Page 215 of Modern Romance Collection February 2025, 1-4

‘I have never been a possessive man.’ His dark voice had roughened. ‘But I should warn you that I’m feeling very possessive now. I’m not sure you would appreciate me wanting to own you.’

He was doing it again, trying to put distance between them. Trying to frighten her, she thought. Sadly for him, she wasn’t easily frightened.

She looked up into his eyes as she let her fingers trace the outline of his hard shaft, watching the flames in his eyes leap even higher. ‘I think you’re afraid,’ she murmured. ‘Is it me you’re afraid of?’

He bared his teeth. ‘I didn’t say you could touch me, nymph.’

It wasn’t exactly an admission, but he’d betrayed himself all the same. Hewasafraid, though what of she didn’t know. Because as she’d already told him, he was an infamous playboy and sex was the one thing he shouldn’t be afraid of.

Maude dropped her hands and stepped back. ‘That’s fine. I don’t have to touch you.’ She turned. ‘I’ll get my—’

But she didn’t have a chance to finish. His fingers closed hard around her upper arms and he pulled her around to face him. ‘I didn’t say leave,’ he growled, then his mouth was on hers in a kiss so hot and hungry, she almost lost her mind.

Then again, perhaps she’d lost it already, because the moment his lips met hers, she was up on her toes, sliding her arms around his neck, pressing her body against his as she opened her mouth to him, letting him take anything and everything he wanted.

Heat exploded between them, a conflagration burning high.

His hands came down on her hips, gripping her, turning her so that the couch was nearby and then he took her down onto it, crushing her beneath him. He was a solid, hot wall of muscle and there were too many clothes between them. She clawed at his shirt, ripping it open, and he cursed, grabbing her hands and holding them away from him.

‘No,’ he said roughly, black eyes molten. ‘If you want this, then I’m in charge.’

She sucked in a breath, her heartbeat wild, her body trembling with need. It hadn’t been like this between them in the woods that night. No one had been in charge then, they’d both taken what they’d wanted and it had been so good. But then that night they hadn’t known each other, hadn’t known what would happen and nothing had existed then but the moment.

They couldn’t have that moment again. It was gone. And her god of the forest was now hidden behind the mask of Dominic Lancaster. A mask he seemed very set on keeping.

She wanted to ignore him, keep tearing at his clothes until she’d uncovered the man he was behind the mask, all raw heat and primal power, nothing but glorious essence, but there was iron in his black eyes. He wasn’t going to yield. If she wanted this, she was going to have to surrender to him.

It wasn’t a choice. She wanted him and if this was the only way he could give himself to her, then she’d take it.

So she nodded, the resistance bleeding out of her.

He shifted, rising up to his knees. With calm, deliberate movements, his black gaze not leaving hers, he undid his tie, pulled it off then leaned forward, looping it around her wrists and pulling it tight. Then he lifted her hands and took them up and over her head, pressing them back down onto the couch cushions.

She took a gasping breath as she lay there, looking up into black eyes full of flames. He stretched himself over her, his big, long body all muscled power and heat, and, really, she should have been frightened by how helpless she was. He could hurt her, he could do anything he wanted with her, and she could do nothing to stop him.

Except she wasn’t afraid and she didn’t feel helpless. He wanted her, his desire bright in his eyes, and that was where her power lay. In surrendering to him, in giving him her trust.

A strange thing to think about a man she didn’t really know. Then again, it wasn’t Dominic Lancaster she was surrendering to, but the man he was beneath that. The man she’d met in the forest that night.

That man hadn’t hurt her, hadn’t done anything she hadn’t wanted. That man had given her everything she’d demanded and then had demanded the same of her. There had been nothing between them that night, nothing held back, nothing hidden. Trust given and pleasure received.

He still hadn’t moved, searching her face. ‘What are you thinking about? Are you afraid?’

‘No,’ she said truthfully.

‘Why not? Some women would be.’

‘They might, but...I trust you.’

His body tensed, something moving in his eyes, gone too fast for her to read. ‘And why would you do that?’

‘That night in the forest. We were strangers and yet there was trust between us. And you gave me no reason to regret it.’

His black gaze was pinned to hers. ‘But we’re not in the forest now.’

‘I know, but I think you’re still the same man.’ She shifted beneath him, watching the flames in his eyes leap again. ‘You don’t need to hide him. Not from me.’

He stared at her silently, his gaze boring into hers and he didn’t move. Not even when she lifted her bound hands and looped them around his neck. Not even when she pulled him down and kissed his beautiful mouth, giving him everything the way she had that night, holding nothing back.

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