Burned Deep (Burned 1)

All of his muscles flexed as he wrapped his arms around me. He was rigid, stone. I loved how the strength not only came from his chiseled features but also emanated from his every pore.

His head finally dipped and he kissed me like I’d just made his entire year. Passionately, gratefully, sensually. Insanely perfect.

When we came up for air, he burrowed his face in the spray of my hair across the pillows. And continued to breathe heavily.

“Think I could stay here forever,” he mused.

I stared up at the dark ceiling, the flickering candlelight barely registering. Something stirred and moved inside me. Something unexpected and indefinable. Something that caused my heart to constrict and turned my blood molten.

Tears pricked my eyes. I couldn’t explain why, except that every second with Dane inside me was amazingly, darkly spectacular. Priceless. Impossible to break free of.

So when he made to pull away, I said, “Not yet.” Unable to catch myself. “That forever was a bit too short.”

His mouth grazed my neck, then my cheek, capturing my tears.

“Ari,” he murmured. “Don’t cry.”

“I’m not,” I insisted. “I’m—”

“Ari. Baby.” He stared into my eyes again. “What is it?”

“I never came before.”

“What?”

“With those other men,” I rushed on, to clarify. “From the hotel bars. I never once came. Not with any of them.”

His gaze narrowed on me. “Never?”

My head rolled back and forth on the pillows.

“Then, why—?”

“Because I wanted to—I mean, I’d hoped…” I sighed, a bit frustrated that even I couldn’t truly make heads or tails over those brief encounters. “I did it to make me feel normal, I guess. I engaged when it seemed necessary, but really … I never got anything out of it. And it sure as hell wasn’t anything like this. Nothing—nothing—could ever be the way it is with you.”

Maybe too revealing. My eyes squeezed shut.

“Ari.” He gave me a sweet, sexy kiss. One that melted my heart. My lids fluttered open. “I’ve never been this consumed, either. It’s different with you. Special.” He shook his head. “That sounds inconsequential and temporary. I don’t know the right word.”

I stared at him, at a loss for words myself.

“Anyway.” His lips brushed over the remainder of my tears and then he said, “Just let it be the way it is between us. Don’t try to fight it or let it scare you.”

“It didn’t scare me,” I assured him. “It should have. But it didn’t. Not really.”

“Then, what?”

“It was just … kind of beautiful. Like … incredibly beautiful.”

He grinned, his tension easing, his bunched muscles loosening. “Now I’m catching on.”

“Dane.” I grimaced.

He chuckled, low and deep. “Face it, Ari. For all your hedging, you wouldn’t have come tonight if you hadn’t agreed we were seriously involved with each other.”

“You promised me answers,” I challenged.

“And told you to pack an overnight bag,” he countered.