Page 40 of Power

My brain flashed warning signals, but my body had already surrendered the controls.

There were other tells something had changed. Like how, with every inch of my skin exposed to the unforgiving light, I should have wanted to hide. Instead, I found myself completely at ease, running my fingers through his dark hair as his mouth worked up and down my glistening folds. I arched my back as he spread my thighs even wider, claiming everything I offered.

“God, you taste incredible,” he murmured against me.

I let myself sink into the moment, overwhelmed by the symphony of sensations. The whisper of the breeze across my heated skin, the rustle of leaves overhead, the distant rhythm of waves against the shore below us. Nature’s melody mixing with our mutual, erotic moans.

Because that was the other difference. Before had been raw fantasy. This was pure romance.

Romance that could be felt in the tender way Jace’s fingers slipped inside me, his eyes studying my face before his mouth returned to its sweet torture. It was in how he watched me over the curve of my breasts as I kneaded them, pleasure coiling tighter in my core. It was in the gentle but firm grip on my thigh as he held me to him.

“Jace!” I cried out, my back arching off the blanket.

“Let go for me, Scarlett.”

And I did. Spectacularly. Likeseeing stars and possibly blacking outspectacularly.

After, he crawled up my body with a trail of kisses that set my skin aflame, lavishing attention on my breasts before claiming my mouth. Slow. Deep. His fingers tangled in my hair as he pressed against me until I was aching for him.

“I want you,” I breathed against his lips.

“You have me, Trouble,” he replied, the words carrying a different meaning that I wasn’t sure I wanted to acknowledge.

A flash of fear sparked through me that it wasn’t just sex Iwanted, but I pushed it aside, mesmerized by the sight of him kneeling between my thighs, his muscles flexing as he rolled on the condom he’d thankfully brought.

As he positioned himself at my entrance, he opened his mouth to say something, then quickly shut it, choosing to swallow whatever he was about to confess and opted instead to kiss me as he breached my entrance. Leaning forward, he swallowed my gasp, my moan, as he gradually filled me, stretching me in the most delicious way.

And when he started to move, finding his rhythm, it was unlike anything we’d shared before.

Tender yet consuming. His kisses along my jaw and throat felt like worship, like he wanted to memorize every moment, every sensation.

This is too much. Too good. Too … everything.

With him buried inside me, his hips rocking against that sensitive bundle of nerves on the outside of my body, his massive girth hit the sensitive peak inside me, making another orgasm build fast.

“You’re so beautiful,” Jace murmured, his voice rough with emotion. “Everything about you is beautiful, Scarlett.”

I wanted to deflect his profession with something snarky, but the words died in my throat. Just before I came apart, Jace captured my gaze with his. Eyes locked, watching, memorizing as I trembled beneath him, and with one final thrust, he followed me over the edge.

His forehead dropped to mine, our breaths mingling as we both tried to recover from whatever had just happened between us. Something stronger and deeper, something I wasn’t ready to put a word to.

Afterward, we dressed and held each other, content to exist in this perfect moment. Eventually, we returned the horses to the stable and rode back to his hotel suite, where we spent the rest of the weekend learning each other’s bodies and never speaking a word of what seemed to be growing between us.

When Sunday night arrived, I gathered my things and stood by the door with a smile, trying to pretend that the thought of never seeing him again didn’t officially crack something inside of me. It took everything I had to hold on to my resolve.

Especially when Jace approached me, arms folded across his chest, his body language radiating uncertainty as he stated, “Scarlett, I want to see you again.”

I want to see you too. But that’s the problem.

“We had an agreement.” If I had any hope of keeping that agreement, I needed to get out of this hotel room. Now. Before my irrational feelings could take the reins.

“Just think about it,” Jace suggested softly. “Remember, I added my cell phone number to your Contacts when we were at the bar.”

Great. Now the temptation to break my own rule wouldn’t be behind me. Maybe I needed to delete that contact.

“This was fun.” I offered a weak smile. “Seriously, thank you. This was one of the best weekends …” I was going to say for a long time, but it struck me that, in fact, this was one of the best weekends of my life. Not that I would admit that. “Anyway, thank you.”

“Scarlett …”