Instead, she softened, her lips lifting in a gentle, reassuring smile. “You’re mine, too.”
He dragged the towel over his middle one last time, then tossed it on the basin. “Absolutely, baby. Totally, utterly yours.”
“Good.” She lifted her hand to him, and he realized her fingers trembled.
Nick stepped from the stall and took her hand in his. “You’re nervous. Unsure?”
“Worried,” she countered. “I don’t have a lot of experience, and I want to please you.”
“Just breathe and say yes. You don’t have to do anything more to thrill me. And relax. I don’t want you afraid of me.”
“I’m not.” She shook her head, sending her hair tumbling softly. “You’ll never hurt me, just make me feel good in ways that will blow my mind completely. I hope I can do the same for you.” She fell quiet. “But I have to say one other thing… If you’re worried about Mike, I think he would have approved. After all, he threw us together.”
Nick was relieved she’d come to the same realization he had. “Yeah. He knew how much I wanted you. I wasn’t good at hiding it.”
“I had no idea.”
“Oh, he did. About five minutes after he introduced us, he warned me away. My attraction for you was all over my face, so Mike dragged me out to the yard and confronted me.”
“What did he do, threaten to…beat you up?” She frowned. “That doesn’t sound like Mike.”
No, his pal hadn’t been one for violence. “He said if I crossed the line with you that he and I would no longer be friends.”
And given how long they’d been close, Nick had known Mike meant that.
Sasha gasped. She understood the gravity of the threat, too. “So you stayed away—literally—for the rest of his life. Heavens… All through dinner that night, I thought you were detached, almost disinterested.”
He shook his head. “I honored my promise to Mike. I kept my distance.”
“But in his final hours, he ensured we’d be together again.”
“Yeah. And now I want you so bad I can’t fucking stand another moment without touching you.” He stepped closer, then bent to whisper in her ear. “I intend to make you wet, make you scream. Make you mine.”
She shuddered against him. “Please.”
“I’m going to love being inside you.” He picked her up, fitting his hands under her lush, firm ass, and slanted his face to hers. “Kiss me.”
Sasha didn’t hesitate, just wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist, and parted her pretty bow lips to him.
As Nick carried her out of the bathroom, he barged into her mouth and sought out all the sweetest recesses. As he tasted her, he approached the bed and dropped her onto the starched white sheets.
With one arm thrown above her head and the other tossed out beside her, Sasha wasn’t hiding any part of herself from him. She wasn’t even trying. Instead, she wriggled her hips as if seeking relief from the ache she couldn’t deny. Her back arched as she dragged in a breath and implored him silently with half-parted lips and a sensual stare.
Nick wanted to savor her, but urgency crushed his self-control. He lowered himself on top of her, covering her body with his own, and plowed between her delicate lips again, swallowing her gasp.
Shit. He should slow down.
Just one more second… But he felt like he wouldn’t be able to breathe again until he had more of her flavor on his tongue, her silken skin under his fingers.
Since the first moment he’d laid eyes on her nearly three years ago, he’d burned to hold her. When he’d sat in a cell for interminable months, he’d shelved his guilt and fantasized that one day he’d be free to tug Sasha beneath him and devour her with all the hunger raging through his body. In his mind, he’d made love to her hundreds of times. He’d brought her to climax over and over with screaming, strangled cries in every way known to man.
Until today, Sasha hadn’t really considered him her lover.
Nick jerked his lips from hers, panting hard. “You okay?”
“Of course. You won’t break me.”
He slanted a glance at her. “As badly as I want to fuck you, I might.”
