His eyes almost appeared dilated they were so dark. His smile deepened with satisfaction, and there was such wicked promise in the curve of his lips that I knew I was in good hands.

His gaze dropped, skimming my body. “Nice dress.”

“Thanks.”

His hand toyed with the thin blue belt that wrapped around my waist. It took me only a second to realize he wasn’t merely toying with it. As though he knew exactly how it functioned, he undid the tiny silver bow that clasped at the front. It fell to the floor with a soft thud.

“I bet it would look even better on the floor.” He bent slightly, watching my face as he clutched the hem of my dress and pulled it up over my head in one swift move.

A cool draft swept over me. It was just me in my bra and panties. Black satin and lace. His breath caught. Just a few inches separated us, but he didn’t touch me. I could feel the warmth radiating from his body to mine but he didn’t lift a finger to touch me. He only stared at me, his gaze hot and devouring.

I moved to kick off my heels but his voice stopped me. “Leave them on.”

I froze under his perusal, resisting the urge to cover myself with my hands. I had never been the shy type, but with him I was. With him everything was different. Everything was new.

He wrapped his arms around me. I reveled at his maleness, at the flex of his biceps. Our foreheads touched as he spoke, the words fanning my lips, “I’ll take what you’re willing to give me, Emerson.” His hands gripped my bottom. “For now.” In one move, he lifted me off my feet and guided my legs around his waist. “We can start here.”

Then he was kissing me again. Hot, drugging kisses as he carried me slowly to the bed, his big hands clenching on my bottom, singeing me through my panties as his mouth slanted one way and then the next.

I wrapped my arms around him, relishing the sensation of his back under my fingers, the quiver of his smooth flesh as he carried me.

He sat down on the bed with me straddling his lap. His hands moved to my face, broad palms cupping my cheeks, fingers burrowing into my hair as we kissed, our heads angling as if we couldn’t taste enough of each other.

There was no such thing as too close. My br**sts smashed against his chest. I was desperate, hungry for more of him, loving the hard strength of him surrounding me. The pressure of his mouth increased. He nipped me with his teeth before dragging his open mouth down my throat. When he got to where my shoulder and neck met, he bit down, not hard enough to hurt but enough for me to release a shuddery moan.

He slipped the thin straps of my bra down my shoulders until the cups sagged loose. He closed both hands over my aching br**sts. I arched into his palms. His dark head descended and his mouth closed over one nipple, drawing it deep into the warm heat of his mouth.

“Oh, God,” I cried, burying my hands in his hair and holding him to me. “Don’t stop.”

He moved his mouth to my other breast, his words fanning over my moist nipple. “We’re just getting started. This is going to take all night.”

A shudder ran through me at his words, at what his mouth was doing to me. I felt his hands at my back, unhooking the clasp of my bra. It fell down between us. The only thing barring me from complete nudity was the slight scrap of my underwear. His hands gripped my waist and ground me down harder against his erection. Moaning, I widened my thighs and rocked against him, searching for relief. He felt delicious, hard and insistent against the heat of me, and I throbbed. My belly clenched with need and I writhed, wiggling desperately against him, losing whatever rhythm I’d found in my rocking movements. My panties grew wet. I couldn’t take another minute of this. My fingers dug into his back, urging him on.

My dazed gaze focused on his face. “Please.”

“What? What do you want?”

My hands went for his belt, fingers fumbling, hating that he still wore his jeans. That I wore my panties. That there was any barrier at all between us. “This. I want you. Inside me.”

There. I’d said it. I didn’t even regret it. I just wanted it to happen. Now.

In one swift move, he lifted me off him and set me down on the bed. I watched, every part of me trembling as he stood and made quick work of removing his boots and jeans.

He stood before me in tight black briefs that did nothing to hide the hard outline of him. My eyes widened at the sight of his bulge. I squeezed my thighs together in an attempt to assuage the pulsing ache at my core, but it didn’t work. There was only one cure for that and I was staring right at him.

I slid off the bed and stood before him. I touched his face lightly, loving the bristly scrape of his cheek under my fingers.

His eyes ate me up. “Emerson,” he breathed. He pressed an open-mouthed kiss to my palm. Wrapping his arms around me, he lifted me off my feet, his forearm coming under my bottom, bringing me to eye level.

He came down over me on the bed. I felt small and delicate as he kissed his way down my body. He was so much bigger than me, hard and muscled, and I felt fragile. Cherished. Loved.

His hands hooked around my panties and slid them down my thighs and past my ankles. I couldn’t summon the slightest will to resist. No protest jumped to my lips. Shockingly enough, I felt like everything in my life had been leading to this moment where I finally released control. When I finally trusted someone else. When I let Shaw in.

His fingers touched me, feather light, skimming up the inside of my thighs, I arched, clawing my duvet cover as his fingers found me, parted me, and delved into my heat.

“Shaw,” I choked out, bewildered as his thumb found that tiny, hidden nub and pressed down on it, and then rolled it between his fingers. He’d done this to me before, but the memory paled in comparison to this moment. To now. “Shaw, please.”

“Not yet.” He slid down my body and put his mouth there. I screeched and came up off the bed. He flattened a hand against my belly, holding me down as his fingers pushed and pulled back the tiny hood of my clit, drawing it between his lips, his tongue playing against me as he sucked.

I gasped and shuddered, sensation eddying out from the spot where his mouth worked on me to every single nerve in my body. I seized his head, fisting his hair. His hands slid under my ass, lifting me higher and holding me in place for him like I was some kind of feast.

“Shaw, please!”

“Tell me, baby.” His lips moved against me and this only made me wilder. I tugged on his hair, trying to bring him back up on top of me. He continued to work my oversensitized flesh with his lips, tongue, and teeth, toying with me. I released a long, keening moan as he eased one finger deep inside me, adding to my torment.