His voice reached inside of me and found all of those places his hands had not yet touched. When he sang, it was like he was kissing me with his words.

And then he was kissing me with his mouth.

"Beau." I was saying his name, again and again, because it was the only thing that made any sense. Everything I thought I knew about the world, about men and wickedness, was wrong because he existed. This generous, caring man - who made my body quiver with the expectation of something I'd never experienced but already knew I craved - was real and he was saying my name now. 

It sounded just like a prayer.

His kiss was devouring. His tongue sought dominion over my mouth, sweeping away any hesitation as he nibbled, bit, and tasted. "You tell me," he breathed against my neck as his mouth wandered lower again. He tugged at the strap of my tank top, kissing and soothing the red line where my bra had chafed me before trailing his kiss down to the top of my breast. "You tell me if you want me to stop."

"I don't want you to stop." It was the truth and it had been for a while. And if I had known how much it would inflame him, I would have said it a lot sooner. His hazel eyes darkened to deep emerald before he hissed in a deep breath. "Stay there." The command in his voice made me shiver, but it was anticipation, not fear. 

He opened his door and was at mine in a second. "Come here. Now." He lifted me from my seat and straight into his arms. 

I wrapped my arms around his neck as he said my name against my lips. "Rachel. Say it again. Tell me you don't want me to stop because, angel, I don't know if I can."

"I don't want you to stop." I pressed my lips to his throat, feeling his pulse jumping under his smooth, warm skin. "Beau, I - last night—"

"I pushed you too hard, I know."

"You didn't. You made me feel." I cleared my throat. This was not a sin, no matter how much it felt like one. "You made me feel things I wasn't used to feeling but..." I lifted my chin and looked him in the eye, wanting to see his face when I said, “But I want you to make me feel them again."

His growl terrified and thrilled me in equal measure. He swept me up into his arms and somehow managed to unlock the door one-handed while the other hand held me tight. "I can do that," he was murmuring against my neck. "We've got all night, angel, and I want to show you all the ways I know to make you feel good." He set me on my feet just inside the doorway to my room and looked me full in the eyes. "I need to tell you something."

I held my breath. "What is it?"

He shook his head, looking both amused and exasperated at once. He lifted my fingers to his lips and kissed them firmly. "When I came out to pick you up, it was with the idea that I wanted to get to know you." The gleam in his eyes grew wicked enough to make me catch my breath. "I'm planning on doing just that."

"You are?"

"First question." The light brush of his lips against my earlobe had me shivering. "What do you sound like when you completely lose control?"

"I don't know."

He grinned. "Let's find out."

With an easy authority, he steered me back into my bedroom until the backs of my knees caught against the bed and I sat down. With my heart in my throat, I looked up as he lifted his shirt over his head and casually discarded it. He looked down, a smile curling his lips. "Do you want to touch me, Rachel?"

I wanted to do that more than anything I'd ever wanted in my life. My hands trembled as I lifted them to his naked stomach. When my fingers brushed his skin, his abdomen twitched and then tightened and when I looked up again, I could see that his breath was coming faster now. 

Until now, I had never really known what it felt like to be powerful, but knowing that this man was just as affected by my touch as I was by his made me want to laugh in triumph. I looked up at him and slid my teeth across my bottom lip. "Oh shit, don't do that, Rachel," Beau growled. 

"Do what?"

"That thing with your lip. You really have no idea how sexy you are, do you?"

"I don't think so."

"Here, let me show you."

He leaned over me, backing me up until I was flat on my bed looking up at him. He was so close to me that I could see the way his beard swirled around his jawline. When he lifted my tank top, I flinched, only a little, but he saw and took his hand away, leaving my breasts still hidden as he ran his hand over my skin and around my waist. Even being this exposed to him felt like a sin.

But if this was sin, then I was the best kind of sinner. 

He exhaled and then lowered his lips. Even as he was kissing my navel, I felt that ache in between my legs. "Unf." I was making sounds and lifting my hips, aware that he was doing something that was disconnecting my mind from my body, but powerless to stop it. His mouth traced a line right to the very top of my waistband, and that was when he looked up with his eyebrows raised. 

I heard his unasked question and exhaled. "I don't want you to stop."

He hummed his approval, thick fingers tugging at the waistband of my heavy work pants. It was only at the last second that I remembered I was wearing my usual underwear - high waisted and generously cut - the kind of panties that Everly had laughed and called granny panties. I'd assimilated as best I could to the secular world, in every way but in my underwear. "Don't laugh at them." I put my hands down to cover up, suddenly ashamed. 

He looked up at me and placed his hand over mine. "There's nothing to laugh at." He gently lifted my hand and then smiled. "Except maybe at the fact that you think these would stop me. Rachel, you could be wearing a clown costume right now and I'd still think you were the most beautiful woman in the world.” 

I believed him. That was the most surprising part, the part that made me allow him to tug my pants down over my hips. He was watching me intently as he peeled my socks from my skin, rubbing circles in the center of my heel until I sighed in pleasure, and then brushing his hand back up my calves. I believed him when he told me I was the most beautiful woman in the world, because there was nothing but truth on his face when he gently nudged my thighs apart. There was nothing but bliss on his face when he bent his lips again, and when I said his name, there was only worship in that sound he made.

I believed him. I believed in him. 

It had been so long since I had something that made me feel like I belonged. I wanted to belong to Beau. I wanted to be his and let him care for me. I wanted to fall back and know that he'd be there to catch me. I wanted to trust in him. Could I trust in him?

He sighed again as if he could hear my racing thoughts. "Angel, I want to kiss you now."

"Yes." I tilted my head up to reach for his lips and he chuckled. 

"Not there."

When his finger brushed against my panties, I inhaled sharply, embarrassed at how the cool fabric betrayed how soaked they'd gotten. Without me even realizing. But the noise Beau made was pure admiring approval. "Just like that," he murmured, and I realized I was arching against his hand. "This is gonna be the answer to my question, sweetheart." A choked sound escaped my lips when his finger brushed the epicenter of the ache. "How you sound when you lose control? I want to find out." He exhaled as he leaned over me, and his hazel eyes were the whole world. "Will you let me find out?"

My chest was so tight I could barely breathe. Just the thought of him kissing me... there... had my whole body on fire. I wanted it, but there was no way I could survive seeing it. I reached up to flick off my bedside lamp, and the darkness settled across us like the chaste dresses and underskirts I wore when I was one of the Chosen. Normal and claustrophobic at the same time. The second he disappeared from view, my thoughts started to turn around on themselves, settling into panic.

Beau reached over and flicked the light back on, and I was startled to see his face so close. "I want to see you."

I swallowed. Nodded. Because - I believed him. And I didn't want to feel like I was alone in the dark anymore. 

He bent to brush my lips sweetly with his, and then pressed his hand between my legs. He sat up a little and my mouth fell open at the warmth and pressure. He stayed perfectly still, letting me get used to the feel of him there, the first time anyone had ever touched me in that place. The muscles in my thighs jumped and a strange clenching sensation wracked through my core. The ache became a pounding throb that pulsed through my whole body. I lifted my hands, letting my fingers brush up his arms and then across his chest. 

I arched up to him. "I don't want you to stop."