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He carried me over the threshold of his bedroom and it was dark inside. I could make out large pieces of furniture, and an enormous bed. The blinds were closed, and I knew what was about to happen wouldn’t be something we’d want to share with the outside world. I could be completely free, feeling the protection of Luke’s world around me. The privacy of the ranch. The gated entrance. For the first time I realized how incredible it felt to have this layer of secrecy around us.

He swung around to a panel on the wall and tapped on the screen. The room glowed with dim orange lights.

“Candle light?” I searched his eyes.

“I want to see you,” he growled.

I felt the pit in my core seize with want at his naughty words. He wasn’t the only one. I wanted to see him too—every ounce of his ripped naked body. I didn’t care if it was electric or computerized light. It didn’t matter as long as I got to feast my eyes on him.

Luke dropped me in the center of the bed and crawled toward me. I felt like prey and the lion was prowling toward his kill. His teeth grazed over my collarbone.

My nails dug into his back, desperate to pull the shirt off of him. I tugged the edges, letting my nails drag over his skin as I freed him from the shirt.

I traced the lines of ink running up the side of his oblique. The symbols were interlaced in an intricate design, crawling across his taunt muscle. The tattoo started at his ribs and wrapped behind his back. I wanted to ask what it meant, but I dug into his skin instead, feeding my need to feel the heat of his body.

My fingertips grazed the rigid lines of his bare chest. His eyes darkened, watching me explore his athletic body. He was built for endurance. Trained for strength and power. Every muscle connected to another one just as toned and beautiful as the last. I tried to wrap my hands around his biceps, failing to complete a circle before he maneuvered me right where he wanted me—pinned under him.

I sucked in the air around me. God, he was massive. He was certain with every move he made.

His fingers quickly picked at my buttons until my shirt was lying open. His mouth fired kisses against the tops of my breasts while I squirmed under him, needing more. Needing it faster. Needing all of him in a fury.

“Fuck, you’re gorgeous.” He growled into my neck, as he nipped behind my ear and across my throat.

I moaned when I felt his hand slide between my stomach and my jeans. He twisted my panties against my skin and I whimpered, feeling his fingers rub between my legs. He knew it was my desire for him that had made them.

I was aching. Every part of my body wanting to feel his touch. Wanting the roughness of him to remind me of how alive I was. I needed Luke to let me be a woman. Not a symbol of morality. I wanted the kind of night a man like him could offer.

His lips hovered over my breasts, blowing gently before his teeth snatched the lace of my bra away and my nipples hardened under his stare. I pushed up, shoving them toward his mouth. He clamped against the hard point, sucking and growling while I pressed the back of his head tighter to my chest.

I didn’t care if he bruised me. I didn’t care if he bit me. I wanted my body to feel this tomorrow. I wanted to be able to remember the way Luke made me feel. I liked how he played rough and with intention.

He unclipped the back of my bra, granting him access to both nipples, and threw it across the room. While he flicked one with his tongue, he pinched the other with his fingers, rolling it with control until I screamed for more. The shivers ran through me as he suckled my tits with the fire of his tongue.

He had a wicked smiled on his face.

I arched under him, coaxing him to keep going.

“You’re a surprise, Lexi Wilde.” Even the deep timbre in his voice made me hot for him.

“But you’re not.” I clung to his neck, pulling him toward for me a kiss. His tongue shoved inside my mouth. He was everything I thought he would be. A walking sex machine, with a way to back up his reputation.

“I bet I could still surprise you,” he taunted.

His fingers slid over my stomach and down my hips. He pushed me against the mattress until his knees landed on the floor between my legs, tugging my precious boots off my feet.

“I like these. They’re hot, little cowgirl,” he said as he placed them next to the bed.

He tucked his fingers inside the waistband of my jeans, peeling them off my thighs until they were piled on the floor.

The first kiss started at my ankle and then moved to my calf. His hand pushed my opposite thigh wide as he kissed up the other leg. I felt the thrill of what was about to happen. I tried to steady myself, but by the time he was against my center I was panting in bursts of want.

He licked his lips. His eyes bore down between my legs like the hungry lion he was. “You should know ever since I saw you on that stage this is all I wanted to do to you.”

I groaned. “What? What did you want to do?” My voice was raspy, unrecognizable, and sexy.

“Lick you. Suck you. Dip my tongue inside you. Taste you come in my mouth.”

I’d never felt so exposed, or so turned on. His hand pried the white satin away from my folds. The satin was soaking wet. I heard the fabric rip as his hands tore into the lace at my hips. Holy shit. All I could do was wait as he prepared to devour me. One hand splayed across the flatness of my stomach while the other pushed my other knee wide and then with lightning flicks his tongue plunged in and out of me.