Before she could say anything, Will stepped behind her and began to lower the zip of her dress. His fingers moved slowly allowing Lilah plenty of time to object.
She didn’t.
Goosebumps danced over her skin as he slid the silken fabric over her body until it pooled at her feet.
“Turn around.” It was a command she was powerless to refuse. She moved as he’d directed, shivering a little – from the cold of the night, or his stare, she couldn’t have said.
Now his appraisal was detailed. He lifted a finger and traced imaginary circles on her shoulder before dropping it lower, to the rise of her breasts, and then lower still to the waistband of her silken underpants. When he slipped it inside the elasticized waist to press against her naked flesh she moaned softly.
“I … I did not come here for this,” she whispered, her words carrying to him on a wave of wind.
His smile was an arrogant flicker. “Yes, you did.” He lifted his hands and unclipped her bra, dropping it to the floor beside her dress.
“I came because you ordered me to,” she said, but her insides were groaning with need; a need only he could slake.
His look was dismissive. “Then go, if you don’t want this to happen.” He dipped his head forward so that he could flick one of her nipples with his tongue. He rolled, then circled, it before c
lamping his lips over the peach tip until a shard of pleasurable pain speared through her. “If you want me to make love to you until you can barely breathe from pleasure then go and lie on the bed.”
Lilah’s cheeks flushed. Was it even a choice? Months and months and months of missing him and desiring him had left her with an insatiable hunger. Now that he offered himself to her, what could she do?
Hating herself for the weakness of her body, she dropped her gaze and walked back into the room. Tellingly, she left her clothes on the balcony, and they both knew, even before her back had connected with the mattress, that it was a mark of her acquiescence.
Will stared at them for a long, hard moment.
He was at a fork in the road. A bend in his destiny. The paths before him were leading him in different directions yet only one was open to him. With a sense of resignation and bitterness, he followed the steps she’d taken, pausing to admire her near-naked form on the bed.
“You’re beautiful.” He said, his voice gravelly.
Lilah couldn’t form a response. He was standing in front of her, and slowly, he was unbuttoning his shirt, pushing it open to expose his muscular chest. Her eyes studied every ridge and detail; she was starving and he was her banquet.
He smiled to himself as he moved to the belt, pulling it loose and dropping it to the side of the bed.
“Your turn.”
Lilah flicked him a nervous gaze, her eyes showing her doubts.
He stepped forward so that he was right in front of her. “You know how to work a zipper, right?”
She didn’t bother to pretend she was offended. She nodded, pushing up onto her side and reaching over. Her fingers weren’t quite steady as she began to move the zip down.
“Good,” he said with a touch of sarcasm to the word. It was only a hint, but it hurt. She bit down on her lip and lowered her eyes.
Will saw the betraying gesture but he refused to soften. Just as she refused to admit she loved him enough to be with him. He pushed his pants down with his boxers, so that he stood before her, only inches from her face, completely naked. He saw the panic and the nervousness and he had to stifle a groan.
She was his beautiful lover, but he was her only lover. He shouldn’t be reducing them to sex.
You didn’t. She did.
He grabbed the thought and cherished it. He had offered her love. She had rejected him. He had offered her sex and she had agreed.
Only after you practically blackmailed her, he reminded himself.
Her fingers around his arousal startled him out of the torrent of reverie.
He looked down; the sight of her manicured nails wrapped around him made his heart burst. He could imagine her lips in that position, with their perfect cupid bow shaping to take him.
With a guttural sound of frustration he stepped back. His chest was heaving with the force of his breath. He had to get control of himself, and of the situation. “Lie back on the bed.”