ation of his breath against her sensitive flesh. The anticipation was torture-worse than the kiss would be, worse than an

tightened at her nape, fingers pressing into the tension knots a

ed, the word bru

king, the column of muscle shifting beneath skin she'd never been close enough to study. Then his fr

ith tobacco and something darker, forced past her teeth with the insistence of his tongue. Kloe g

g every surface, erasing every boundary. The alcohol burned down her throat, pooling heat in h

n, slowly, opened. Spread. Her palms flattened against the hard planes o

d Kloe's legs wrapped around his waist with the automatic instinct of a drowning woman clinging to wreckage

of her thighs met the edge of something soft. The bed. He dropped her onto it, the mattress

the intricate lacing of her bodice. He pulled. The silk cords resisted, then gave way with a sound li

od, bouncing with musical notes. Crystal beads rained down, catching the ci

her chest, but Julian caught her wrists. His fingers circled her bones eas

me," he c

d her vision. Julian's face filled her world-harsh, beautiful, stripped of the social mask he

ed down her exposed side, thumb finding the sensi

atening to, and Kloe's back arched off the mattress with a cry she couldn't suppress. He soothe

n lasted only a second, but it showed her everything: her own pale limbs against the dark bedding, Juli

making. Covering, too, any noise from the corridor, from the

s closing despite his command, and a tear escaped the corner of her eye, tracking toward her temple

harsh, stripping away any illusion of comfort. The raw dominance in his tone forced Kloe's eyes open, searching his face for a reprieve she wouldn't fin

knew it wasn't true, that the door was locked and her dress w

eet him. Her fingers found the bare sk

ut, the sound swallowed by Julian's mouth, and then they were moving together, and the pain transformed into something els