“Yes.” She nods, a small but monumental gesture.
I rise and offer my hand. Her fingers slide into mine and immediately something shifts in the air between us.
With absolute certainty, I know nothing will be the same after tonight.
Chapter nine
Santiagoleadsmedownthe hall, his hand firm around mine.
My heart won’t slow.
In my experience, sex has always been the guy taking what he can get and leaving me high and dry. Time and time again. For the past few years, hookingup hasn’t been a priority. Not when I can take care of myself better than any man ever could.
Until now, maybe?
The bedroom comes into view. My skin tingles and the ache between my thighs is sharp. I’m soaking wet from anticipation.
God, I hope he’ll show me what I’ve been missing.
He turns to me, fingers brushing my jaw. “Breathe.”
I do. Barely. Then he pulls me closer and I stop thinking altogether.
By the time he kicks the bedroom door shut behind us, I’m drunk on him.
His fresh, clean scent. His velvety voice. The molten weight of his stare.
He lifts me and I wrap my legs around him with desperation. I don’t have time to be inhibited, I want whatever he’ll give me. Santiago pauses at the edge of the bed, then places me down and stands over me in a storm of stillness. Towering, composed, yet seething with a sexual tension crackling beneath his skin.
His gaze flicks over my body, tracing the curves and hollows like a map he’s destined to follow. Worship isn’t the correct word. It’s something older. Deeper.
Surrender.
No,ceremony.
“Still sure?” It’s not just a question. It’s a warning. A vow.
I can’t breathe, but I nod anyway. “Yes.”
He moves toward me with patience, each step a slow obliteration of space. My throat pulses wildly in time with my heartbeat. His fingers slide up the side of my face. Featherlight and reverent, sparking electric shivers as they pass over my skin.
When his mouth brushes my temple, it detonates something in my spine. “Tell me if I move too fast.”
“Not fast enough.” I bite down on my lip.
His grin is dangerous. “God, you’re perfect.”
Our next kiss is not soft. It’s a collision of mouths and intent. Wild and exquisite. Teeth grazing lips, tongues flicking and retreating, then diving again. I pull him into me, fingers threaded into the thick silk of his hair, tugging until he groans into my mouth.
Time bends and breaks. The world outside ceases to exist.
When Santiago’s hands ghost down my arms, I shudder like a tuning fork. He waits, his control stretched tight, as I lift my arms so he can pull my dress over my head. He tosses it to the floor, leaving me naked except for a slip of lace and nothing else.
“You’re…” He swallows hard, voice gone rough. “You’re the most fucking beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
I flinch out of reflex, years of deflection rising like armor. “Stop.”
“No.” His voice is a command. “You don’t get to look like that and not know how stunning you are.”
