“Fuck,” he ground out. “Baby, I can’t.”
His control shattered and he grabbed me, his mouth slamming down on mine.
It was untamed and gritty, almost painful, as if we couldn’t get enough of each other.
There were no more secrets. Nothing left to expose.
Only us.
His hands were rough as he ran them down my spine and back up it, into my hair. He closed his fingers in the strands and pulled my head back.
His kiss deepened and I arched into him. “Vic,” I moaned against his mouth.
My hands slipped under his shirt, and I pushed it up, wanting it off. I needed to feel his naked skin. He broke the kiss for a second to rip the T-shirt off over his head and toss it to the floor.
I stared at him, sliding my hands over the hills and valleys of his rock-hard muscles. “God, you’re beautiful.” I traced the scars on his abdomen and the one across his chest. He didn’t move, didn’t touch me. His chest rose and fell rapidly, and his breathing was ragged.
I looked up at him and stilled. The fire scorching in the depths of his eyes was threatening, and at the same time, there was a hint of uncertainty and shock.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, afraid that he didn’t like me touching him. Or maybe it was that I was touching his scars. I went to take my hands off him when he latched onto my wrists and put them back on his chest, holding them there.
“No woman has ever touched me like this,” he said, his voice graveled.
My breath locked in my throat. “Because you don’t like being touched.”
“Yeah. Not until you,” he said, then leaned in to kiss my nose. Then my cheek. Then the corner of my mouth. “Touch has always led to pain, but with you… you erase the pain. Only you, Rainbird.”
He cupped my face with both his hands, his thumbs slowly stroking back and forth over my cheeks. “Just you.”
Like something inside of him snapped, he groaned, and the sound was raw and primal. He tilted his head and claimed my mouth again.
This time, the kiss was slow. Hard. Deep. As if he was savoring and memorizing every single second.
“Upstairs,” he said against my mouth. “I want you in bed the first time I sink my cock inside you.”
Before I could say anything, he lifted me into his arms, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. I trailed kisses along his jaw, then down his neck as he took the stairs two at a time.
He tossed me onto the bed, and I bounced twice. He didn’t waste time and yanked his cargos and briefs off, leaving him standing completely naked beside the bed.
My breath caught in my throat. Jesus.
He was magnificent.
Hard. Solid.
Beautifully scarred.
His body was a storyboard of his past, and I wanted to kiss, taste, and discover every single scar. I wanted to know how he got each one. I wanted to know everything about this man.
Battle scars entwined with tattoos across his body. His cock thick and hard, pulsing.
I swallowed, sliding my tongue across my lower lip.
A low growl emerged from his throat, and my gaze flew from his cock to clash with his eyes. Raw, untamed hunger raged.
The deep ache between my legs throbbed. God, I needed this man more than I needed breath itself. It was like I’d been starved for him my entire life.
“Vic,” I said, his name coming out hoarse.