“If what you wanted was to feel that I want you too—I do.”
Slowly, his gaze drifts down my body and back up again.
My breath stutters. My fingers curl in his shirt.
“I have to constantly hold myself back around you,” he continues, kissing the corner of my mouth. “Because I want you so damn much.”
Heat floods through me.
“In fact, I struggle to keep my hands to myself when I’m with you.” He looks at me steadily. “But I will always protect you, too.”
That’s what finally undoes me. That, and the way he kisses me.
CHAPTER 53 – CASPIAN
The bathroom lights come on soft and warm.
“You didn’t tell me you have a spa,” Antonio says, almost accusingly. “You even have a bath!”
“Does it make a difference to the task at hand?” I ask, amused by the way his scowl fights with his curiosity.
“No! I just haven’t… done that in a deluxe shower before.”
I can’t help teasing him a little.
“I have. The rainfall effect is a nice touch. Very atmospheric.”
“That’s outrageous,” he splutters.
I don’t know if he’s referring to the plumbing or my activities. Probably both.
He stands in the middle of the room, vibrating with anxious energy. His feelings are a physical hum against his skin.
He lifts his chin when he notices I’m looking at him, but his fingers are trembling.
The only thing I need from him right now is trust. Everything else—the pacing, the safety, the outcome—is my responsibility.
The defiance in his posture is tangled with a desperate need for direction, and that combination gives me an almost terrifying rush of power.
I meant what I said about having to hold myself back.
I know he’d let me take anything I wanted right now. That’s exactly why I can’t. Why I won’t.
Instead of taking, I’m going to give him the safest place he’s ever landed.
“You can put your clothes there,” I say steadily, pointing at a laundry basket.
He acknowledges this with a small nod.
Slowly, he starts undressing.
When he’s down to his boxers, he stops.
“You’re watching,” he says, his voice cracking mid-word.
“That’s what I came here to do. But if you want me gone, I’m gone. It’s your choice.”
He flushes, then strips the boxers off in one sharp, defiant movement.
