He tried to recoil. “No. You’re not—” he closed his eyes in exasperation. “You’re a virgin, Liv. I can’t—” he hissed out a breath, summoned anger as a defense. “I don’t need your charity.”
Her soft chuckle made his eyes snap open again. “I’m not offering out of pity, you idiot. I’m offering out of lust.”
His pulse gave a jolt as he recognized the echo of his own words, and the corner of her maddening mouth turned up in a wicked smile. “I’m afraid Uncle Hubert was right. It really is an excellent motivation.”
His pulse was racing now, disbelief and denial waging an internal war with desire. He couldn’t,shouldn’tuse her in this way. “Liv. Your first time shouldn’t be like this. It should be slow and sweet and?—”
She laughed at him. Actuallylaughedin his face.
“—respectful?” she taunted. “Restrained?Boring?”
He ground his teeth. “Yes, damn it. You deserve care and slow kisses and—” A flash of lightning and the immediate crash of thunder almost deafened him, but he forged on. “It’s not because I don’t want you. I do. So much. I just don’t want to hurt you.” He leaned in so they were almost nose to nose, desperate to make her understand. She didn’t know what she was inviting. She had no concept. “If I take you now, I might not . . . be gentle.”
Her brows quirked in unmistakable challenge. “You promised me passion, Devlin Hamilton. Are you backing out?”
A tortured groan tore from his chest. “I wouldruinyou.”
In the best possible way.God, just the thought of it was killing him.
“You’ve already ruined me.” She slid her hand down the side of his neck and caught his collar. Went up on her tiptoes so her lips feathered his. “I don’t want anyone else. Not for my firsttime. Not foranytime. And if you think I’m going to leave you here suffering when there’s a far more pleasurable alternative, then you really are an idiot. You won’t hurt me. Now, stop being so bloody noble, and make both of us feel good.”
Lightning lit up the room again and the glass droplets of the chandelier tinkled, but she pressed her lips to his with a strength born of stubborn determination, and Dev closed his eyes on a groan.
This bloody woman.
She pulled back just enough to berate him some more. “I don’t want gentle. I wantyou. Now. All of you.”
Chapter Twenty
For one dreadful moment Dev froze, and Liv’s breath caught in her throat. Had she been too bold? Too brazen?
Please. Let me help you.
She tensed, her lips ghosting his, fully expecting him to thrust her away. His body was rigid, as if he waged an internal war, but then he took a deep, shuddering inhale and simply . . . broke.
His lips crashed down on hers and he fisted her hair, tugging her head back, holding her in place. Liv gave a startled gasp as his hot breath mingled with hers and his tongue slid into her mouth.
Finally!
With a growl, he tore his lips away and slid his nose along her cheek and jaw, kissing a trail to her where her pulse hammered against her throat, and she grasped his shoulders, then his neck, pressing herself against him shamelessly.
He pulled her even closer. One of his hands slid down her back to cup her bottom while the other tightened in her hair as his mouth returned to hers, and he groaned in satisfaction against her lips.
“God help me, Liv, I can’t resist you.”
“Then don’t.”
He kissed her so thoroughly it was almost like drowning. Liv closed her eyes and reveled in the utter thrill of his possession, kissing him back with all the furious desperation she’d held inside for so long. Lightning flashed beyond her closed eyelids, but it was no match for the swirling delight of his tongue, for his lips molding against hers. The room began to spin.
She tilted her head as he trailed kisses to the sensitive skin beneath her ear, then along her collar bone. And then his hand was sliding down, slipping inside her silk dressing gown and over her breasts. Then even that frail barrier was too much, and he pushed the nightgown aside, and his warm palm cupped her breast, and she rose up into the touch, feeling her nipple pebble against his palm.
When he lowered his head and took her nipple in his mouth, she grabbed his head in both hands, her knees suddenly weak, but he held her up, arching her back as he swirled his tongue, sending a jolt of thrilling awareness between her legs.
“Christ, you taste so good.”
The room tilted as he lowered her onto the bed and followed her down, covering her with his body. He tugged open the sash of her dressing gown and pushed it aside, running his hand along her ribs, her waist.
Liv squirmed against him, loving the slide of her body against his, the way his weight pressed her down into the soft mattress. He was overwhelming in the most perfect way, and even though he was so much larger than her, she didn’t feel worried at all.
