The mattress dipped beneath his weight as he sat down beside her. His fingers touched her chin to draw her face back to his searching gaze. His muscles were taut, his jaw clenched, his eyes fierce with passion. “Having second thoughts? Tell me.”

Lifting her arms, she drew the pins from her hair and dropped them on the bedside table. Then she shook her head and combed her fingers through the heavy sable mass, the curls cascading over her shoulders and bosom. She curved her lips into a come-hither smile. “Does that answer your question?”

He muttered her name with lusty reverence as he came down over her, a mutual hunger drawing them together. As they kissed and caressed and whispered sweet nothings to each other, she reveled in the weight and strength of him. It was a joy to finally have the freedom to learn the hard contours of his body, to run her hands over his chest and waist and backside. He truly had a superb form, and tonight he belonged to her alone.

In a haze she realized it somehow made all the difference to learn that Hadrian was ready to commit his life to her. The knowledge filled her with a tangle of radiant emotion that took too much effort to examine at a time when she wanted only to rejoice in the pleasure of being in his arms.

When he bent his head and suckled her breasts, she whimpered from the rush of liquid heat that poured through her body. His seduction of her was relentless and intense, sensual and spellbinding. He knew precisely how to touch her, finding places she’d never known to be erotic, from the hollow of her throat to the backs of her knees. His warm palms glided over every inch of her skin until Natalie thought she might expire from need. At last, he slid his fingers in between her legs for the most intimate caress of all.

With breathy cries of pleasure, she moved restlessly beneath him. Her head tilted back on the pillow, she dug her fingers into his shoulders and abandoned herself to the scorching sensations aroused by his touch. The irresistible blaze increased its torment until a white-hot flare of euphoria convulsed her body.

As the fire subsided into glowing embers, she strove to catch her breath. The tension in Hadrian’s jaw and the sheen of perspiration on his brow indicated his relentless control of himself. He had given her ecstatic release, and she longed to return the favor. If only she knew how.

Drawn by temptation, she shifted position slightly and slid her hand down to touch the hard length that lay against her thigh. It felt hot and heavy in her palm and she experimentally rubbed it. “Do you mind if I do this?”

He sucked in a breath, his male member leaping with urgency. “Mind?” he said on a choked laugh. “Certainly not.”

He groaned as she lightly squeezed him, moving her fingers up and down his silken heat, intrigued to discover a dab of moisture at the tip. Gasping, he managed to add, “But there’s a better way.”