I knew he was coming. My heart thumped like crazy under my chest. Flutters in my tummy had me inhale deep.

I teased the beast, and now I would have to be ready for him.

I heard his footsteps echoing across the unoccupied corridor. With every step sounded closer, my heart felt like it would explode any moment.

A gasp slipped through my lips as my back was pulled into a hard frame. His strong arms wrapped around me as he put his head in the crook of my neck.

“You’ll become the death of me someday, you know that?” his husky voice rasped. Taking a sharp inhale, he brushed his lips on my bare shoulders. A shiver ran down my whole body.

Closing my eyes, I leaned back into his touch. It felt so right being in his arms. No guilt or barrier was stopping me tonight. It felt like home.

“What did I do?” I asked, feigning innocence.

“Calling me alone here like that when you know I can’t do anything to you right now, no matter how much I want to, you’re saying you didn’t do anything?” His hand brushed beneath my chest.

“What? I just wanted a hug.” I pouted. “I didn’t know your thoughts were still running south.”

“Well, my mind always runs south when you’re around,” he whispered into my ear.

Heat crept up cheeks as I bit my lip.

Suddenly, I felt a cold material gliding up my neck. Glancing down, I found a simple pendant with a diamond cut emerald in the center, the tiny rubies sitting around it glimmered under the light.

I gasped.

It was the same pendant I saw at that jewelry shop when we went to buy gifts for Tess.

I looked at him over my shoulder as he secured the gorgeous pendant around my neck. The emerald rested right above my cleavage.

“When did you get it?” Tone low.

He grazed his lips over my jaw. “The moment you watched it with adoration, it became yours.”

My eyes burned with the love that bloomed in my heart for this man. Not because he got me this pendant, but because of the way he never missed a single detail about me. He always had his eyes on me.

Taking a step aside, I looked at myself in the mirror on the wall. It looked beautiful on me. And the intensity in his eyes told me he appreciated it, too.

His fingers grazed the emerald along the dip of my cleavage.

“Never take it off. Not even when you have nothing on you.” The edge of his voice told me his desire. The way his hand brushed at the side of my breast indicated to his impatience.

Turning half of my body to him in his arms, I pulled his head down and captured his lips, showing him my appreciation. Groaning, he gripped my neck and rewarded me with his hot, punishing kiss.