Page 91 of Killer Secrets (Tempting SEALs 5)

He chuckled. Clear, warming amusement echoed in the sound as he pulled her tighter against him.

"Psychology isn't your strong suit, sweetheart."

"Of course it is. I spent years studying under the best profilers we have on terrorism and their victims. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about."

Her voice was breathless; her body was filling with arousal. She couldn't be this close to Ian and not ache for more.

He simply smiled. A slow curling of his lips that sent her senses spiraling with a hunger to taste them, to feel them against her own. It also sent fear ratcheting up inside her. He was staring at her as though he knew her. Knew parts of her that even she didn't understand.

"I love you, Kira."

Emotion exploded in her head, in her soul. She was only barely aware of the thin cry that left her lips, of the tears that rolled from her eyes and over her cheeks. Tears he caught with his mouth a second before his lips covered hers.

"Belong to me," he whispered against her lips a second later. "Right now. Right here. Belong to me."

Oh God, she would always belong to him.

He released her hands but only an act of God could have pulled her from him then. There was no chance she was going to allow anything else to peel her from his body.

Her arms slid around his neck as his wrapped around her back. His lips were on hers, eatable, so eatable. Like rough velvet, stroking over nerve endings, sending fiery pleasure whipping through her body.

Kira arched in his arms, wishing she could meld a part of him inside her forever. A part she could always hold close to her, some part of him that she would never lose.

"My wild little lover." He eased back, ignoring her cry of protest. "We're not going hard and fast this time. Is that how you protect yourself, Kira? Does it have to be hard and fast so you can hold on to those reserves of control you keep in such supply?"

"My control?" she gasped, forcing her eyes open as she felt his hands move to the hem of her black shirt. "You're the one with too much control."

"Let's see about that," he suggested, his rough voice and confident smile causing her to moan at the implications of his dare.

"That's not fair," she gasped. "We both know you can hold out longer. I want to break. You don't."

He chuckled again. "Is that how you see it, Kira? That hard and fast means you've managed to break my control rather than me breaking yours?"

"Duh!" She gasped as the black stretchy cotton shirt cleared her breasts. "What else could it mean?"

"It could mean the pleasure is too important to lose," he suggested as she lifted her arms, allowing him to pull the shirt free of her body before tossing it aside. "It could mean I want to relish rather than devour. Haven't you ever wanted to relish it, Kira? Savor the pleasure and hold on to it forever?"

He was going to lock her soul to him forever. She could hear it in his voice when he spoke of savoring rather than rushing. He was going to imprint himself not just on her body, but on her very spirit to ensure no part of her ever escaped him.

He thought he loved her, thought he knew her. He thought this pleasure could go beyond deceit.

"No restraints this time," he warned her as he pulled his own T-shirt from his body and dropped it to the floor.

She should be running, finding an excuse not to do this, not to allow him to lock her to him more than she already was.

Naked from the waist up, Kira watched as he sat in a nearby chair and unlaced his combat boots while staring back at her.

"Take your boots off, Kira," he told her softly.

She sat on the edge of the bed and braced her ankle on her knee, working at the laces as she watched him, like a puppet without the sense to think for itself.

She licked her lips nervously as they pulled a boot off simultaneously and then shifted to work on the other. Once they were removed he gathered them, along with their shirts, and walked to the closet where he stored them on a rack before turning back to her.

As he stood in the closet doorway, he lifted his hands to the belt cinching his waist, then the closure of the black mission pants he wore. Kira got to her feet, imitating his actions, removing her pants as he watched her, her breathing escalating, moving hard and fast through her lungs.

She couldn't seem to draw in enough oxygen. Couldn't seem to shake free of the hypnotic arousal tearing through her.

"Maybe we should sleep for a while," she suggested breathlessly, knowing better but helpless against the need to find an escape, any escape, from what she knew was coming.

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