Page 29 of Caged By Dance and Desire

I whirled away from him, dropping my towel, and reached for the fabric.

It took me a second to understand my mistake and register the sharp inhale of breath behind me. I'd forgotten I wasn't in a company dressing room where clothing flew on and off bodiesand no one cared because bodies were tools, and sometimes weapons. I’d become comfortable around him as a man.

I turned.

The whites of his eyes were stained with color, his skin translucent with power.

I stepped back.

Chapter

Nine

He followed me the single step. My knees bumped against the bed.

I wished I could say his focus remained on my face, but it didn't—not that I was ashamed of my body.

Still, I banded my arms around my breasts when his attention lingered there for several beats. His nostrils flared when I covered them and pressed my thighs together because under the heat of his glare, my body wanted to open rather than close.

My mind understood it wasn't the best idea.

I hung onto some kind of independence by a thin thread. Not only practical independence, but mental, and emotional. I wasn't so far gone that I couldn't make myself walk away if the opportunity arose.

If he took me to bed?

If he took me to bed, slaked all that passion on my body, wrung it from my own, I wouldn't be able to walk away. Ever. I would belong to him. As long as he didn’t threaten my career,I’d probably give him whatever he wanted. That wasn’t the healthiest attitude.

“I know you don't mean to tempt me,” Andrei murmured, “but I don't care.” His hand curled into a fist. “I am. . .tempted.”

“I should dress. We have to leave soon.”

He smiled slightly. “Soon.”

There was a dreamlike quality to the word. Andrei took another tiny step forward and I barely contained a flinch because the heat rising off his body was of the too hot to touch, and definitely too hot to handle, variety.

“Andrei. . .”

“I’m only a man, my Anah. How far do you think my self-control can stretch?”

Some of the heat I felt now wasn't desire, or the power radiating from his skin, but my own anger. “As far as I say! We shouldn't be living together. You know that. Especially if you can't control yourself.”

Andrei lowered his head, the tip of his nose caressing my neck. I acquiesced without thinking; my traitorous instincts. He inhaled, then darted out his tongue to trail a delicate wet line up the column of my throat.

He shuddered. “You taste. . .I want?—”

Control broke. A hand rose, buried in my hair, pulling my head back further. I stared into eyes with pupils blown entirely black.

“You taste like everything I want, and nothing I deserve.” His hand tightened, and I made a noise in the back of my throat. Part pain, part anticipation. “But I’ll take you anyway. I don't care.”

His mouth fastened over mine, his tall, strong body pressing against my naked form. The hand he'd kept at his side slid around my back, resting slightly above the curve of my buttocks. He pressed me into him, against his hard erection. My arms were trapped against his chest, not that they would do me any good.

If he wanted to have me against my will, he would. It wouldn't even be against my will, not after a time. I wanted him, my body throbbed with wanting him, but I was afraid.

Of losing everything.

“Give me something, Anah.” He'd released my mouth and was now trailing kisses along my collarbone, arching my back to give him better access. “Give me anything to sate this madness. I don’t want to force you. I don’t want to hurt you. I’m fighting myself and I don’t know how much longer I will last. I wasn’t prepared.”

Perversely, the note of desperation in his voice calmed me.

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