By teasing him until he was as desperate as a teenage boy with one hand on a Playmate centerfold and the other on his—
Cam roared with rage and slammed his shoulder into the door. Once. Twice.
The wood gave way and he burst into the room.
Leanna came at him like a wildcat. He feinted. Ducked. Grunted as she caught him in the gut with an elbow. She was quick and strong and maybe she could have fought another man off…
But not him.
He was crazed with anger, with frustration, with needing what he had been too long denied. In some dark recess of his mind, he knew he’d crossed that thin line between civilization and the jungle but he didn’t care.
Nothing would stop him from finishing what she had started.
“I’ll kill you!” she panted. “So help me God, you do this and I’ll—”
He caught her wrists in one hand, pinned them above her head and used his body to jam her against the wall. He plunged a hand into her hair, wound a thick length of it around his fist and took her mouth with his, kissing her mercilessly, nipping her tender flesh, thrusting his tongue between her lips when she gasped for breath.
She fought hard, sank her teeth into his bottom lip and drew blood, but it didn’t matter. Tonight, at last, he was going to get what she’d promised.
“Bastard,” she hissed. “No good, rotten ba—”
She cried out as he pushed his knee between her thighs, lifting her off the floor so that the
long, thick ridge of his erection pressed against the female heart of her.
“Remember what I asked you that first time? I’m asking it again. How do you want this? I can make it good for you, or I can take you hard and fast, zip up and walk away.”
A shudder raced the length of her body. “Oh, God! Cameron—Cameron…”
There was something in the way she said his name. Something he’d never heard before in a woman’s voice. Something that said her fear masked a different emotion, one she wasn’t ready to confront.
Even in his out of control fury, he heard it.
“Salome,” he whispered…and she shuddered and raised her face blindly to his.
“Cam,” she said again, and he groaned, gathered her close and kissed her. Kissed her with a mix of hunger and tenderness. He said her name again. Then he swept her into his arms and carried her to the bed.
He lay her back against the pillows. Her eyes shone with tears, but now they glittered like stars. Her mouth was pink and swollen from his kisses.
Cam’s heart turned over.
He’d lied to her. To himself. He’d never have taken her through force. He wanted this. Needed this. Her, asking for his possession. Burning for him as he burned for her.
“Tell me,” he said, just as he had before… Except, this time he knew what her answer would be.
“Cameron.” Her lips curved in a tremulous smile as she raised her arms to him. “Please. Make love to me.”
He came down on the bed beside her and reached for the buttons on her shirt. He opened one. Then another, but his fingers felt clumsy and he growled in frustration, grasped the edges of the cotton fabric and tore it open, baring her breasts.
He’d seen them before. Touched them. Then, he’d pretended it didn’t matter. Now, he wanted her to know that nothing mattered more.
“You’re beautiful,” he said as he bent to her, kissed her pale gold flesh, licked an apricot nipple and then drew it into his mouth.
She gave a little cry and arched toward him.
“So beautiful,” he said, and slid his hand under the golden thong.
She was hot. Wet. For him, only for him. She moaned his name as he found the swollen bud within her honeyed folds and stroked it.