Page 188 of Vicious Temptation

I lift my head and look at him. “You said yes.”

“I said fuck yes.” His breathing is just as wrecked as mine when he turns his mouth toward my ear. “Mark me, fera.”

That fucking does it.

I sink my teeth into his shoulder as my body locks around him, my fingers clamping his while pleasure tears through me in hard pulses.

“Fuck, Thiago…I’m coming.”

“Just like that, baby. Come all over my fucking cock. Let me feel how hard I make you lose it.”

His mouth finds mine, swallowing the rest of my cry as he comes with me, never letting go.

Even after the last shudder passes, he keeps me there, our joined hands still pinned beside my head.

Thiago’s bedroom blurs around me as I stare across it from my spot in his bed.

I’m lying on my stomach, the blanket resting on my hips, as he traces circles across my back, occasionally following the path of his fingers with gentle kisses. Goosebumps rise with each touch.

For once, I’m content to lie here without needing to move or reach for something to distract my mind. My thoughts aren’t fighting for my attention, and I’m not trying to outrun them or crawl out of myself because I can’t sit still.

I’m just here with him, and I can’t remember the last time doing nothing felt this good.

“Thiago,” I whisper without turning around. “Say that again. What you’ve been calling me tonight.”

His lips brush my shoulder.

“Chama,” he murmurs. “Minha chama.”

I turn enough to look at him. “What does it mean?”

“My flame.”

The answer strips away the very last of my defenses. I close my eyes when his mouth returns to my skin, then roll over to face him.

“Mi refugio,” I whisper as I tuck myself against his chest, letting the words carry everything I’m not ready to say aloud yet. “My refuge.”

His arms close around me, and I listen to the steady beat of his heart beneath my ear as he holds me. I don’t know if he understands what it means for me to call him that. Maybe one day I’ll tell him.

“Stay with me tonight,” he says. “And for breakfast tomorrow.”

I can’t stop smiling. “I was planning on stealing one of your T-shirts anyway.”

His chest shifts beneath my cheek with his laugh. “Good.” He kisses the top of my head. “Because I wasn’t planning on letting you leave.”

I snuggle deeper into his arms, feeling safer and more wanted than I have in a long time.

Then Ryuji crosses my mind.

Guilt tries to follow me here, but I refuse to let it. Ryuji was important to me, and he always will be. Losing him doesn’t mean I have to spend the rest of my life afraid to let anyone matter that much again. Wanting this with Thiago doesn’t erase what I had with him. Maybe I’m finally starting to understand that my heart can hold both.

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” he says. “How did you get into the ball? Hank, our security guy, takes his job pretty seriously.”

“Hank also has a weakness for women in full-body leather catsuits.” I grin. “Don’t trust Hank.”

He laughs. “I don’t blame him.” Thiago trails his hand along my back. “You looked edible, chama. Every eye in that place found you the moment you walked through those doors.”

I push up onto my elbows and meet his gaze. “And yet, I was only looking for yours.”