‘I am not!’
He tickled again, with more intent and was rewarded with her breasts swaying as she tried to squirm away. But the ties held firm.
‘Not fair!’ Clio gasped.
Thomas stopped, pulling back. Her words struck a chord within him. ‘So much of life isn’t fair, is it?’
Clio’s giggles died. Her eyes were locked onto his, and Thomas knew she saw far more than he wanted. Far more than anyone before her ever had and anyone after ever would.
‘How have the fates wronged you, Thomas?’
Temptation swelled once more. To open up the poorly healed scars hiding his rotten soul and let the poison pour out of him. Seep into her. Destroy whatever was starting between them. A courageous man would do just that. End this now. It was the kindest thing he could do. Because anything between them was doomed. But he was too selfish to destroy this moment, not before he tasted her. Not before she screamed his name in ecstasy.
‘Tonight is not a night for confessions.’
‘What if I want your confessions?’
Thomas forced a smile. ‘You gave me the reins, remember? Such an important detail. Or did you change your mind? We can stop now. Whenever you say.’
Anger, familiar and beautiful, painted a new flush over her skin as her scent blended with burning ozone. ‘I don’t wish to stop.’
‘Then stop asking questions. I have a better use for that pretty mouth.’
Watching her desire war with her need to understand him was enthralling. But desire must have won as she slowly parted her lips and licked them. Thomas walked to the end of the bed, needing to complete this quickly. He made fast work of one ankle, then the next, and finally, let his gaze trail up her calf, over her knee, along the pearl skin of her inner thigh where her birthmark begged to be licked, and paused where she glistened with liquid need. Her midnight maidenhair only intensified the innocent pink of her swollen lips. His mouth watered. He didn’t want to taste her. Heneededto taste her. To lick, and suck, and savour every single drop.
‘Fucking hell. You are stunning.’
Clio squirmed. ‘You can’t possibly think I am beautiful… there.’
‘You are beautiful everywhere.’ He ran a finger over the sole of her foot, delighting as her body tightened. ‘Even the bottom of your feet.’
Clio scrunched her nose and shook her head in dismissal.
Thomas bent down to press a kiss against the top of her foot, then her ankle. He nipped her calf and nuzzled behind her knee.
‘What are you doing?’ Clio’s voice was ragged.
‘I’m kissing your pretty parts.’ He climbed on the bed, moving to her inner thigh where he swiped his tongue over her star and sucked the skin into his mouth. He pulled back and marvelled at the change in colour from strawberry to plum. Alternating soft kisses with sucking bites that would leave marks by morning, heslowly devoured every inch of her body. The idea of leaving little love nibbles thrilled him. She would look at herself and remember what he did to her. How her body melted under his ministrations. How the very mark she had been born with was altered because of him.
‘Thomas…’
He was inching closer and closer to her core. His fingers played over the jutting bone of her hip, then gripped to keep her steady.
‘Yes, Clio?’ His mouth nearly brushed her soft petals. He knew she felt his breath against her most sensitive flesh.
‘Don’t.’
He froze. His lips hovering over her wet pussy. His body was harder than steel. He would pull back. If she asked, he would stop. Even if it destroyed him.
‘Stop.’
Fucking blasted hell and damnation.
‘Don’t stop, Thomas.’
Relief rushed through him.
‘I wouldn’t dare, sweet Clio.’
