Drake stood and then simply slid his arms underneath her body and lifted her effortlessly into his hold and strode toward the bedroom. He laid her down on the bed with reverence that brought a knot to her throat. He followed her down, molding his mouth to hers in a hot, breathless kiss that was all consuming.

He broke away only to rain a trail of kisses down her jaw to just below her ear and nibble lightly at the sensitive skin, eliciting a cascade of chill bumps down her body. Then he licked at her lobe before sucking it gently between his teeth, nipping with just enough force to send shivers of desire down her spine.

He leaned up again and his face hovered directly over hers so their eyes met and she could see the burning intensity in his dark gaze.

“You are beautiful, Angel. And before tonight is over you’ll not only know how beautiful you are, you’ll feel it too.”

Oh my God. This man was lethal.

Slowly, as if she were the most precious thing in the world, he undressed her, piece by piece. Each time another item was divested, he would dip his mouth and explore the newly exposed region. She was gasping and arching into his touch and she still wasn’t fully unclothed.

When her bra loosened, she experienced a brief moment of panic. Her breasts were just . . . average. Not firm and they wouldn’t be “perky” without the aid of a push-up bra. She’d purchased one only because in her line of work, displaying what few assets she had was to her advantage. They weren’t saggy. They were just there and a little squishy. Ugh.

“What the hell is going through your head right now?” Drake murmured as he stared into her eyes.

“You don’t want to know,” she muttered.

“Stop thinking,” he ordered in a commanding tone that had her quivering to her core.

His eyes glittered and she got her first true glimpse of the dominant man she’d given herself to.

“Just feel,” he said, his voice softening from the dominant alpha male to what could only be described as a purr.

“Okay,” she whispered.

His head lowered and she sucked in her breath, waiting, aching, dying for the moment when his mouth closed over her nipple. She let out a wail of both pleasure and frustration when instead, he flicked his tongue over the already rigid peak, tonguing it to further rigidity. Then he turned and gave the other nipple equal attention, his movements practiced and unhurried.

God, they’d been making love all of two minutes and he was already a million times better than Eddie, whose idea of foreplay had been biting—painfully—into each nipple, fingering her roughly and then spreading her legs and thrusting when she was in no way ready for him.

She knew that if Drake spread her thighs and thrust into her right this moment, she would be wet and more than ready.

Finally she got her wish and his mouth closed around her nipple, sucking gently at first and then harder with rhythmic pulls until her vision went blurry.

“Oh God, Drake, you have to stop. Please don’t stop.”

She knew she wasn’t making a bit of sense, but she was nearly delirious with ecstasy and all he’d done was kiss her lips, her neck and her breasts.

He chuckled, his warm breath vibrating against her nipple, making it stiffen even more.

“Which is it, my angel? Stop or don’t stop?”

“I don’t know,” she wailed. “I don’t know what to do, Drake. Help me, please.”

He lifted his head and looked deep into her eyes, his expression somber and so very sincere. “Trust me, baby. I’ll always have you. I’ll always guide you. I’ll always show you exactly what to do. You just have to let yourself go and trust me to get you there.”

She palmed his face in her hands and lifted her head to kiss him, her first act of aggression. “I do, Drake. God help me, but I do. I feel safe with you. I’ve never felt so safe in my life.”

A savage fire blazed in his eyes and she knew her words pleased him, that it was exactly the right thing to do and say.

“Lie back, Angel, and let me love you. We have all night and I plan to take my sweet time pleasuring my lady.”

She closed her eyes against the sudden wash of emotion. In that moment she felt wanted. Cherished. Like she mattered. That she wasn’t average and a nobody. Drake made her feel so very special, and she didn’t have the words to describe how very precious he made her feel. No man had ever looked at her like he did. No man had ever stood up for her, stood by her side and had her back. It was more than she could take in. She was completely and utterly overwhelmed.

“Are you with me, baby?” he whispered. “I want you with me all the way.”

“Oh yes, Drake. I’m with you. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but right here and right now.”

He shuddered against her and then lifted himself off her just enough to divest himself of his clothing, and she stared with unabashed wonder at the beauty of this man. Her gaze traveled from the top of his body, over the broad expanse of his chest and finally to his taut abdomen that sported a delicious six-pack. But when her eyes drifted lower still to the whorl of hair at his groin and the enormous, turgid erection, they went wide with shock.

Eddie wasn’t a small man, and it had hurt when he penetrated her. But Drake? He made Eddie look like a prepubescent teenager, and she swallowed nervously as she contemplated the fact that if Eddie had hurt her—a lot—and Drake was much larger, how on earth would she be able to take him?

His cock was swollen and rigid, straining upward toward his navel, almost lying flat against his abdomen. At her best guess, he had to be at least eight inches in length, and she couldn’t even fathom how thick he was. Surely this wasn’t possible.

And yet she was fascinated by the sheer maleness of him. His muscled, broad chest. His thickly roped thighs and bulging biceps. He towered over her, well over six feet, making her feel delicate and so much smaller. He could squash her like a bug without even intending to.

Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. Her initiation into sex had been a disaster, and the man about to make love to her was much larger than her first lover.

“Angel, look at me,” he said in a gentle tone that held none of the dominance of before. “I will never hurt you. Please don’t fear me. You’ve only had the bad, and now I’m going to give you the sweet. You said you trusted me. So trust me to make this good for you—for both of us.”

His words fell like a cleansing rain, soothing her fears and apprehension.

“Sorry,” she said, attempting to replace her grimace with a smile. “I’m not exactly an expert at this, but even I know you’re bigger than the average male.”

She hesitated for a moment, holding her breath deciding whether she wanted to risk ruining such a poignant moment. But he needed to know what she was thinking. He deserved to know. He’d been nothing but understanding and patient. She owed him her honesty.

“The first time hurt. A lot. And he was a fraction of the size of you. It’s not that I don’t trust you. I just worry that I won’t be able to physically accommodate you without it hurting even more. I want you with my every breath, more than I want to breathe, more than I’ve wanted anything in my life, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little afraid. Because I want it to be perfect with you, Drake. Because you are so very perfect.”

His entire gaze softened and she let out a sigh of relief that she hadn’t angered him by bringing up her first lover while in Drake’s bed. His kiss was warm and full of everything Eddie’s had lacked. For several long seconds, he leisurely explored her mouth, lapping gently at her lips, paying particular attention to one corner.

When he drew slightly away, his eyes were serious but full of warmth and sincerity.

“It’s not the size that matters, Angel. What matters is that the man ensures his woman is ready and prepared, and yes, able to take him. And I promise you I will make sure you are all of those things before I ever take that final step. And if at any time I do something that hurts you, then it ends. Immediately. And I expect you to tell me you’re hurting because I will be very pissed off if you think you have to endure pain to please me. Understand?”

She smiled so broadly that her cheeks ached and tears burned her eyelids.

“Now can we get back to the really, really good parts?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” he said huskily.

He pressed his lips to hers again, making love to her mouth, kissing her long and leisurely, tasting every part of her tongue, absorbing her essence, breathing her air, giving her his. Then he slowly traveled down her body, lavishing kisses, nips, suckling her nipples until she was mindless, her desperation growing by the second.

When he tracked lower still and put one firm hand between her thighs to part them, she sighed long and hard, remembering the night in his office, when he’d given her the mother of all orgasms using only his tongue.

Using his fingers, he traced a line down the seam of her folds and then gently parted them, baring her clit and pussy to his sight—and his seeking tongue.

She moaned deep in her throat. That first time had been urgent, overwhelming, like a bomb going off. This time he lapped, licked, suckled and teased, drawing out and prolonging her pleasure for what seemed an eternity.

He slid a finger inside her vagina, softly stroking the walls, reaching deeper to press gently on her G-spot, something she thought was a myth. Sudden wetness soaked his finger and he issued a growl of satisfaction that vibrated over her clit that he was laving with his tongue.

She was going to orgasm and she wanted him inside her, whether he fit or not. She twisted restlessly, silently begging him to possess her. To sink so far inside her that they were no longer two people. Just one.

“Just a little longer, my angel,” he murmured against her clit. “I want to make damn sure I don’t hurt you.”

She nearly screamed, Hurt me! I don’t care! Just make this ache go away.

He carefully inserted a second finger, stretching her and stroking back and forth until she became even wetter. And then he withdrew his fingers and lowered his mouth to her opening and tongued her entrance, nearly causing her to orgasm on the spot.

He circled the opening, licking and lightly sucking, and then he slid his tongue inward, tasting her from the inside out. She was panting, her entire body tightening in anticipation of something truly extraordinary.

Then his mouth left her and her keen of disappointment was sharp in the room.

His hand calmed her. “Just a moment, Angel. I have to protect you.”

A moment later, he spread her thighs even further and positioned himself on his knees between them, grasping his enormous erection with one hand while he continued to stroke her until he was satisfied she was ready.

“Nice and easy,” he soothed. “There’s no hurry. If you need me to stop, say so, but I’m going to go slow and give you time to adjust.”

She felt the blunt head of his penis press against her entrance and she instinctively arched upward, wanting to take more of him, but he held her hips firmly against the mattress to prevent her from doing so.

But he paused and gazed down at her, fierce possession etched in every facet of his face.

“This is your first time, Angel. This is what counts. It’s your first time with me, and you’re going to get respect and reverence and your gift will be cherished as it should have been. I want you to forget everything that came before me. And as this is your first time with me, it’s also my first time with you. Don’t think that doesn’t mean anything. It means everything.”

Something shifted deeply inside her, her heart going tight and then softening, allowing an opening that had never been there before. That she’d never allowed anyone access to. Emotion overwhelmed her and she was incapable of responding, even if she wanted to. But what could she possibly say on the heels of something as special as what he had just given her?

Himself. Absolution from what she considered the worst mistake of her life. Forgotten. It no longer existed here in his arms. He was right. This was her first time to make love.

He pressed forward slowly. Agonizingly slow. But as he gained more depth, she now understood why he’d gone to such lengths to prepare her. Even as wet as she was, she had no idea how he was going to get all the way in. Several times he paused and remained still and used his thumb to caress her clit, causing her to spasm around his cock.

She wasn’t sure who was groaning, him or her. But his face was a wreath of strain, eyes closed, head thrown back as if he were experiencing the sweetest of pleasures or the most piercing pain. Maybe both. It gave her an immeasurable amount of satisfaction that she, Evangeline Hawthorn, average and nothing special, could bring this beautiful man who could have any woman in the world such exquisite pleasure.

“Hold on to me, Angel,” he said in a strained voice. “Wrap your legs around my waist and tilt your sweet little ass up so I have a better angle.”

Eager to comply with his wishes, she quickly did as he instructed and he pushed forward another inch, eliciting a gasp from both of them.

“Do it, Drake,” she whispered. “You won’t hurt me. You’ll never hurt me. Take me. Make me yours. Please. I need you. So much. I need you. I need this.”

He groaned and seemed to wage an inner war with himself, but her “please,” or maybe that she’d said she’d needed him, seemed to push him over the edge and he surged forward in a forceful lunge that seated him to the balls deep inside her.

Her eyes flew open as she was bombarded with a hundred different overwhelming sensations. And not one of them was pain. She tightened her legs around him. She dug her nails into his shoulders. And she arched upward to take as much of him as she could.

Still, he thrust back and forth in a slow rhythm, sinking as deep as he could before withdrawing until the tip on his head barely breached her opening, and then he would languidly glide back to his fullest depth.

Evangeline had never felt anything more beautiful in her life. And she never would. She knew that as surely as she knew the sun rose every morning. Her orgasm was blooming like a flower unfurling under a ray of sunshine, and she felt Drake tense above her and knew he was as close as she was. The night he’d brought her to orgasm in his office had been a fast climb to an overwhelming explosion that had left her shattered. This was something so much sweeter, yet no less intense or shattering to her senses. This wasn’t merely physical, as it had been then. Her heart was already fast becoming involved, and she was helpless to stop it.

“Together,” she whispered. “I’m so close, Drake. I can’t—won’t—last much longer.”

“Then let go. We’ll go together,” he whispered in her ear.

The world blurred around her but the one thing that remained sharply in focus was Drake’s face above hers, him kissing her with breathless passion and tenderness shining in his eyes. Finally it was too much and she latched on to Drake, wrapping every part of her body around him as she began to shatter into a million pieces, like stars scattered haphazardly across a clear night.

He emitted a hoarse shout and then carefully lowered himself onto her body, his hips still gently pumping into her body until finally they stilled and they lay quiet and breathless in the aftermath of something Evangeline had no words for. For something that defied explanation.

Now she knew what it was supposed to be like, and her only regret was that Drake hadn’t been her first. But no. He’d told her this was the first—he was the first. Eddie was forgotten, never to be remembered again. Now there was only Drake.

“Be right back, my angel,” he whispered. “Need to get rid of the condom, but you don’t move.”

As if she could. She was utterly boneless and couldn’t move if she tried. A few seconds later, Drake crawled into the bed with her and turned them on their sides so they faced each other.

He cupped her cheek and caressed softly. “It won’t always be like this. But you needed it this way this time. The way it should have been your first time instead of that asshole hurting you, taking his pleasure and giving none in return. You should have been handled with care and cherished and made love to as tenderly as a woman ever was. I meant what I said. I want you to consider this your first time and forget the other dickhead ever existed.”

Oh but the man had a way of slipping right past her barriers and setting her world to rights, as crazy as that sounded, considering he’d done nothing but upend her world ever since entering it.

She snuggled into his arms, warm and sated, and couldn’t resist running her hands over the muscled walls of his chest and abdomen. Over his shoulders and well-defined arms that bespoke a strict training regimen. This was no man who spent all his time behind a desk, eating good food without care for his body.

He stroked his hand through her long tresses, pausing every once in a while to press a kiss to her temple, her forehead, her lips and even her eyelids.

As some of the hazy euphoria subsided, his earlier words floated back to her and she cocked her head back so she could look at him in the dim light cast only by one lamp in the room.

“Drake?”

“Yes, Angel?”

“What did you mean?”

He kissed her softly before pulling away. “About what?”

“When you said it wouldn’t always be like this. What did that mean?”

He cupped her jaw, his eyes suddenly serious. “You know what I am, what I want and what I expect.”

She nodded.

“I only meant that our lovemaking won’t always be as it was tonight. I enjoy a variety of methods of sex. Rough, soft, hard, sweet. Bondage, spanking, you at my complete mercy, me in control at all times. I enjoy kink. I like the idea of my woman being available to me at all times. And after tonight, there will be no condoms. When I come, it’ll be inside you, not a damn rubber. I’ll provide you my most recent lab results, and I’ll set up an appointment immediately so you have birth control.”

Her eyes lowered a moment, but he caught her chin and tipped it back upward, question hovering in his gaze.

“What if I disappoint you, Drake?” she asked hesitantly. “You know I’m not experienced. And that I have no experience in your . . . world. Or with your expectations.”

He smiled and kissed her again. “First, I’m going to delight in teaching you everything you need to know to please me, just as I’ll learn what pleases you. And second, as long as you give me what you gave me tonight—your surrender, your sweetness, your complete and utter submission—you will never disappoint me, Angel. You shine, baby, from the inside out, and it’s the most beautiful fucking thing I’ve ever seen in my life. You won’t disappoint me. It simply isn’t possible. I, on the other hand, will likely disappoint you, frustrate you and anger you on a regular basis. I’m a demanding bastard and my demands will, at times, be extreme. But if you stick with me, Angel, if you stay with me and tough it out, and if you don’t take back the trust you’ve granted me, I guarantee you’re going to enjoy the ride.”