Page 67 of Framed

It felt too much like baring my soul, to a man I wasn’t sure I could trust anymore. A man who had put me through hell and back.

A man I still dreamt of every night when I laid down in bed alone. The man who haunted my dreams, who lingered at the forefront of my imagination every time I touched myself in bed, in the shower.

Now he was right here in front of me, and the reality was so much more intense, so much better than I ever could have imagined.

A moan slipped through my lips as he bent to push one cup of my bra aside, exposing one nipple to the cool air of the bedroom. I felt his warm, wet tongue draw a circle around the erect nub. I was ice-hard, diamond-hard, under his soft tongue. The sensation was too much and not enough all at the same time.

I needed more. I needed him. But my pride made the words difficult to voice, almost impossible to admit. As stubborn as my pride was, my body craved this submission like it was needed to survive.Like I was drowning, and this my last gasp of air.

He seemed to sense that because as quickly as it started, he stopped. He paused and drew back just far enough to let the cold rush in between us, frigid where his tongue had been pressed to my bare chest.

All of the sweet torture he was administrating to my body stopped at once. A frustrated groan threatened to rip from my throat. Why couldn't he just leave it alone? Why couldn't we just enjoy the moment?

Fingers lifted to cup my face and I wasn't sure what I'd find. But the second I locked gazes with those light brown eyes, I saw it. I saw the hunger, I saw the possessiveness that lurked in their depths.

He needed this as much as I did. But he also needed to know if I’d waited for him.

My resolve weakened the longer I stared into his eyes. The look on his face made the ache between my legs pound. Every heartbeat intensified the throb there.

He gazed at me with promise, with intent. He wanted this every bit as much as I did. I'd never been as turned on as I was right now.

"Yes." My voice came out weak, just above a whisper. "I kept my promise."

His eyes were a dangerous shade of dark brown already. They seemed to darken further at that, and the hunger inside of them made my knees wobble with anticipation. His eyes dripped lower, down to my mouth.

"Do you know how long I've been waiting to touch you? Totasteyou?" His pink tongue peeked out and traced his bottom lip, as if he could imagine just that.

I didn’t know how much time passed before he finally spoke again.

"Take off your clothes and get on the bed," he ordered, drawing my attention back to his face. He was watching me with a predatory look. Like he was a hunter, and I was the first thing he'd set his eyes on after hibernating for an entire winter.

Goosebumps rose on my skin, but I couldn't move. My brain was having a hard time processing how fast this was happening. Fire ignited my body, made it difficult to move.

"I cannot trust myself to be gentle with you if I touch you right now," he said, voice like gravel, almost desperate.

God.The admittance shouldn't turn me on even more, but it did. I didn't want him to be gentle. I wanted him to be rough. I wanted him to take what has rightfully been his since we were teenagers.

"I don't want you to gentle,"I breathed.

Five words. Five simple words was all it took.

Xavier closed the distance between us in a heartbeat. True to his word, he was not gentle. He grabbed my waist, pulled me so hard against him it knocked the breath from my lungs. He broke the clasp on my bra, not even bothering to undo it, practically ripped the fabric from my body. He bent, mouth closing over my nipple again, but this time, his teeth raked over the skin, just hard enough to make me cry out in shock.

It hurt, a little. But it was pain that danced so close to pleasure I couldn’t tell the difference. I’d never realize how thin a line divided those two sensations until now.

Something came over me, snapping my earlier frozen state. I tore at him too, nails digging into his bare back, dragging down his spine as I pulled him closer to me. I wanted nothing between us anymore.

He growled—actuallygrowled, a sound that reverberated through my bones—then tossed me onto the bed as if I weighed nothing at all. To him, I probably didn’t.

I barely had time to get my bearings before he caught the clasp of my jeans, dragged them over my hips, down and off. The motion exposed the panties I’d chosen today, sleek satin fabric that exposed my cheeks. Xavier smirked, seeming to come back into himself for a split section, amusement breaking through his animal sheen.

“Who did you wear these for, Scarlett?”

My breath caught in the back of my throat. He knew the answer. He always had. “You,” I whispered.

That feral grin of his widened, teeth gleaming in the dark. “That’s my good girl,” he purred, and I swear I almost came right there, his breath on my bare thighs in the dark.

He sat up half an inch, mouth hovering close to my body like a promise. But he didn’t touch me again. Not yet. His eyes snagged mine, blazed white hot. “Now take them off for me.”

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