Page 36 of Beautiful Vengeance

“Can’t sleep?” she asked softly, and started toward the bed. Karas watched her from the doggy bed in front of the fire, ears perked.

Marcus shook his head, his eyes now glowing with an unmistakable heat that made her heart pound. “You?”

“Not alone.” Stopping two feet from the edge of his bed, she reached for the sash of her robe. One tug and the floral-print, plum satin slid away, parting the two halves of the robe to reveal a strip of naked skin from her throat to the smooth mound between her thighs.

A surge of power and arousal shot through her at the way Marcus’s eyes darkened as they slowly dragged down the length of bare skin she’d revealed, stopping between her legs. She felt his gaze like a caress, increasing the throb of desire there.

Encouraged, combatting the nerves that had her pulse hammering in her throat, she closed the remaining distance between them and perched a hip on the edge of his bed, inches from where the sheets ended at his waist.

She could see the outline of his erection pressed against the covers, and the thought of pleasuring this man sent another wave of heat through her. Lifting a hand, she reached out to stroke her fingertips down his bearded cheek.

Marcus caught her wrist and held it, his eyes searching hers. “Why?” he asked quietly. “Tell me why.”

So honorable. Most men would have seized the opportunity she’d given him and pounced. Not Marcus.

She drew a steadying breath, then whispered the words that made her tremble inside. “I want to feel with you.”

A leap of emotion flashed in his eyes, quickly replaced by a mixture of heat and tenderness that made her heart trip. He kissed the backs of her fingers, then leaned forward to curl a thick arm around her waist and slide her toward him. One big hand slid into the back of her hair as he pulled her in for a kiss.

The moment their lips met, the nervousness fell away. Everything disappeared except for Marcus. She splayed her hands on his sculpted chest, exploring and mapping the muscular terrain with her fingers and palms as they kissed. Touching a man intimately because she wanted to was heady. Addictive.

But then he stopped. She blinked, coming out of her trance to find him cupping her face in his hands, his eyes earnest. “Are you sure?”

She’d never been surer of anything in her life. “Yes.”

He didn’t let go. “No acting. I don’t want some pretend version you think you need to be. I just want you.”

He didn’t want her to pretend. Didn’t want her to fake anything. He wanted the real her, or nothing at all.

Nerves fluttered back to life in the pit of her belly. She’d never done this—been herself in an intimate situation. Didn’t know if it was even possible. But she wanted to try, for both of them. So she nodded and leaned in to kiss him again, eager to get out of her head and lose herself in the magic Marcus wielded.

He didn’t disappoint. He took his time as he kissed her again, skimming the fingertips of his free hand down the side of her neck, over the front of her throat to the notch between her collarbones.

It was such a revelation. She was always the one who seduced. Now Marcus had reversed the roles. He was taking the lead, awakening her entire body inch by inch.

His mouth was warm on her neck, nibbling and kissing, the caress of his tongue and slight abrasion of his beard sending a rush of heat straight between her legs. It was so incredibly freeing to not have to do anything but hold on to his broad shoulders and enjoy.

She closed her eyes and let her head fall back. His deft fingers stroked along the valley between her breasts, turning her nipples into tight points that throbbed for his touch. Then down the centerline of her stomach to her navel, and lower to pause on her smooth mound.

Her heart drummed against her ribs, her body suffused with heat and need. By the time he finally reversed course with his fingers, his mouth was at her collarbone.

She sighed as he eased the satin halves of her robe apart slowly, allowing the fabric to caress her sensitized skin. It slid off her shoulders to pool around her waist. He eased back a bit, a low, masculine sound of awe coming from his throat as he took her in.

At this point she normally would have withdrawn into her head and escaped more into the role she was playing. Now there was only anticipation and enjoyment of the way he looked at her.

Then his hands closed around her waist, his dark head bending to nuzzle the valley between her breasts. Kiyomi’s heart squeezed as he kissed her there, right over her pounding heart, his beard prickling her skin, and slid her hands into his hair.

The connection she felt with him was overwhelming. She’d never imagined feeling this way, had never imagined being able to truly give herself to someone.

Those big hands cupped her breasts, pushing them up slightly as he nuzzled first one, then the other. She squirmed restlessly, sucked in a breath at the first brush of his lips across a straining nipple, the anticipation nearly painful.

Then warmth, followed by a streak of sensual fire as he took it into his mouth. A soft moan escaped when he sucked gently, his tongue caressing, sending streamers of pleasure through her.

The sensation triggered an automatic reaction to withdraw physically, shut off the sensations, but she fought it back, desperately craving this experience with him. The pleasure he offered.

Releasing one breast, he stroked his hand up and down her ribcage while he tended to her other nipple. She arched her back and pulled him closer, the pulse in her core making her hotter, wetter.

The moment he lifted his head she dove in for a deep, urgent kiss, her tongue sliding along his while her hands roamed his back. She wanted to touch all of him, couldn’t get close enough as he turned them and laid her on her back beside him.

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