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Nothing could keep hi the taste and feel of her skin

He kissed her breasts, drawing the beaded nipples deep into his mouth, and when she cried out his name and arced toward hi her hip, his fingers barely stroking across the feathery curls that forhtness in his belly grew

“Laurel,” he said “Look at me”

Her lashes fluttered open Her eyes were huge, the blue irises all but consu hard; her face, her rounded breasts, were stained with the crimson flush of passion

He had done this to her, he thought fiercely, he had brought her this pleasure He said her na hers as he moved his hand lower and when, at last, he touched her, she let out a cry so soft and wild that he thought he could feel it against his palm

He rolled away fro His hands shook; it was as if he was entering into an unknoorld where what awaited hi or the darkness of despair He didn’t knohich right know, and he didn’t give a damn

All that mattered was this moment, and this woman

Laurel Beautiful Laurel

Naked, he knelt on the bed beside her She atching hiency deep within hiht alh to take her in his arms, kiss her, hold her close and listen to the beat of her heart against his the whole night through

But then she whispered his name and held her arms up to him, and he knew that he needed more He needed to penetrate her, to make her his in the way men have done since the dawn of time

“Laurel,” he said, and when her eyes hs and sank deep into her heat

Laurel rose carefully from the bed

It was very late, and Damian was asleep She was sure of it; she could hear the steady susurration of his breath

Her clothing was scattered across the roo quietly so as not to wake hiht about how he had undressed her, how she’d let him undress her, how she’d wanted him to undress her

A hot, sick feeling roiled in the pit of her stomach

The aparth the darkness had given way to a cheerless grey Itshe wanted to do was put on a light and risk waking him

What in heaven’s name had she done?

Sex, she told herself coldly An experience, a seduction, the kind other women whispered about, even joked about That hat had happened to her, a ht of passion in the arms of a man who obviously knew his way around the boudoir

Laurel’s hands trembled as she zipped up her skirt

She had given up all the moral precepts she’d lived by She’d humiliated herself She’dshe’d

A moan broke from her throat She’d becoe that such a woman even existed inside her would haunt her forever

The things she’d done tonight, the things she’d let Damian do

What had happened to her? Just the sight of hihs, had nificent, such a perfectas if they’d been oiled, his hair dark and tu in his ear, had been all the adornment such a man would ever need

And then he’d entered her She’d felt her body stretching to welcoain, and a cry had burst fro pieces

“Damian,” she’d sobbed, “oh, Damian”

“I know,” he’d whispered, his ain, and she’d realized he was still hard within her The flanited more slowly the second time, not because she’d wanted hi back, then easing forward, filling her and filling her, taking her closer and closer to the edge until, once again, she’d felt herself soar into the night sky where she’d blazed as brightly as a co back to earth

She’d found paradise, she’d thought dreamily, as Damian’s arms closed around her She’d blushed as he whispered soft words to her and when, at last, he’d kissed her forehead, and her ainst his heart, she’d drifted into dreamless sleep

Hours later, so—a sound, a whisper of breeze from the —had awakened her For a moment, she’d been confused This wasn’t her bedroom

And then she’d remembered She was in Damian’s arms, in his bed, with the scent of him and what they’d done on her skin, and suddenly, in the cold, sharp light of dawn, she’d seen the night for what it really had been