“Come here,” he rasped, putting his arm around her waist and pulling her against him.
The impact of his body against hers made her gasp and she nearly choked on her next drawn breath. Now he was the one in charge, the one who had determined which body part would mash against her. As it happened, his cock nestled against her bottom.
“Everything will be okay, Jade,” he whispered, flattening his hand against her stomach.
Thank goodness she hadn’t removed her plush robe. Thank God he hadn’t shucked his jeans.
Certain his cock had twitched, she cleared her throat and asked, “You expect me to sleep like this?”
He didn’t answer her right away and that made her antsy. She was even more aware of him then than in the seconds leading up to her question. The way his breath came in spurts, the way he fastened his arm around her.
A few minutes passed and nothing happened. Perhaps he was fighting a same or similar inner debate. She wondered which side was winning—to pursue or abandon the chase?
Before she did something foolish like perhaps suggest one of them should sleep upstairs, his hot breath was at her ear. “Take the robe off, Jade.”
“What? Why?” She flipped over and stared up at him. Perhaps now would be the ideal time to tell him more about her past. Not that he’d asked, but maybe he would understand more about her if she just blurted out something like, I’m from Dutch Country. There, women remain virgins until they’re married. They teach their daughters about the importance of offering their husbands a pure woman on their wedding night.
They certainly didn’t have gingerroot in their freezer along with a frozen sex toy.
“I didn’t stutter.” His expression carried the markings of one willful male. His eyes were dark and his jaw, tight. He’d made up his mind how things would soon play out between them and a woman knew better than to test and try a man like Kellan.
“I’m not comfortable.”
“Which is why I want you to take off the robe.”
Thanks to the light in the hallway, she easily detected the glimmer in his eyes, the way he watched her. She could hardly ignore the determination stamped upon his face.
“Stand up.”
“I thought—”
“Stand up, Jade.” Kellan rolled toward her, cupping the back of his head. He wasn’t smiling. He didn’t look the least bit amused.
Was this the kind of man a woman could expect to find at Clink? Was Kellan the kind of Dom who liked a submissive woman, one he was certain he could train? She knew the answers there.
Not necessarily afraid to cross him, but definitely in a different mindset than she might have been if they hadn’t already gone through the last twelve hours together, Jade slowly stood. As soon as she was on her feet, he fingered the sash at her waist. He taunted her with his touch, sliding the pads of his fingers up and down the material. When he finally gave it a sudden yank, the robe parted down the middle and he dropped his hand.
He was waiting for her to do the rest.
Kellan slowly lifted his head, narrowing his eyes on her chest, but hesitating as if he could wait like that for the rest of the early-morning hours. Trembling, Jade took a deep breath, aware then of her heavy breasts rising and falling.
“I want you to do what I ask you to do, Jade.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
“Let me see you.”
Shrugging off the robe, she was aware of material as it slipped down her body and fell to the floor. Still wearing a silk chemise, she was too aware of the way the short selection clung to her body and hung right at her knees. There was too much chemistry between them, too much at risk now if she became involved with him.
Kellan was the kind of man who ruined a woman for all other men, all future lovers.
Her body temperature rose. Her heart fluttered. Possibilities hung in the air.
Every cell in her body sizzled with excitement, yet she longed to run and hide. At the same time, she was sure she could brave the task of standing there under his scrutiny.
She liked watching him watch her. Brushing her hair away from her face, she tucked the fallen strands behind her ears and asked, “Now what?”
“Now you get to decide. Are you sleeping in that sexy little number you’re wearing or are you brave enough to strip it off and sleep beside me?”