She moaned. His hands felt so good, she never wanted him to stop. And yet, she wanted more. Needed him to know how she felt. “I understand what you do can be dangerous. I can see that you’re a warrior. A protector. You saved me. How can I not be okay with that? You’re an amazing man.” She arched her head back as his hands worked their magic. “And if this is how you’re going to convince me, then yes. Absolutely yes. Try really, really hard.”

He chuckled. “Put your hands around my neck.”

“Mmm.” His commanding presence had her practically weak at the knees. “Are you the type who likes to tell his woman what to do?”

Torrin kissed her breathless before adding, “I want control in the bedroom, yes. I’m willing to negotiate in other areas. I’m going to add quick learner to your list.” He wanted to share his growing feelings for her but knew she would run. She wasn’t ready to hear his words of love. Wouldn’t believe him. He would just have to show her, instead.

His fingers ground into her hips and pulled her hard against him. “Right now I want you to trust me with your body.”Your heart,he added silently. Torrin’s hands stroked her back, her bottom, curling around the back of her legs, wrapping them around his waist. He kissed her everywhere. Thoroughly. Passionately. Deeply.

Her clit plumped, throbbing with desire. Heat spread like wildfire through every cell in her body. “It’s-it’s not easy for me to trust people, or to give up control.”

“Then I shall make it easy for you,” his baritone rumble deepened in his chest. He clenched his jaw. Clamped down on his desire to take her right then and there. He was rock hard. He wanted nothing more than to claim her. Mark her. Plant his seed deep inside her.

“How? Honestly, I’ve tried,” she blushed.

He ground his hard shaft against her mound until she moaned, her body pliant against his. He stroked her until she was writhing with need, pulling the sarong from around her. She had nothing on beneath. She was bare. Vulnerable. Wet. Ready. Only his iron control kept him from burying his shaft to the hilt in her soft, willing body.

“Your body already trusts me. Your mind will follow,” he murmured, flicking his tongue across the tip of her pebbled nipple before tugging gently at the areole with his teeth. His finger found her wet entrance and dove deep, eliciting a deeply satisfying moan from her, her hips arching. Seeking.

Juliette couldn’t catch her breath as Torrin added a second finger deep inside her, his other hand stimulating her clit. Heart pounding in her chest, she felt every throbbing beat hammering through her engorged nub. Electricity arced through her, every nerve ending firing simultaneously. Her toes curled, she was so close to orgasm. Still, she held on.

“Keep your knees spread,” he ordered, placing them high and wide. “Use your hands to keep them open.”

When Juliette complied, he leaned forward. Her swollen folds parted to reveal her throbbing, engorged nub. He used one hand to pleasure her swollen clit, pressing deep into her channel with the other. Hard. His finger found just the right spot deep inside her.

Juliette’s breath quickened. She wanted to come so bad. Still, she couldn’t.

“So stubborn you are, Juliette,” he murmured.

“Wh-What?” she gasped.

“Change of plan. Wedge your elbows behind your knees. Pull your pussy open with your fingers.”

She couldn’t fight the command. Didn’t want to fight it. His voice was velvet over steel, penetrating deep inside her, breaking down barriers she didn’t even know she had. She’d never touched herself in front of another person, or opened so far. She reached for her plump feminine lips, swollen and tingling. She hesitated, momentarily abashed.

“Stop thinking. Do it,” he growled.

Juliette took a deep, embarrassed breath and pulled herself open, exposing her clit, now plumped almost painfully, her feminine sheath opening invitingly, glistening and ready for his invasion. And somehow, doing that exposed her deep down in her soul. She trembled with fear. Desire. Uncertainty. She’d never been so vulnerable. He could see everything. Everything.

Torrin’s very masculine rumble of appreciation went a long way to relieve her fears, but still she felt uncertain.

Eyes locked onto hers, his fingers worked deep inside her. Worked her clit. Her core. He kissed her deeply as one finger, drenched in her feminine juices, slipped past the tight ring around her anus, deep into that dark channel. Invading. Penetrating. Demanding her surrender.

“Give yourself to me, Juliette,” he commanded.

She wanted to obey. Wanted to come more than she’d ever wanted anything. “Ahh!” Higher and higher she rose, nearing the precipice. Out of control. Reaching for that elusive something to send her over the edge.

Redoubling his efforts, his voice deepened almost to an otherworldly level, so low she would feel more than hear the command vibrating deep into her core. “Come. Come now,” he ordered, his tone brooking no argument. “Let go.”

His deep command was what she needed, her inner walls contracting, throbbing, strangling his fingers in a vise. Orgasm ripped through her. Her body pulsed. Pounded. Heat flashed from her core, raced up her spine, exploding through every cell. Stars detonated behind closed lids. She pulsed. Clenched. Throbbed. Drifted.

Long minutes passed before she could form a coherent thought. “Get the paste.”

Chapter Eight

Torrin eyed Juliette’s curvy, flushed body as he opened the cylinder containing the maju paste with great anticipation. The mixture sparkled like a liquid, opalescent prism, reflecting a rainbow of colors and glittering like diamonds. He looked deeply into Juliette’s wide eyes before carefully handing the cylinder to her as she sat up. “Painting our markings with maju paste is an ancient tradition among my people.”

Juliette took the cylinder with trembling hands. “I don’t have any markings.”