Daisy was more beautiful than any art ever created.
Her long brown hair fell over her bare shoulders. Her full breasts thrust up against the low sweetheart neckline of her red column dress, the fabric falling gently over the swell of her pregnant belly. Her dark lashes fluttered against her cheek as her teeth worried against her lower lip, so plump and red.
In the shadows of the foyer, the sparkling light refracted in the hundred-year-old crystal chandelier, gleaming against her lips, her cheekbones, her luminous eyes.
And then she’d kissed him.
As her soft lips touched his, he felt a shock of electricity that coursed down his body, from his hair to his fingertips to his toes. His muscles went rigid. He burned, then melted.
He’d been forcing himself to abide by his promise not to touch her. But every day, every hour, he’d felt the agony of that. All he’d wanted to do was kiss her, seduce her, possess her.
But now she was kissing him.
With a rush, he cupped his hands along her jawline, moving back to tangle in her hair, drawing her close. He kissed her hungrily, twining his tongue with hers. He felt out of control, as if his hunger might devour them both. He wrenched away, looking down at her. His heart was pounding.
“Come to bed with me,” he whispered, running his hand down her throat, along the bare edge of her collarbone. He felt her tremble. Lowering his head, he softly kissed her throat, running his hand through her hair. “Come to bed...”
Her green eyes were reckless and wild. Wordlessly, she nodded. But as he took her hand to lead her to the stairs, she swayed and seemed to stagger, as if her knees had gone weak.
With one swoop, Leonidas lifted her up into his arms. She weighed nothing at all, he thought in wonder. As he carried her up the carved stone staircase, he looked down at her, marveling that she had such power over him.
She’d bewitched him, utterly and completely. As he carried her up the stairs, all the darkness of his world receded. When he looked into her eyes, his heart felt warm and alive, instead of frozen in ice. Beneath the soft glow of her eyes, he could almost believe he wasn’t the monster his parents had believed him to be. Maybe he was someone worthy. Someone good.
Leonidas carried her down the hall, into his shadowy bedroom, lit by dappled lights from the window. Outside, the city had fallen into deepening night. Across the street, he could see the illuminated tips of skyscrapers peeking over the rooftops, and beyond that, the twinkling stars, cold and distant.
He lowered her reverently to the king-sized bed. Her honey-brown hair swirled like a cirrus cloud across the pillows. She looked up at him with heavy-lidded eyes, and he caught his breath.
Leonidas dropped his tuxedo jacket and tie to the floor. Kicking off his shoes, he fell next to her on the bed. He slowly removed each of her high-heeled sandals, first one, then the other. Leaning forward, he cupped her face and kissed her tenderly. Her lips parted as he felt her sigh, and it took every ounce of his willpower to hold himself back, when all he wanted to do was possess her. Now.
But he held himself back. She was pregnant with his baby. He would not overwhelm her. He would be gentle. He’d take his time. Lure her. Seduce her.
And make her his own—forever.
Reaching out, he gently cupped her cheek. His hand stroked whisper soft down her neck, to her bare shoulder.
With an intake of breath, she met his gaze. Her eyes were full of tears as she tried to smile.
“Leo,” she whispered.
His heart lifted to his throat.
Leo. She’d called him Leo. The name she’d used long ago, before she knew his true identity, back when she’d loved him...
Leonidas shuddered with emotion. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her tight. As he kissed her, memories from last fall, when he’d known such joy in her arms, filled him body and soul. The night he’d first kissed her in Brooklyn, the night he’d taken her virginity, all the nights after.
But this kiss was even better.
Because now, Daisy knew who he was. She’d kissed him first. She knew the worst of him, but still wanted him.
Except she didn’t know the worst. He sucked in his breath. And she must never know...
No. He must not think of it. Not now. Not ever.
He deepened the kiss, until it became rough, almost savage in his need to obliterate all else. Daisy’s embrace was passionate and pure, like the woman herself. Being in her arms was the only thing that made him forget...
All thought, all reason, fled his mind as her lips seared his. Part of him almost expected she’d stop him, pull back, tell him she was too good for him—and how could he deny the truth of that?
But she did not pull away. Instead, her lips strained against his, matching his fire. The whole world seemed to whirl around him as he held her, facing each other on the bed. He kissed slowly down her throat.