His silky voice made her stomach flip. ‘Maybe I didn’t see the need.’
‘No?’ He slid his hand behind her neck, his eyes locked on hers as he drew her head towards him. ‘You need to develop a keener sense of self-preservation.’
‘I can protect myself when I have to.’ And she’d had to on so many occasions she didn’t want to think about it. That had been her old life, and this was her new one. And because she didn’t intend to screw her new life up a second time, she placed her hands on his chest.
His skin was warm. His muscles hard and smooth. The difference between her body and his fascinated her, and she explored him with her fingers and then pressed her mouth to his chest and heard his sharply indrawn breath.
‘Are you afraid?’ His voice was rough and she lifted her head.
‘Excited, maybe a little nervous, but never afraid. Not of you.’
‘And if I say that you should be?’
‘I wouldn’t listen. I make up my own mind. I trust myself.’
He smoothed her wet hair away from her face. ‘Your hair is spectacular. You remind me of a mermaid.’
‘You’ve met a lot of mermaids?’
‘You’re the first.’ He lowered his head slowly, his mouth hovering just above hers. ‘And I’ll be your first so if you don’t want this you’d better speak now.’
Her heart was pounding. ‘I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.’
‘I do not come with a happy ending attached.’ He spoke the words against her mouth, his fingers locked in her hair. ‘There’s a strong chance I’ll make you cry.’
‘I only cry when I’m happy. Don’t worry, you’re off the hook. I take full responsibility. This is my decision.’ She felt the warmth of his hand at the base of her bare back as he drew her against him. Felt the hardness of his body against hers and closed her eyes, because she’d imagined it for so long in so many different ways but even her dreams had never felt as perfect as this.
‘I might hurt you.’
‘You could never hurt me.’
The hand on her back was now resting on the curve of her hip. ‘I’m terrible at relationships.’
‘I know. I don’t want a relationship.’ But she wanted him and the fact that he was still protecting her made her want him even more. ‘I have a whole new exciting life ahead of me and nothing is going to get in the way.’
‘You’re crazy to do this—you know that, don’t you? You should be slapping my face.’
‘Stefan, please.’ She gripped his biceps. ‘I want this. I want you. I always have.’ He’d been her dream for so long, her lifeline, the one thing that had kept her going when she’d lain awake at night thinking how much she hated her life.
Something in her voice must have convinced him because he scooped her off her feet and carried her back to the bedroom.
The early morning sun beamed approval as he lowered her onto the bed.
Selene didn’t care that it was daylight. Daylight meant that she could see him. All of him. Trembling with anticipation, she slid her arms around his neck, drawing him down to her. His hand locked in her hair.
‘We’re taking this slowly.’
‘I don’t want slowly.’
‘I’ll tie you up if I have to.’
‘Then tie me up. Do it.’
His eyes darkened. ‘You shouldn’t say things like that.’
‘Only to you.’
‘You’re far, far too trusting.’ Something flickered in his eyes, the suggestion of a frown mingling with the b