“No.” He pulls back slightly, cupping my face in both hands, making me look at him. “You’re starting to. But it’s not enough. When I take you—“ He swallows hard, his thumbs stroking my cheeks. “When I make you mine, I need you to understand what that means. For both of us.”
I don’t understand. There’s so much he’s not telling me, so much hidden behind those eyes.
But I can see how much this is costing him. The restraint. The control. He wants me just as badly as I want him—maybe more—and he’s stopping anyway.
Because he wants it to mean something.
No man has ever stopped for me before. No man has ever wanted it to mean something.
“Okay,” I whisper. “Okay.”
He exhales shakily and pulls me tight against him,wrapping his arms around me. I can still feel him, hard and aching against my hip, but he doesn’t push. Just holds me.
“I’m sorry,” he murmurs into my hair.
“Don’t be.”
“I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. You need to know that.”
“I know.” And I do. I feel it in the tension of his body, the ragged rhythm of his breathing, the way he holds me fiercer like he’s afraid I’ll disappear.
We sit there for a long time, tangled together on the floor. Eventually, my breathing steadies.
“I should go to bed,” I say, though I don’t move.
“Probably.”
“This is insane. You know that, right? Just yesterday, you were the villain in my story.”
“And now?”
I pull back to look at him. His scar, his beard, his eyes still dark with want.
The man who just gave me the most intense orgasm of my life and then stopped because he wanted it to mean something.
“Now I don’t know what you are,” I admit. “But I don’t think I can stop this. Whatever this is.”
“Do you want to stop it?”
I should. Every logical part of me screams that I should.
“No,” I whisper. “I don’t.”
He kisses me again, softer this time. A promise instead of a demand.
“Goodnight, Imani.”
“Goodnight, Tolin.”
I stand on shaky legs and pull my nightgown back into place. He watches me go, still sitting on thefloor, his back against his chair, his eyes never leaving me until I disappear down the hallway.
I close my door behind me and lean against it, my heart still pounding, my body still humming with the aftershocks of pleasure.
I’m losing myself to this unbearable shifter. Falling into something I don’t understand and can’t control.
And I don’t know if I can stop it.
I don’t know if I want to.
