Page 61 of Heart of a Rebel

Everything.

22

Eloise

Iknewtherewasa possibility Adrian would be a gentleman when I bared my feelings to him. That maybe he was really over the past between us. I knew it was a risk putting myself on that ledge and asking him to catch me.

But still, I held my beating heart in my hands and asked him to accept it, knowing the pain I’d feel if he didn’t. Knowing, either way, I had to break the stalemate and hope he’d meet me on the other side. And with blood spilling between us, I finally saw in his eyes the same war that’s waged in me since we met.

I saw the wall crumble as he pulled me in for a kiss.

It could be that it’s been six years since I’ve kissed him, but the power in his kiss isn’t sweet and gentle like I remember. It’s possessive. Claiming. And every aching inch of my body begs him to take everything.

Adrian’s hands slide down my sides, and the years I’ve spent fearing a man touching me melt away because under his palms I feel safe.

I feelloved.

“Eloise.” My name is a plea on his lips, and I respond by wrapping my arms around his neck.

“Please don’t stop.” I know it’s desperate but I’ve never needed affection like I need it from him in this moment.

Adrian gazes down at me and grins, and I might as well melt in his hands at how it feels to be held by a man who exudes power like him. He slips his hands down my sides and around the back of my thighs as he reaches down and lifts me up, wrapping my legs around him.

“Wasn’t planning on it.” He winks, before his mouth lands back on mine.

My insides go tumbling. Down a hill that stops at a cliff. Endlessly falling and I don’t ever want to stop if the feeling brings me closer to him.

He walks us across the suite and into my room, past that barrier I’ve laid awake at night wishing he would cross. I stared at the doorway, knowing we’re both too cautious to breach the line.

Except, now he does.

Adrian lays me on the bed, but he doesn’t stop kissing me. Slow and sweet. Hard and frantic. Switching between the two as I sink my teeth into his lower lip. The pain forces a grunt from him as he grinds his hips between my legs.

I’ve never needed him more.

Reaching for the bottom of his T-shirt, I tug and strip it off. He plants his hands on either side of my head so he can hold himself up, and it draws out the cut of every hard muscle in his arms and chest. I can’t help but trace the lines on his stomach. Skimming my fingertips over places I’ve only explored in my dreams.

My hands make my way to the button on his pants, but he grips my wrist to stop me.

“El.” He tips my chin up so I’m looking him in the eyes, and I realize his are filled with worry. “We don’t have to do this.”

Adrian wraps his hand around my jaw, tracing my bottom lip with the pad of his thumb, back and forth.

“You don’t want to?”

“Of course I want to.” Adrian breathes out a laugh that relaxes me. “But you’re more to me than that. This isn’t just about sex.”

Sex.

My pulse throbs between my legs at the way the word falls from Adrian’s lips. His eyes rake me over, and I wonder if he hears my heart racing.

“I don’t want to rush you,” he says.

Now I’m the one who can’t help laughing. “We’ve spent years not rushing.”

“It’s not just that.” His thumb stops on my lip, pausing there.

As his gaze darkens, I realize what he’s talking about. He’s worried about what this could mean after all I’ve been through. Because Adrian is the kind of man who thinks beyond his own impulses, and he’s worried I’m not ready.

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