How this would work in tandem with his revenge on Ferreira, he had no idea. And for now, he didn’t care. He just needed her trust and spontaneity back.
And he would do anything to have all of her again.
He crouched down beside her armchair, struggling not to haul her out of it and crush her in his arms. “Then give me a chance to take you back to the fantasy and I will make it a reality. I will erase the change that happened inside you.”
She curled tighter, like a cat shying away from petting. “The change I felt happened inside you. I can’t explain it, but it...hurt.”
Had she felt his hatred and aggression when he’d seen her father, and it had pained her that much? She was that supremely sensitive to everything he felt?
“I know I didn’t know you long enough to have the right to feel or say any of that...”
He took the hands twisting on her lap to his aching lips. “You have every right to feel and say anything. We already agreed what we share transcends time.”
“I agreed to that when I was still under your spell.”
“Then let me cast another one.”
She wrenched her hands out of his. “No thanks. Sex is all I want from you now, all I have to offer. If you want to play more games, I’m no longer available for those.”
“No games, Eliana. Never any games. This is deadly serious to me.” He succumbed to the need to wrap his arms around her, laid his head on her breasts, listening to the music of her heartbeats. “I spent the night in a fever, my mind flooding with images and sensations. Of silk sheets drenched in your sweat, of your hot velvet limbs around me, of your cries rising in the dark.”
The heart beneath his ear raced, with his every word, but when she talked her voice was as stiff as her body. “No need to fantasize anymore. Take me and be done with it.”
He withdrew instead. This wasn’t how he wanted her. And then there was something else.
“You said something earlier...about finding out what the fuss is all about. Did you mean me or sex in general?”
“I meant sex with you. After all the buildup, I’m warning you I have ginormous expectations.”
“I will provide you with satisfaction of massive proportions.” He took her hands in his good one. “But there’s one thing I need to know. Are you a virgin?”
“Are you going to have sex with me now?”
He growled at the word sex. “No.”
“Well, when you decide to make good on your promises, I’ll let you know. Until then, that’s privileged info.” Her fiery eyes crackled with ire. “What’s it to you anyway?”
“Just finding out my variables. If you’re a virgin, I’ll live with it. If you’re not...I’ll also live with it.”
“Both variables sound equally unwelcome to you. Which is hard luck for you, since these are the only two available.”
He stroked a finger down her hot cheek, loving the way it trembled at his touch. “I actually welcome either. I would just appreciate a heads-up as to which is the truth, as it would dictate my...approach.”
Scoffing and choking on mortification at once, her eyes and lips became petulant. “Then why won’t you take me to bed now and end the suspense once and for all?”
“Because I made a promise to you that I would take it slow.”
“But I’m telling you I no longer want slow.”
“Only because you want to punish me.”
This time her scoff was pure derision. “Gee, I didn’t realize taking me to bed would be such a hardship.”
“You can’t forgive me, so you want to have me so you can get me out of your system and get rid of me. Just wanting this is as harsh a punishment as you can deal me.” Releasing her tresses from the elastic band, his groan echoed her moan as he massaged her scalp, sealed her lips with his and poured his pledge into her. “But I’m in your system to stay, minha Eliana.”
The way she melted into his kiss—like all the parts of him he hadn’t known had been missing fitting back into his being—made his head spin with hunger.
Before he forgot all the big talk about not taking her now, he released her.