedroom. It hadn’t been rings of steel around her, it had been his arms.
Another light came on, a low light. And suddenly Lili felt cold. She spotted a robe on a chair and pulled it on over her naked body. She was shivering now, trembling in the aftermath.
Cassian was sitting up and rubbing his chest. Lili was horrified to be able to practically see the dent in his chest where her elbow had hit him.
He stood up. ‘Lili…what the hell?’
Too shocked and horrified, she fled blindly from the bedroom and found her way to a reception room. She saw a drinks cabinet and went and pulled out a bottle filled with what looked like whiskey. She poured some into a glass and threw it back, wincing as it burned its way down her throat.
The room was suddenly illuminated in soft light. She slowly turned around and saw a bare-chested Cassian looking at her. He’d pulled on his tuxedo pants. The top button was open. Not even that could distract her from the tendrils of fear still gripping her insides like the bind she’d imagined.
‘Lili…? What just happened?’
