Heat flares in my chest, travels up my throat, and I choke on the words before I get them out.
“No.” It comes out as strangled as I feel.
He is behind me in seconds, his long thick length swaying with the movement. The heat rolling off his skin hits me first, then thescent of him: clean, dark, expensive, something light and fresh, like mint, combined with something heavier and all man. My knees want to fold.
Then his hands find the neckline of my dress and pull it apart.
The sudden pull jerks my body, and I yelp, reaching out with one hand to steady myself on the dresser as the dress slips down. It pools at my feet as pearls bounce along the wooden floor like hailstones. I cover my breasts with my arms as I turn to face him, wearing only my white panties. Now there’s nothing between us except air and the frantic thud of my heart.
He’s looking at me like he’s trying to burn every inch of me into his memory.
I’ve never been naked in front of anyone before. Not like this. Not with someone who could break me in half without trying.
“Drop your arms, Charlotte. Fair is fair.” His gaze is steady and unrelenting on mine. I know he means it because he is naked now, was naked yesterday. That I’ve already seen all of him, and he hasn’t seen me at all.
I take a shuddering breath and force them down at my sides. I don’t want him to think I’m weak. Not more than he already knows I am.
“Look at me,” he says in that low, rough voice that feels like fingers sliding down my spine.
I do.
His eyes are ice-storm-grey and terrifyingly gentle all at once. I don’t understand how both can live in the same man.
“I’ve never…” I start, then have to wet my lips because my mouth has gone dry. “I’ve never done this. Any of this. I don’t… I don’t know what I’m supposed to—”
“You’re supposed to let me take care of you,” he says simply. Like it’s already decided. Like I don’t get a vote anymore.
He lifts one hand and his fingertips brush my cheek, then slide down the side of my neck. Goosebumps chase after them. When his thumb settles over my pulse, I know he can feel how fast it’s racing.
“You’re still trembling,” he murmurs.
“I’m terrified,” I admit on a breath that sounds too loud in the quiet room. “I’ve been told how much it hurts.”
A tiny flicker of something crosses his face.
“You’re right to be terrified,” he says, and I blink, startled. “That means you understand the importance of what we’re about to do. But it won’t hurt as much as you imagine.”
I raise an eyebrow with a nod to what he has pulsing between us. I might never have been with a man, but even I know that’s bigger than the average bear.
“Trust me, I’ll make sure the pleasure drowns out the pain, but you have to try and relax into it. Meet me halfway.”
His hand keeps moving, tracing the line of my collarbone, the slope of my shoulder. When he cups my breast for the first time, my breath catches sharply as I adjust to the pleasure he ignites in me. His palm is warm, calloused, careful. His thumb brushes over my nipple and I shiver, a soft helpless sound slipping out of me.
“That’s it,” he soothes. “I’ve got you.”
He lowers his head and I think he’s going to kiss my mouth, but he doesn’t. He presses his lips to the place where my neck meets my shoulder instead. Open-mouthed. Hot. A slow drag of tongue that makes my toes curl against the fabric that still surrounds me.
I sway toward him without meaning to.
Both of his hands are on me now, sliding down my sides, mapping the dip of my waist, the curve where my hips flare. When his thumbs hook into the sides of my panties, I freeze.
“Vitali—”
“Shh.” He kisses the word against my skin. “Trust me for five breaths. Just five. Can you do that?”
I nod before my brain catches up because my senses are overwhelmed when his lips press into my skin again.
The cotton panties slide down my legs and I step out of them, trembling harder. Completely naked now. Completely his.
