Page 47 of Explosive Vengeance

Heath sucked in a breath when she curled her fingers around his warm, rigid flesh, sending a surge of feminine power through her. “You don’t need to do this.” His voice was sandpaper-rough in the quiet.

“I want to.” She wanted to watch his face while she pleasured him, make him come undone while she was in control. And she wanted to escape worrying about Fleur for as long as she could.

Before he could say anything else, she leaned forward to capture his mouth, easing one hand up to cup the back of his head. Heath slid a hand into her hair and used his other arm to bring her closer as he rolled more to his back, giving her room.

Chloe paused to stare down at him in the dimness, aware of a little voice in her mind warning that she was edging into dangerous territory. Without the haze of lust and need clouding her senses, this threatened to be incredibly intimate. She didn’t do intimacy. Intimacy made her vulnerable and she avoided that at all costs to protect herself.

You don’t need to protect yourself from him.

She pushed that tempting voice from her head and kissed him again, determined to just enjoy the here and now. But damn, it was so incredibly hot to have this big, powerful man allowing her to take control this way. The tension in his body, the way his fingers flexed against her scalp and hip told her how much he loved what she was doing, yet he seemed content to let her take the lead, not asserting control or making demands.

Chloe took advantage of it, slowly easing her fist up and down him, varying pressure and speed while she used his groans and body language to figure out what he liked best. Then she used that knowledge to drive him out of his mind, teasing and drawing it out. His hips lifted, pushing his rigid flesh harder into her grip.

She broke the kiss to look down between them, the dark, swollen length of him trapped in her fist. Arousal and power swirled through her. She licked her lips, wanting to taste him. To take him in her mouth and make him insane.

The impulse surprised her. Oral was too intimate. But she needed to give Heath this.

Still stroking him, she leaned down to kiss a path down the side of his neck. He made a rumbling sound and tipped his head back, fingers kneading her scalp. She licked and kissed across his collarbone and down the center of his well-defined chest, gripping the base of his cock.

Heath tensed, his hand curling into her hair when her lips reached his abdomen. “Chloe,” he warned.

The warning only made her want this more, driven by her own desire to make him lose control and the thick, hot anticipation pulsing between them. He smelled like soap and male musk, and he was hard to bursting in her hand.

At the first brush of her lips against the sensitive crown, he sucked in a sharp breath and clenched his fingers around her hair. Smiling to herself, Chloe rubbed her check along his length, adding slow, hot kisses on her way up to the tip.

He growled low in his throat when she flicked her tongue across the sensitive underside, his big body drawn taut. And suddenly she didn’t want to tease anymore. She wanted to give this man the same level of pleasure he’d given her. Wanted him to always remember this moment—rememberher—long after they parted ways. And theyhadto part ways. For both their sakes.

She parted her lips and took him into her mouth. Heath moaned and put both hands in her hair, his fingers moving restlessly. A startling, unfamiliar tenderness welled up inside her. She smoothed her free hand up his chest, laid it over his heart as she took him deeper, swirling her tongue around the swollen head of his cock.

His breathing changed almost immediately, the tension in his muscles building as she sucked. His belly and thighs tensed, his fingers gripping her hair, conveying his silent desperation and need. Need that she’d created.

She closed her eyes, focused on the feel of his hands in her hair, the tang of him against her tongue. She wanted to remember this stolen moment too. Wanted to give him so much pleasure, to share this unprecedented level of intimacy with him.

“You’re gonna make me come, firecracker,” he rasped out, the ragged edge to his voice only turning her on more.

The nickname was perfect, and the way he said it was like a caress over her senses. She took him deeper, tightened her grip on the base of him and sucked slower. A little harder.

Heath whispered her name, locked his hands in her hair and pushed his hips upward, his entire body strung taut. He seemed to stop breathing for a second, then he pulsed against her tongue, his guttural groan of release filling her ears.

She stayed with him, waited until he’d relaxed against the bed, all that gorgeous tension melting from his muscles before gently releasing him. She kissed his belly, the center of his chest, craving more of this magical connection between them. Wanting to stamp this memory into his heart forever.

“Come up here,” he murmured, pulling her upward to gather her close. He cradled her cheek to his chest, his heavy arms wrapped around her shoulders, one big hand on the back of her head. He kissed her hair, ran his fingers through it in a slow, gentle rhythm that almost hypnotized her.

Chloe squeezed her eyes shut, fighting the strange new feelings bubbling up inside her. Him holding her felt good. Safe.

Right.

She shoved that scary thought aside, focused instead on the beat of his heart as it slowed to normal beneath her cheek. His scent and the warmth of his skin. The protective, almost cherishing way he cradled her.

Her heart hitched, a painful ache twisting beneath her ribs. Dammit, she shouldn’t have done this. Shouldn’t have allowed herself to feel so much. It only made her wish for things she couldn’t have.

She started to pull away but he made a sound of protest in the back of his throat and tightened his hold. “Stay,” he whispered against her hair.

In that moment, she, lethal assassin that she was, was helpless to fight the invisible pull he exerted on her.

Laying her cheek on his chest once more, she allowed her body to relax fully while he held her. She listened to his heartbeat, the way his breathing deepened and slowed. He twitched slightly in his sleep, woke and gathered her even closer with a contented groan that made her whole chest ache.

She waited until he was deep under before slowly easing away, inch by inch so she didn’t wake him. She even paused by the side of the bed to study him, drinking in the strong lines of his profile.

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