Page 20 of On His Bride's Terms

He said, ‘Don’t ever suggest you’re nothing again.’

Faye swallowed. She could taste him. ‘I...okay.’

This was a wholly new sensation for her. Not just because she hadn’t had sex in a while, but also, she realised now, because she instinctively chose men she felt in control around. With this man, she was not in control. But she trusted him. And that was almost scarier to acknowledge, when she’d spent the last decade keeping herself very protected.

He took his hands down and without taking his gaze from hers started to undress. Slowly, methodically, taking every piece of his clothing off until he was naked.

Faye’s blood was sizzling and it hurt to keep her gaze up.

He said, ‘You can look. I won’t break.’

There was a thread of amusement in his voice. It emboldened Faye to drop her gaze down and...

Oh. My. God.The man was hewn out of living, breathing rock.

Broad shoulders and chest. A smattering of hair. Muscles that could have been carved and shaded by an artist. Golden skin. Slim hips. The darker hair at his groin where his body was hard. Thick and long.

Faye’s eyes widened. He was magnificent. Every inch of him virile and unashamedly masculine.

‘I’m feeling a little underdressed here,’ he said, reminding her that she was still in her own costume, which suddenly felt restrictive. She reached for the zip at the side of the dress, under her arm, and started to tug it down. But it got stuck.

Primo stepped forward. ‘Let me.’

Faye lifted her arm and Primo tugged at the zip until it gave way under his fingers. Of course it did. She couldn’t imagine this man touching anything—even an inanimate object—and it not giving way to his touch.

The dress loosened around her chest, but to her surprise Primo held her arm up and pressed his mouth against the underside of her arm. A shudder of pure desire went through Faye. It felt like a shockingly intimate act.

He let her arm go. Primo stood in front of her again and slowly peeled the dress from her chest and then down and then with a tug over her hips it was falling to the floor.

Now she stood before him in nothing but a matching underwear set—strapless bra—and her shoes. She kicked them off, which lowered her a few inches, making her feel tiny next to Primo’s formidable height and bulk. But she didn’t feel nervous or intimidated.

He was looking at her, that bright gaze lingering on her breasts, spilling out of the flimsy bra cups, moving down to her belly and hips and thighs.

‘You are beautiful.’

Faye wanted to say the same thing to him, but felt shy.

Thankfully Primo took her by the hand again and led her to the bed. He sat down and pulled her between his legs.

‘Turn around,’ he ordered gruffly.

She did, and felt him undo her bra, letting it fall to the floor. Then he tugged her panties over her hips and down. She stepped out of them. Now she was fully naked.

He gently urged her to turn around again, and when she did his mouth was at the same level as her breasts. He cupped one fleshy weight and leaned forward, placing his hot mouth around one straining peak. Faye’s head fell back and her hands speared his hair in a bid to hold on to something.

She was lost in a vortex of sucking, drugging heat, with a wire of tension linking directly from her nipple to between her legs. She didn’t even realise her legs had given way until she was in his lap with his arms around her. Her pulse was thundering.

He stood up, taking her with him, and laid her on the bed. He went to retrieve something from a drawer, muttering something about not being able to last, and when Faye realised it was protection she said, ‘It’s okay...’

He looked at her with the foil packet unopened in his hand.

She said, ‘I won’t get pregnant. It’s okay.’ She deliberately didn’t elaborate, and knew he most likely assumed she meant she was taking the contraceptive pill.

He put down the protection and came over to the bed, ‘I’m clean. I get tested, and it’s been a while since I had a lover.’

‘Me too,’ said Faye, feeling shy again.

He came over her on both arms, muscles bunching under his gleaming skin. Faye couldn’t quite believe that Primo Holt was looking at her with such...naked hunger.

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