Page 12 of The Prize

“Zara, where are you?” Tobias’s gaze deepened as he tried to penetrate my thoughts.

They were still mine, at least.

There came a rush of exhilaration when he yanked me forward and lifted me into his arms and carried me up the staircase and along the hallway. He kicked a door open and carried me in and lay me on the large bed. Grabbing the heavy duvet beneath me, I rolled over and scrambled across it but his strong hands wrapped around my ankles and dragged me back toward him.

I stilled and watched him because some part of me needed this intimacy to nudge out of the loneliness. Wilder kept his intense stare locked on me as he worked his way down his shirt, unbuttoning it and then peeling it off to reveal a ripped torso. There were a few emerging bruises on his rib cage, marking his fight on the skyscraper and relighting my sympathy. He kept his trousers and shoes on, maybe to reassure me he wasn’t going to do anything more.

What I needed was to start over to the time before him and not allow myself to fall for this dazzling, dynamic man who stunned with his heart-stopping commanding presence. The bed dipped when he climbed on and he loomed over me and grabbed my wrists and raised them to pin them over my head and onto the mattress.

“Tobias?” I whispered.

“I won’t kiss you.” His gaze slid to my mouth in contradiction. “I promise.”

Specs of gold glistened in his irises and I could see beyond the safeguard of his reckless beauty as I saw a flash of vulnerability that I’d never seen before. This was him letting me in and I clung to the hope this was real and something I could hold on to.

He looked sincere. “Zara, I have to think one step ahead because you’re more important than any painting. This is me protecting you.”

His kiss would be lethal if I let it happen and I turned my head away, grasping at these remnants of restraint not to fall.

“Lift your dress.” He let go of my wrists.

Thiswasn’t going to happen,no. I wasn’t going to scrunch my satin skirt like I was doing now and hitch it up over my hips as though his words alone could elicit a Svengali response. Yet my fingers hooked beneath my panties and eased them down my hips and then I raised them slightly until my underwear was down my thighs, and calves, and then off my body. I hugged my panties to my chest, too awed by his devastating presence to think straight.

“Higher.”

I dragged my teeth over my bottom lip, trying to anchor to this moment by distracting myself and not losing myself in him—my hands lifted my dress higher for him.

Wilder positioned himself between my thighs and with his eyes locked on mine he said huskily, “You didn’t say anything about kissing you here.”

The shake of my head in agreement was my consent and I reached for his left bicep and ran my hand over his ornate tattoo in admiration of its artistry—

I eased my thighs apart.

He dipped his head until his hair tickled my inner thighs and he moved my hands away and kissed my sex, and then his tongue ran along and he captured my clit with his mouth, thrumming me with the proficiency I’d become addicted to. My arousal intensified, rising higher, and my body writhed with the rhythm of his tongue, the shuddering revealing how spellbound I’d became as he possessed me with blinding pleasure. My moan echoed as he gripped my wrists and held them to my sides as he continued to ravage me, propelling me into the center of bliss until I forgot how to breathe.

Everything that mattered was focused in my core like an erotic spell cast to destroy me.

Yes, destroy me.

“I want you inside me,” I pleaded.

“If I fuck you, I’ll have to kiss you and that will mean I’ve broken my promise.” Tobias climbed off the bed and it dipped as he stepped away.

I rolled onto my side and brought up my legs and hugged myself, too consumed with these emotions that ensnared me and left me starving for him. This wouldn’t do. This infatuation was going to destroy me.

“Zara?” his voice beckoned.

I squeezed my eyes shut, needing a moment to catch my breath.

“Come with me downstairs and let me make you some food,” he offered as he pulled his shirt back on and buttoned it.

“I’m not hungry.”

His fingers brushed strands of hair out of my eyes. “I can make you tea.”

“It’s too late for caffeine.”

“I want to show you the house. Give you the grand tour.”