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"Never" The word burst out like an oath or a prayer, and God help hiht in her gli eyes Then he sealed the voith a kiss, deep and desperate and true "Oh, God," he groaned when their lips finally parted

She kissed hiers under the collar of his shirt to stroke the chilled flesh of his shoulders and back He buried his face in her neck, inhaling the beautiful scent of her He’d forgotten how roses sht kisses down to her collarbone, he began carrying her toward the bed

"Make love to me, Gray"

She didn’t need to ask it They both kneas going to happen But Gray felt the significance of her words He ht have bedded ladies and whores the world over, but for the first ti to make love to a woman And not just a woman His woman And this idea that should have been so unthinkable, so frightening--to his surprise, Gray found it wildly arousing They tu his shirt free of his trousers He rose up on his knees and impatiently yanked it over his head

He peered at her frock in the darkness

Bloody hell Stripes

Gray started to roll her over, looking for laces or hooks or some other ridiculous device contrived by the devil to thwart led beneath hi her skirts up to her waist The erotic dance of her hips had hio slowly We’ll do everything you told asped as he palers hooked under the waistband of his trousers, and she looked up at hiaze "But I need you now, Gray"

With a low groan, he leaned over to suck one pert nipple straight through the layers of shift and frock Shehis buttons loose with one hand, until her fingers slid down into his smallclothes to caress the swollen head of his erection Oh, God He needed her now, too He needed her now, and again later, and perhaps a third tiht And tomorrow and the next day and every day after that He was pulsing with need, straining into her touch, and as her fingers curled around hiently, so sweetly he wanted to weep for the joy of it He slid one hand up her thigh to find her hot and wet and grinding against his palm Next time, he promised himself Next time, he would take the time to touch her and taste her and learn her responses and watch her beauty unfurl at the peak of passion

But she needed him now, and he needed her now, and noasn’t a minute or even a second later Noas now Gray brushed her hand away, positioned higing her fingers into his arht Too tight Fresh tears streamed down her cheeks even as she tried to look brave And Gray finally understood that elusive, un-naered about her, beneath the powder and rose water

It was innocence

His little siren was a virgin

"Why--" His breath hitched in his chest as he struggled for control "Oh, sweet, you should have toldyou now" She sed hard, sliding one hand up to cradle his face "Only you, Gray Now and always Only you"

"But what about--"

She silenced hier to his lips, then trailed the touch slowly down his chin, down the center of his chest "There’s never been anyone else Only you"

Gray shook his head, uncertain what to believe Her words were so his hips, and her hair fanned out like a shining halo around her head A fierce, primal joy flooded his chest, to know that she was his, and his alone

His to possess; his to pleasure

He shifted his weight on his hands, and as he did, he sank another inch into her They both winced

His to hurt

"Sweetheart, I can’t bear to hurt you"

"It’s all right," she said through quivering lips "Honestly, it feels better already"

He knew she was lying He rocked his hips backith every intention of withdrawing, but she hooked her legs over his

"No," she gasped, her body tightening around his in every way iroaned as the exquisite friction pulled hi his teeth to restrain hiave hiement

"Yes," she breathed as he finally buried himself to the hilt and they were co hi he’d ever dreaain slowly Back and forth, he gently pistoned his hips, grinding against her Until she said it again, this tih "Oh, yes"

It took every ounce of willpower Gray possessed not to lose control that instant and siain But she’d trusted him to make love to her, not rut with her She’d trusted him to be her only one Now and always So he kept up the slow, steady rocking of his hips Feeling her body caress his with each small, measured thrust

She shut her eyes, and her head rolled back against the pillow "Oh, Gray," sheinto his subtle thrusts noith tiny tilts of her hips He bent to suckle her breast again, licking the soft peak through the rough, wet fabric

She clutched his shoulders He froze, panting above her His hands fisted in the bed linens as he grappled for control

"Are you all right?" he asked

"I’ht"