Her mouth parted slightly.Do you mean that?
“You were my sister-in-law. I don’t want to fuck up your family life.”
She nodded, sharing the same fear. Yet… This attraction, this consuming need, was undeniable, despite the potential consequences. “No one has to know.” She wished her voice weren’t so wobbly.
“You deserve someone better than me.”
“That’s not true.” Sasha studied his face, memorizing his features. “You’re amazing.” One of the few people she’d ever been able to count on. “I want this.” Then she added, “You.”
For a moment, as if warring with himself, he frowned.
Finally, with a sigh, he managed, “I’ll protect you.”
“Thank you.” She was grateful he was thinking clearly because birth control would never have occurred to her.
“You know the Den’s safe word.”
“Halt,” she told him.
“Do you want a separate one for you and me?”
“That one is fine.”
“I will always honor it.”
Wildly, maybe recklessly, she wanted to know where this went. If she stopped playing with him now, she’d never know how it ended.
“Just so we’re clear”—he leaned in a little closer—“if we do this, there’s no turning back. You’re mine.”
She shuddered.
This was the Gregorio she recognized. Terrifying. Thrilling.
He offered a hand, and she slid hers against his much larger, stronger one, rife with calluses from hard, dangerous work.
After he’d helped her up, he continued to draw her toward him.
Then, purposefully, he leaned forward to capture her lips in a savage kiss—this time an explosion of sensation that deepened her need. He touched an emotional place in her that no one else had or could.
She’d never be able to get enough.
When he finally eased back, she couldn’t breathe, and she couldn’t look away from him.
Before she could think, he swept her up in his arms, wincing a little as he did.
“Are you okay?” she asked as he rolled her slightly toward him.
“Fine.”
Though she was skeptical, she looped her arm around his neck.
“The years I’ve dreamed of this…” Purposefully, he strode toward the bedroom as firelight cast its shadows around them.
“But you’re injured!”
“Never so badly that I can’t hold you.” After he crossed the threshold, he stopped, and his gaze locked with hers. “Nervous, Petal?”
Beyond words. “Should I be?”