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Stop it, she ordered herself, refusing to backslide into wanting to belong to soive it up This was a reciprocal exchange of pleasure, unencumbered by demands for true intimacy

“What are you doing in here?” Aleksy’s stern voice made her jump

“You startled me” Despite her previous affirht of him Her reaction was a complex tumble of nervous excitement and an inexplicable desire to earn his admiration

She clamped down hard on those self-destructive emotions but couldn’t wholly suppress her physical response He was still in the casual pants and button shirt he’d worn all day in his office, and his expression was downright forbidding, but her heart raced with appreciation of his fiercely handsoain? The question had been burning in her blood all day

“You said to be ready for eight,” she reht silk robe she wore, glancing down at the drapes of color to keep hi her involuntary and immediate desire

“I meant why are you in this room?” He moved forward and took in the open closet, the s “I instructed the housekeeper to put everything away in my room tomorrow”

Her heart dropped like a boulder fro alone she was finding the idea of sharing a flat—even one as big as this—to be a hard adjustment She couldn’t breathe with hih this in one piece, she needed her own space to retreat to

“The boxes were in here, so I assumed this was es of wanting to apologize for occupying any space at all This wasn’t a foster hoht her here She’d stay, but on her terms “I’d like to use it,” she said firmly

He assessed the volu room? Very well, but I’ for you You’ll sleep in my bed”

Conquering a suffocating panic, she asserted, “I don’t want to”

“Why not?” He turned the full power of his intense personality on her

She sed, not intiht, but instantly vulnerable to the effects his alpha ain and the recently awakened wohtened by the power of it, but sleeping together would have its oay of increasing her reliance on him That wouldn’t do

“I—” The as cut off as he drew her into a strong, careful embrace She automatically tensed and pressed the heels of her hands to his chest, fingers still curled around the padded hooks of the hangers

He looked down at the way she held hi her body into his, but she sensed the firhs teasing like a warm breath beyond the fall of her kimono

He tugged the towel fro her daled with his He stroked her cheek, then let his caress trail into the sensitive hollow beneath her ear and under her jaw

“I’ed to hen all I could think about was touching you again Feeling you under me”

Her arms pressed harder as she tried to keep his seductive words fro else in her melted This was the sensual heat low in her abdomen she’d looked forward to She consciously closed herself off to reading any significance in his adh As he lowered his head, a helpless ht in them and slid up to curl around his neck and into his hair The first touch of his lips shot a jolt through her They ether as the kiss deepened without any insistence from him She welcomed hi world he’d initiated her into while trying to hang on to herself, not give hi—

He lifted his head They were both breathless His cheekbones were flushed, but his eyes glittered with aggravation “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she rew as he delved into her gaze Keeping herself disconnected from the way heline of his scar to cool her blood, wondering about it

His expression grew stony as he slid his hands over the silk gown, his pal her back and fondling her botto her tremble