Page 48 of Healing the Heart

“Is something wrong?”

Still, he remained silent.

A moment later, he sat on the edge of the bed with a sigh, as if he were as tired as she was.

“Quite the opposite,” he finally admitted. “There’s a pull between us. I felt it the first time I saw you, and I sure as hell felt it in our kiss the other night. Val and Esme identified commonalities between us. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t put muchstock in a matchmaking service, but Val seems to have a knack for reading people.”

“What are you saying?”

He suddenly frowned. “I shouldn’t be saying anything. I should let you rest.”

But he didn’t. Not yet. Instead, he leaned down and kissed her, this time on the lips. They were warm, gentle at first, then, as they lingered and brushed over hers again and again, grew more insistent, and his tongue swept inside. She slid her hands up his neck and over the short hair at the back of his head as it went on and on.

Not long after, he pulled away and looked down at her, his blue eyes searching hers. “We’ll talk more later,” he said at length. “For now, sleep, kitten.”

She didn’t want to wait until later. She wanted to discuss the pull they shared, and she wanted more kisses. After dozing off on the way home and struggling to stay awake all morning, would he think she magically got a burst of energy? But darn it all, she yawned at that precise moment.

He smiled, shifting quickly from amorous to amused, and ran the backs of his fingers down her cheek. The touch was gentle and super sweet, from a dom who she’d watched flog a bound sub to orgasm on center stage at Decadence.

Unable to help it, she yawned again. And even though she desperately wanted to continue their conversation, she hadn’t slept for two days. The coolness of the room, the comfortable bed, the cozy blanket, and the reassurance of her Rossi bodyguard’s presence made her feel secure. As soon as her eyes drifted shut, she was out.

ALTHOUGH SHE SLEPTsoundly, her breathing deep and even, he cautiously left the room and took pains to close the doorwithout a sound. Then, it was all he could do not to put his fist through the wall, his anger self-directed. How incredibly selfish was he to be focused on his own wants and needs when her life was being threatened and she trembled with exhaustion?

But it had been years since he’d felt the pull of a woman so strongly. And here she was under his roof, obviously attracted to him in return, and responding like a sponge eager to absorb even the slightest hint of dominance. When he carried her, she’d turned into him, trustingly, and her breath brushed his neck, her feminine scent surrounding him. Her soft curves molded to his body made him ramrod straight.

The timing was bad. She was in his care. It was his job to keep her safe, not fuck her when she was vulnerable.

If her yawn hadn’t interrupted him, he might have claimed her then and there.

“Get ahold of yourself, Richmond,” he muttered as he strode down the hall to the living room. “Business before pleasure,” he further warned, stopping in the middle of the room to breathe and calm down.

Whenever he passed the bookshelf, his gaze connected with the photos of his wife and daughter, just like now. He hadn’t done enough to protect them, but he’d be damned if he’d let Fiona down.

Chapter 14

Long, Hot, Hungry, and Dirty

IT WAS THE WEIRDESTthing. She floated on a cloud at the same time a suede flogger connected with a thwap against both her bottom cheeks at once. Stretching, Fiona groaned because it felt so good on her joints and muscles. When she could only go so far because of the cuffs around her wrists and ankles, she moaned when a flogger smartly landed on her ass again.

“What the heck is going on?”

Her words hung in the air as she sat up, suddenly wide awake. She looked around. Noah’s big comfy bed in his guest room was the cloud in her dream and the restraints, the linens twisted around her body. Her moans and groans she suspected were as real as her words upon waking. The flogger, pure fantasy, much to her disappointment.

Fortunately, there was a way to turn her disappointment around—if she dared accept his challenge. After disentangling herself, she hopped out of bed and went to find Noah and further investigate the pull he’d spoken of before her nap.

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