“This is up to you. You’re a beautiful woman and I would be honored to be with you, but I would never impose or encroach.”
And that was why she adored him. He was so different from anyone she’d met.
For all she knew, she could die tomorrow. Her own mother could order her killed. Anything could happen. Regrets were part of her life.
But the one regret she didn’t want to have was this man…
“I want to know.” The words were barely more than a whisper as she stared up at him. “I want you, Xaydin.”
Xaydin’s heart pounded. A decent man would most likely pull away from her.
But he wasn’t decent. Not tonight and not after that invitation. He was feral and hard.
A part of him was skittish. He’d never let his passion rule him. Too many had fallen victim to their lust. In the back of his mind, he knew how vulnerable it made him. How easy it would be to lose his life over his hormones.
He’d never been that kind of man. Just as he’d never been one for seductive words. Now, he wished he knew how to tell her how much this moment meant.
How muchshemeant to him.
He’d been so long without the comfort of a woman’s body. So long without the warmth of a tender caress that he could barely remember it. Even then, he’d had no attachment to the woman. Just a physical ache to be sated.
Gisela meant something to him. They weren’t strangers who’d part ways as soon as it was done.
She would be here on the morrow.
Don’t do this.
It was all kinds of folly.
Yet how could he not? The taste of her kiss was still branded on his tongue. The silken heaven of her mouth was more than he could resist.
He was a mere mortal, not some saint who lived to suffer.
His thoughts racing, Xaydin traced the curve of her lips with his fingertip, before he parted her lips and kissed her deeply.
He closed his eyes and inhaled the sweetness of her breath. The feel of her supple body pressed against his while he loosened the stays for her top.
“Are you sure, Gisela?” he asked one final time, giving them both a chance before they did something stupid.
She nodded before she pulled his lips back to hers. “I will never regret you.”
He felt the same way. “Then no regrets for either of us.”
Gisela’s heart fluttered as he offered her a real smile. It was unexpected and breathtaking.
His dark eyes were hungry and feral as his heat surrounded her. Never had she felt anything like this as he swept her up in his arms and carried her toward the bed where she’d intended to sleep alone. The heat and strength of him surrounded her.
And she wanted more.
He laid her down before he joined her on a bed that seemed to shrink in size. While she’d known how large he was, he seemed even more massive now.
But all that fled as he returned to her lips to kiss her. She actually purred. Never once had she been touched like this. Never had she thought a mere kiss could be so incredible.
And when his warm, callused hand closed around her breast, she jumped in nervous excitement. Pain and pleasure stabbed through her body as heat pooled itself between her legs.
What was this burning in her body? This strange ache that craved him? She’d thought in the past that she knew lust, but this was an entirely different sensation.
Much more intense.
