“His voice, however, was utterly velvety—if an upholstered wrecking ballcould be called velvety. “I won’t need to try, my dear. My touch will burn away his.”She couldn’t breathe.“You were always quiet in his bed,” he went on, “but you won’t be in mine. You will scream with pleasure—and you will do it again and again.”

“You don’t ever doubt me again,” he said hoarsely before his mouth grazed my nipples, first the left and then the right. His scruffy beard scraped the skin beneath raw as he went back and forth. “I will fucking kill you if you ever doubt me again!” he snarled. My eyes rolled back into their sockets at the weight of his words, the desperation in his voice matching the desperation in my movements. I moaned as he bit my nipple harder, almost chewing it between his teeth. I was trapped underneath him, and even though I knew I could push him away, I also knew I wouldn’t. “You answer me when I’m talking to you! ” he roared.“I won’t,” I breathed, my hands in his short hair. “Oh, God, I won’t.”“You won’t what! ”“I will never doubt you again!”“You’re damn right you won’t.”

“His lips touched mine again, breathing me in like I was his air, then he tore his mouth from mine; panting. "Please Grace, whatever it is you're going after, please try to find it here in me. I will try my best to be the man that you need me to be.”

“Then he pulled back and looked at her shirt again. “Is this really true?”She nodded. “Every word of it.”“Okay, then. I say you won’t.”“Won’t do what?”He bent his head to whisper into her hair, his breath hot against her ear.“Before lunch, you won’t go to bed with me.”Elle reached around behind her and turned off the burner on the stove.”

“You see?" he asked, his voice softening to a velvety punas he felt her tremble. His warm breath stirred her hair. "All I have to do is touch you. It’s the same for me, Faith. I don’t like this worth a damn, but by God, I want you, and we’re going to do something about it.”

“His lips thinned in frustration like I should already know the answer. He inched closer until his knee touched mine, his eyes, curious and intense, boring into me. "Because you move like fire rushing across a floor," he said his voice hushed, velvety smooth, "like flames licking up a wall." The rest of the world crumbled away as he lifted my chin. "Your energy is liquid and hot. Even from a distance you burn, you scorch anyone who gets too close. You are wine on my tongue and honey in my veins, and I cannot get enough of you." He leaned forward and whispered into my ear. His warm breath sent shivers cascading over my body. "You intoxicate me, Lorelei McAlister. You will be my downfall.”