Page 34 of Stealthy Seduction
In a quiet rustle, he lifted her off his lap and lay her on the bed with all the care that he would use for a precious artifact. Braced over her, he held her gaze. “I want to make sure you’re all right. That you know you’re safe.”
“I know that. You make sure I know.” She hooked her arms around his neck, dragging him down.
His heart flexed as he captured her mouth once more, and this time he didn’t hold back. He kissed her deep and slow.
A claiming that told her everything he couldn’t say out loud.
His tongue tangled with hers, drinking her in until she was arching beneath him and whimpering into his mouth.
Steele braced one arm beside her head, his body caging hers in, but careful—always careful. He could throw men twice his size across a room without breaking a sweat, but with Izzy, every move was measured.
The world had already threatened her once, and he swore that it wouldn’t get the chance again.
But the way she tugged at his shirt, the press of her curves to the hard, throbbing bulge behind his jeans, shredded his restraint. She wanted him. Maybe she needed him to give her an escape for one night.
And Christ help him, he needed her just as fiercely.
“Izzy…” His voice came out rough, scraped raw from holding back. “Tell me again.”
She knew what he was asking.
“I want you,” she whispered, breathless and trembling, though not with fear. Her eyes burned with a fire he’d never seen the whole world over. “I want to feel alive. I want to feel you.”
Her words detonated inside him. He yanked his shirt over his head, and her hands went instantly to explore—skating over his chest, his scars, tracing the grooves of muscle like she was memorizing every inch. Each stroke left heat blooming across his skin.
He dipped his head, trailing kisses down her throat, across her collarbone, tasting the sweetness of her skin, the faint hint of pure Izzy. She gasped and arched, offering him more. Steele groaned, losing himself in the curve of her body beneath his mouth.
Her fingers fumbled with his waistband, and he caught her hands, pressing them to the mattress. “Slow,” he ground out, searching her gaze. “If we do this, it’s not just a distraction. Not just because you were scared tonight. To me…it’s more, Izzy. A hell of a lot more.”
Her expression softened, all the teasing banter gone, leaving behind pure truth. “Hudson…I know. And I’m not afraid of that. Or of you. I’m only afraid you’ll stop.”
The lump in his throat nearly choked him. He released her wrists and kissed her again, fierce and unrestrained. His body surged against hers, eager and aching. She answered with the same fire, tugging him down, wrapping her legs around his hips.
He slid a hand under her shirt, palms hot against her skin, feeling the tremble of her stomach muscles under his touch. She shivered, but her lips parted on a sigh of welcome. After he worked the whole row of dainty buttons on her blouse, she maneuvered to let him strip it away.
The sight of her laid bare beneath him, chest rising and falling, eyes wide with trust, nearly undid him.
“Beautiful,” he rasped, lowering his mouth to her curves, worshipping every inch with slow, hungry kisses as he worked at the clasp of her bra.
Her fingers threaded into his hair, holding him close, urging him on with hoarse pleas that turned into cries when he clamped his lips around her nipple.
Every sound she made sank deeper into his chest, stripping off years of armor he hadn’t realized he wore until now.
Years of living rough, of being as hard as his last name, of being the most reliable member on the team, had placed a shield around him, one that nobody penetrated.
Izzy did that without even trying, by just being Izzy.
He wanted her pleasure like his own mission. He wanted her safe, adored, wrung out by bliss in his arms.
He worshipped her breasts with his lips and tongue, sucking until she rocked off the bed to a primal rhythm. It was something neither of them could run from.
He moved down her body, kissing and tasting every dip and curve with dark hunger. She arched under him, her breath breaking on little cries that made his blood surge hot. Steele dragged his lips lower, mapping her with tongue and teeth until she writhed against him.
“Izzy,” he groaned, lifting his head long enough to catch her gaze. “Tell me what you want. I need to hear it.”
Her cheeks were flushed, amber eyes blazing. “You. All of you. Don’t hold back.”
Christ, that undid him. He kissed a path down her stomach, slow and torturous, his hands skimming her sides until he hooked his thumbs into her waistband. She lifted her hips in unspoken invitation, and he stripped her bare, drinking in the sight of her spread out on his bed.
