“Say it for me. I need to know you’re good,” he reiterated, easing back more so he was once again on his knees, her legs tight against him and her bottom off the bed. He was in complete control of her body that way.

He loved looking down at her. Her hair spilled on the pillow and all around her, a wild mass of silk. Her breasts were perfect, jutting up at him, swaying with every movement. Her skin flushed a beautiful rose. “Ya tebya lyublyu.” He whispered it, more in his mind than aloud. He did love her. If his heart had been frozen, and he was certain it had been, that had been the first thing she’d melted.

“Please move, Fyodor. I need you to move. I’m good. I really am.”

He didn’t wait for more. He pulled back, feeling the delicious bite of her sheath strangling him, the hot friction that built anticipation. He slammed deep into her. Pounded. Used the strength in his hips to take her hard and fast. Every stroke jolted her body and he held her still so she couldn’t move, her legs clamped to him, straight up against his shoulders, spread wide. All for him. His.

He lost himself for a little while, shattering her twice more so that she clamped down on him, trying to take him with her. Each time, before she went over, he commanded her to go. Whispering his demand. Holding her gaze captive, wanting her to respond to his voice. Her pleas grew louder, her breath hitching in her throat, her eyes wide with shock. He kept going. He needed to stay there, buried in her, allowing her to take it all away, every horrible moment of his life, and fill it with her. Streaks of fire rushed from his cock to spread throughout his groin and belly, down to his thighs, up to his chest. Consuming him. Giving him new life. Melting the ice inside of him until there was only Evangeline and their bodies coming together in a wild frenzy.

Lust was sharp. Love was terrible. Passion was bliss. He lost himself in that paradise, in the knowledge that she belonged to him. That she gave him that gift. Her body. Her trust that he’d take the greatest care of her and give her everything. He poured himself into her—wanted to drive so deep he branded her inside with him—where she’d feel him every moment of the day. Where she’d crave him when he wasn’t inside her.

Her nails bit into his arms, and he let his gaze move over her face. Seeing her. Knowing he’d driven her up as high as she could go right then. Pushed past her comfort zone. He tightened his hold, moving her body so that he hit her most sensitive spot with every stroke, so that his shaft blazed directly over her clit, the friction wild and perfect.

“Again. Now, Evangeline. Give me you. All of you. Right now.”