You’re in love with him.
Well, obviously. If there was never to be anyone else, it had to be because she didn’t want there to be. Because this was the man for her, the only man. Was that love? She had no idea—she’d never been in love before—but it felt right and true, and she didn’t fight it. Didn’t deny it.
She lifted her hand and let her fingers settle in the hollow of his throat, his skin hot and slick beneath her touch, the beat of his pulse heavy and sure.
His whole body tensed as she touched him, the fire in his gaze leaping, sending a pulse of raw electricity surging through her.
‘I’m not afraid of you, Nazir,’ she said, meeting his gaze without flinching. ‘So tell me, why should I keep my distance? What is it exactly that I don’t want to know?’
He reached up, his long fingers wrapping around her wrist and holding it. ‘You should be afraid.’ His hard mouth twisted in what looked like a snarl. ‘I can be dangerous when my control is tested. And you test it, Ivy. I don’t want to—’
‘Hurt me?’ she finished, stepping even closer, so they were mere inches apart. ‘Don’t be stupid. You won’t. This isn’t about hurting me anyway. This is about the fact that you don’t like to be out of control and that’s what’s really getting to you, isn’t it?’
His gaze shifted and glittered, the animal heat in it searing. ‘I’m a soldier, little fury. I kill people and I command other men who kill people. You don’t want a man like me losing his grip on his control, believe me.’
‘But that’s not all you are.’ She lifted her other hand and put it very deliberately on his chest, feeling the heat of his skin and the beat of his heart against her palm. ‘You’re not just a soldier and you do more than kill. There’s gentleness in you and compassion, and a deep empathy. And I think that was taken from you, wasn’t it?’
He bared his teeth, his gaze moving from hers, raking down her body that the robe barely covered. His fingers tightened around her wrist and she could feel his pulse begin to accelerate. ‘I don’t care about compassion and I care even less about empathy. I’m an animal, Ivy. And right now, if you don’t step away I’m going to rip that robe from your body and take you, and there won’t be a single thing you can do about it.’
But she only lifted her chin. ‘Maybe I want you to be an animal. Maybe I’m an animal too. Did you ever think of that?’
He said something low and rough in Arabic that she didn’t understand, his broad chest rising in a sudden, sharp inhale, his heart beating even faster. ‘You don’t understand. I need to stay in command of myself. I got my mother exiled and my father lost the love of his life. I destroyed my family, Ivy. I don’t want to end up destroying you.’
Ivy put back her head and met his fierce, uncompromising gaze. ‘Try it,’ she said softly. ‘See how far you get. I’m tougher than you can possibly imagine.’ Then, before he could move, she lifted her fingers from his throat, went up on her tiptoes and pressed her mouth there, tasting the salt and velvet of his skin.
CHAPTER TEN
HERMOUTHWASlike a flame lighting dry touchpaper and Nazir felt the moment he ignited, knew the second he went up like a torch, and he was powerless to stop it.
All the need in him, the possession, the hunger, the desperate desire he’d been holding back for years flooded out of him, tossing aside his precious self-control and drowning him.
Letting go of her wrist, he thrust one hand into her hair and closed his fingers into a fist, dragging her head back and taking her mouth like the conqueror he was.
She didn’t protest, didn’t cry out, simply surged against him, meeting his kiss as if she’d been waiting for it her entire life.
Foolish, reckless woman. She had no idea what she’d unleashed in him, but it was too late to stop. Too late to hold back. If she wanted him to be an animal then he’d be one and all those things she’d said, about him being compassionate and empathetic, well, she’d soon see those were lies.
He was destruction and he would destroy her.
Her mouth was hot and sweet beneath his and he ravaged it, plunging his tongue deep inside and taking all that sweetness for himself. Still kissing her, he grabbed a handful of her silky robe and pulled hard. The sound of tearing fabric filled the room, but she didn’t make a sound. Simply wriggled out of it as he tore it from her then pressed her body against his, all warm, silky female heat.
Everything inside him pulled taut and then snapped, all his hard-earned control, every lesson his father had ever taught him, all his cool logic. They disappeared, drowned under a flood of the most intense lust.
Without thought, he tore his mouth from hers, turned her around in his arms then pushed her face down onto the polished wooden floor of the gym. She gasped, but not in protest, coming up onto her hands and knees, then throwing him the sultriest look over one bare shoulder. It was a dare and a challenge to the predator inside him.
He dropped to his knees behind her, put one hand on the back of her neck, easing her head down onto the floor and holding it there so her cheek rested against the wood, her lovely, heart-shaped rear presented to him. He slipped his free hand between her thighs from behind, stroking through her wet heat to ease a finger inside her, and then, when she jerked and gasped, he eased in another.
She gave the most delicious cry, her back arching, her hips lifting, so he drew his fingers back out then in again, giving her some friction and making her writhe. The feel of her sex clenching around his fingers made him growl in satisfaction and he wanted to keep going, wanted to make her scream with just the movement of his hand. But the ache in his groin was becoming far too intense.
Taking his hand away, he reached for the buttons on his trousers and ripped them open, freeing himself. Then, keeping the pressure on the back of her neck, he thrust hard inside her from behind.
Ivy cried out, twisting on the floor beneath him. She was still up on her knees and he wanted to push her down and cover her entirely like the animal he was, but he had enough presence of mind to know that probably wasn’t a good idea considering where their child lay, and so he stayed where he was, satisfying himself with every hard, deep thrust.
He watched her as he moved, as the pleasure gripped him tight. Her face was turned to one side on the floor, her cheeks deeply flushed, thick dark lashes resting on her cheeks. Her mouth was slightly open, deep moans of pleasure escaping her.
She didn’t seem to care that she was down on the hard wood, that he had his hand on the back of her neck, that his thrusts were hard, brutal, and savage almost. In fact, if he wasn’t much mistaken, she was trying to shove herself back on him, giving him back as good as she got.
Little savage. Little fury.