Page 72 of Wicked Bonds

But she knew that wasn’t on the menu right now.

Not with the way he was studying her body and watching her fingers stroke her arousal.

He lifted his hand slowly to his lips, capturing the lace and making a show of slowly removing it from his mouth. A peek of his tongue. The clench of his jaw. Those full, masculine lips destined to caress a woman’s flesh.

Ohhh…The sight alone had her legs tensing and shot heat through her lower abdomen, because, dear wings, that was hot.

It was such a simple act, but there was something undeniably erotic about it. Like he wasn’t holding back from his baser instincts and allowing the feral male beneath the veneer to show. Just for a moment.

It made her feel…owned.

Yet she couldn’t define the how or the why of it.

Only that she liked it, and she very much wanted him to possess her in every way.

He folded her lace into a neat triangle and set it on the nightstand beside her. Then his eyes roamed over her once more, taking in the parting of the shirt, her partially exposed breasts, her flat abdomen, all the way down to the apex between her thighs.

“So this is what an angel really looks like,” he mused as he lifted a knee to the bed beside her. “You’ve somehow managed to surpass my every expectation.”

His opposite knee joined the mattress next, bringing him to a kneeling position beside her.

She allowed her gaze to travel up his long, muscular form, from his thighs to the impressive bulge and up along the valleys and grooves of his abdomen to his strong pecs.

Male perfection, she thought with a sigh.You could be an angel, too.

Except he was too sensual for it. He resembled more of a fallen angel, maybe. A tempting devil.My very own incubus.

His lips curled. “Does that make you my very own succubus?”

Yes.She drew her finger through her slickness and lifted her hand toward his mouth. “Do I tempt you, B? Worried I might corrupt your soul?”

He caught her wrist, then brought her fingers to his lips. “You can’t corrupt me, sweetheart,” he murmured, his tongue flashing out to lick the tip. “But tempt me? Mmm, yes, you can certainly do that.”

Balthazar took her index finger between his lips, sucking it deep into his mouth.

A quiver skated down her spine, causing her stomach muscles to tighten at the purely seductive touch.Mmm, she hummed, loving how hot she was already, thanks to his skill and patience.

This male understood foreplay.

He knew how words impacted a woman.

And he absolutely grasped the concept of delayed gratification.

She loved it.

Wanted more.

Craved his tongue on other areas of her body.

But knew he would take his time.

Revel in the motions. Prolong the inevitable. Memorize every inch of her.

Which he proceeded to do after sucking each of her fingers clean.

He started with her wrist, nibbling the pulse and applying just enough pressure to drive her wild. Then he traveled upward to her elbow, taking the shirtsleeve up along with it before touching erogenous zones very few others knew about.

He skimmed the fabric along her biceps and up to her shoulder before nuzzling her neck and slipping one of his thighs between her legs.