Chapter Eight

Isabella felt her dream slipping away as she began to stir. Slowly her eyes opened and she noted the sun had set and stars were already twinkling in the sky outside the large windows.

A sound alerted her she wasn’t alone before the familiar smell of Robert drifted over her like a spring breeze. Was she already used to him? She had been reading and hadn’t even realized she’d fallen asleep.

Her body ached as she slowly turned, stretching out her stiff muscles. That’s when she noticed the blanket covering her lap and the pillow against the wall supporting her neck.

“You looked so peaceful I didn’t want to wake you, but I tried to help you get a little more comfortable. It must have worked because you sighed as you snuggled into the pillow and then slept another hour,” Robert told her.

There was a strange look in his eyes she couldn’t quite interpret. Maybe it was the fog of sleepiness still surrounding her, or maybe it was the dim light of the room, but for some reason Isabella’s defenses were dangerously low as she gazed at this handsome man sitting only a couple feet from her.

“Thank you,” she told him. “Were you here the whole time?” She felt her cheeks heat at the thought of that, at him sitting so close, studying her while she slept. It was so intimate, and so overwhelming.

“I enjoyed the peace,” he said. His gaze was intense, making it difficult for her to continue looking in his eyes. But for some reason she wasn’t able to turn away.

“I saw you on the horse earlier,” she blurted. She was now grateful for the lack of lighting as she felt her cheeks heat. Why was she trying to have a conversation with him? She shouldn’t want to.

“I know,” he told her.

“How?”

“I felt your gaze on me,” he said. She expected laughter or a smile, but his eyes remained intense. It was enough to make her stomach tremble.

“Oh, well, I guess they say some people have a sense of things where they can feel themselves being watched,” she said, trying to find an explanation.

“I’ve never had that,” he told her before he scooted a little closer. “You do realize there’s something special between us, right?”

He reached out and ran a finger along the top of her hand. The powerful feeling of his touch made her want to pull away from him to protect herself. It also made her want to scoot closer and feel his body pressed to hers.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, but she couldn’t look him in the eye as she did. It was a clear lie, and they both knew it.

“We can continue to fight it or we can see where it goes,” Robert told her.

This time Isabella did look at him. It was as if she were being forced against her will. No matter how she tried to fight it, there was a connection between them. She now knew he wasn’t the monster she’d first thought he was when his hand had pressed down against her mouth, but that didn’t mean she should surrender to these awakened desires within her.

He turned her hand over and began to trace her palm before he gently caressed the skin of her wrist where her pulse was beating out of control. His lips turned up slightly as he felt the racing of her heart.

“Stop fighting both of us,” Robert said, his voice pure seduction.

He moved even closer and pulled her legs over his so they were facing each other, his mouth a mere inch from her own. Her heart raced, her blood boiled, and her core was pulsing with the need to be filled. He licked his lips, and her eyes were drawn to the movement with the need for her to close the small gap between them and take what she so desperately wanted.

“Tell me you want me,” he said, bending down and kissing her neck, his tongue lazily tracing her skin before he sucked on it, making her head fall backward to give him better access.

She opened her mouth to either tell him to stop or beg him to give her more. She wasn’t sure which. But all that came out was a low moan as his hands ran up her arms and over the top of her chest. She shook as her nipples throbbed with the need to be touched.

She wasn’t disappointed when his fingers drifted down, lightly brushing her covered chest, making her back arch as tingles rushed through her body. He trailed his mouth up her neck, kissing her jaw and cheek before his tongue circled her lips. She leaned toward him, but he pulled back and she whimpered.

His hands moved down her torso, stopping at the top of her quivering thighs before he moved them up her sides and rested them loosely on her back. Her eyes had drifted shut, but she opened them and found his intense gaze boring into her.

“Tell me with words that you want this, and I’ll give you more pleasure than you can ever imagine,” he said. The words were certainly a command, but she was certain they were a promise, too.

And just that easily Isabella decided to do the wrong thing for the first time in her life. She decided she wanted pleasure above doing what she should do. She didn’t want to be responsible, didn’t want to take the right path. She wanted this man’s hands and mouth all over her, and she wanted to keep feeling the sensations only he had managed to incite within her.

“Yes, I want this,” she said, barely recognizing her own voice. She was both pleasured and nervous at the possessiveness that instantly invaded his eyes as they darkened.

Without hesitation Robert stood and slipped his arms beneath her body before moving to the huge bed. He stood a moment at its side and gazed at her. She couldn’t have uttered a word even if he’d demanded it.

Slowly he set her down, her legs trembling as she prayed they’d hold her up.

“Have you been with a man before?” Robert asked.

She was so filled with desire and new feelings it took her several tries to process his question? Once she did, her cheeks heated again. Her skin was already so flushed, she was sure he wouldn’t notice the blush.

“Does it matter?” she asked, her voice squeaky.

“It definitely matters,” he told her, his eyes intense.

“Would I be impure if I have been?” she challenged, not liking the idea of that at all. Her desire was still incredibly intense, but a bit of anger began seeping in as well. And with that came reason. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”

Even as she said the words, her body screamed that she was a fool. Robert’s eyes narrowed as he reached around her and pulled her against him. He lifted her leg up and pressed his hips forward, letting her feel how solid he was beneath his clothes. Even through both their layers of clothing she could feel heat pouring into her, and her core responded with a pulse that begged her to relieve the ache.

“There’s no question of our coming together. I just need to know if I need to be gentle,” he said before his lips turned up in a possessive grin. “Or if I can fuck you into oblivion. Either way I will sink inside your body, and I will do it soon. I will get lost in your heat, and I will lift you so high you’ll have a difficult time finding the ground again. If you haven’t had sex before, I don’t want to hurt you. I’m not judging you. I want you so badly I’m having a difficult time speaking right now. And Izzy, I will take you over and over again. So tell me now if I need to be careful this first time.”

His voice was thick and dark as if he was losing control, and between that and his words, Isabella lost the fight within her. She had caused this virile, sexy man to thicken, to want, to lose control. That made her body respond in ways she had never imagined possible.

“I haven’t been with a man before,” she said, unable to look into his eyes as she said it.

Robert groaned as he pushed his hips forward in a rocking motion that had liquid heat coating her core. Her body was calling to his, preparing to be taken.

“Then you will only be mine,” he said. The utter possession in his voice and eyes scared Isabella, but before she could even attempt to pull away, he stopped talking and captured her lips in a kiss so hungry all of her thoughts evaporated, and she reached around his head and held on tight. They would take this ride together, and she knew there would be no regrets.

Robert lifted her again and laid her on the bed. He quickly joined her as his hand cupped the back of her neck. She wanted his lips on hers, but instead he took a breath and pressed a kiss to her temple before slowly moving down her cheeks. His other hand rested on her chest, high enough to feel the thundering of her heart. His thumb drifted in a lazy circle just above her nipple making a moan escape her throat.

He was torturing her in the most pleasurable way, and she wanted to speed this up. The problem was she didn’t know what to demand, didn’t know what she wanted. All she knew was her body was an aching mass, and she needed him to ease the pain.

Robert paused as his mouth hovered over hers. Their eyes were both open, and he gazed at her as their breaths mingled together. It was such an intimate moment, heated and heavy, yet flirty and . . . sweet. She felt herself getting lost in him. She swept out her tongue and the tip reached his bottom lip.

His eyes dilated and a groan rumbled through his chest before he closed the small gap between them and pressed his lips to hers, easily parting them and allowing his tongue inside. She twisted her own with his as they explored one another. He shifted his body, half lying on top of her, but still giving himself enough room for his hands to wander over her.

Isabella ran her fingers through his hair and tugged at it, unable to get close enough to him. She was so consumed she felt as if she were going to go up in flames at any moment, and still she couldn’t pull back, couldn’t stop. She needed him. She had to relieve the ache that continued growing in intensity.

His fingers slowly circled one breast and then the other while his mouth continued to ravage her mouth with an intensity that took her breath away. She arched her back, silently begging him to ease the ache in her chest, but his fingers circled and circled, not touching the nipples that beaded out, reaching for him.

He released her mouth, and she was able to suck in a breath as her head grew light. Only then did he finally run his fingers over her nipples, and she felt an intense pulse of pleasure-pain in her core that made her hips arch off the bed as she struggled to get closer to him.

“I’m trying desperately to go slow here, but you’re so damn responsive,” Robert growled. Her eyes felt heavy but she opened them halfway and looked at his face as it hovered over hers. Though his eyes were blue, they were dark and intense in that moment, and hunger called to her on the most basal level.

“I need you,” she said, her voice pleading.

Robert tensed as he looked at her and he began taking off her clothes. The feel of his hands against her skin as he peeled away layer after layer of her protective armor only added fuel to the fire burning within her.

When both of them were naked, Isabella’s body trembled with an urgency and need she didn’t try to understand. She allowed herself to simply feel as Robert ran his mouth across her neck, then moved down.

He finally circled her breasts, taking the stiff peak of her nipple into his mouth and sucking on it, making moisture surge in her core. She wiggled her hips as she tried to draw closer, her body taking over as she sought what she didn’t know she wanted.

Robert took his time kissing her, caressing her, bringing her to the brink of explosion before backing off again, making her cry out her frustration. His tongue danced along the folds of her core, and she felt a tear spill from her eye at the intenseness of it all.

Finally, when she felt she couldn’t take a single minute more of this beautiful torture, he climbed up her body, his hot skin connecting with hers, a sheen of sweat making them slide against one another.

“Open your eyes,” Robert said, his voice intense but with a gentleness to it that made her desperate to please him.

Though her lids were heavy, she did as he asked, and she was grateful for it. There was such passion and worship in his gaze she felt as if she was the only woman in the world. It was indescribable what that did to her.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said as he lined up his thickness against her wet heat.

“I want this,” she assured him, opening her legs wider, loving how it felt to have his hips sink against her as the tip of him slipped inside her heat.

“Hold me,” he said through clenched teeth.

He reached beneath her and gripped her butt as he gazed into her eyes. She began to close hers, and he squeezed her butt hard, making them fly back open.

“I want to see your face as I join us together the first time,” he said, his voice barely recognizable. She couldn’t speak, only nodded.

Robert gripped her other butt cheek, and she wrapped her legs around his back. He held her still as he continued looking at her. The moment stretched on for a long while, and then he surged forward with a hard push.

Isabella was captured by the intense pleasure in his gaze as his body trembled on top of hers. There was pain as he broke through her innocence, but as he rested within the safety of her heat, she realized it was a short-lived feeling. He moved his hips in a gentle rocking motion, keeping them locked tightly together as he gently stroked her throbbing flesh.

The pain evaporated as new sensations drifted through her. Heat and pressure built higher than before, and a cry escaped her as she reached a peak she wanted with a desperation that couldn’t be tamed.

“Yes, baby, let yourself go,” Robert growled.

He moved one hand up and squeezed her breast while he captured her mouth and increased the depths of his thrusts. The pleasure grew as Isabella tried to hold on to her sanity. Each thrust remained gentle, but he was now pushing fully in and out of her, his long girth filling her before retreating, doing this over and over. He sped up, and she held his arms, her nails digging in as she anchored herself to him.

Then he pushed deep inside her, faster and faster and suddenly Isabella’s body released. She wrenched her lips from his as her head arched back and a cry of pleasure ripped from her very soul. She shook in his arms as he thrust a few more times before letting out his own call as he shot his hot pleasure deep within her walls.

Time stopped as the two of them clutched each other tightly, both of them shaking. Her body was exhausted as she lay there, the two of them still entwined as one. She wasn’t ready for the feeling to end, not yet, maybe not ever.

She’d just given this man a gift she hadn’t understood was so special. And now she might have become his forever, whether he wanted to keep her or not.