The space where that broken mirror had hung on the wall, a terrible reminder of what I’d done to it when I’d first arrived.
I didn’t like this room at all—in fact, I’d gotten chills each time I’d passed by it.
Cassius flew back in with a smile on his face. He held up a foil packet. Of course, a condom. He threw it onto the side table.
He closed the space between us and pressed a fingertip to my lips. “I’m starting in reverse. All the places I hurt you in this house, I’m going to make you feel good. So all you remember are the good times.”
“Seriously?”
He nodded. “Go with me on this, okay, like I did with you in the maze.”
“What happens now?” I asked wistfully.
His brow furrowed as his thoughts spun around his beautiful mind. He grabbed the back of my head with an iron grip. “I’ve wanted you from the first time I saw you.”
“But I thought—”
“Don’t say it. Let me make it up to you. Ask your forgiveness the only way I can.” He gave a ghost of a smile.
His palm brushed over my throat and glided toward my left breast, and my nipple beaded beneath the contact of the pinch of his hand, causing arousal in my core. His hand moving downward still, sweeping over my abdomen, exploring.
I lifted my T-shirt and eased out of my jeans with his help, both of us scrambling to undress.
Shirts flew.
His pants and my bra came off next.
Reaching low, I eased my panties off my hips and nudged them down my thighs, and he helped with them the rest of the way until my underwear was off.
He stole a glance. Dragging his teeth along his bottom lip, he studied me there. My sex throbbed in anticipation of his touch. I let my thighs fall apart, inviting his teasing.
With us both naked, he lay on top of me with his warm body heating my skin.
His fingers trailed downward, and the sensation made my thighs tremble, my mind scrambling to grasp how we’d gone from arguing to this—me aroused and surrendering with each inhale, thighs spreading in invitation.
Cassius seemed to sense my responses before they happened, the way he commanded my body with each touch, the way he set me alight. The more his fingers explored, the more my body reacted to having him caress me the way he did. He knew how to touch me, with equal parts firm and gentle strokes. I imagined he also knew how to find the exact spot that would bring the most pleasure.
His lips trailed along my collarbone and tickled my skin as he buried his face in my neck and nuzzled, kissing me tenderly there, sending shivers.
I brought my hand up to cup my breast, the tingles too much to bear. His hands pressed over mine. I slipped my hand away and let his rest there, flushed with the pang of pressure as it beaded beneath his palm. He circled a pointed fingertip and it sent shudders of arousal sharp and vivid into my core.
“You like this?” he teased.
I nodded. I loved it, every second, every touch, every caress, being leisurely stroked and nurtured as though this was my first time. Only my first time was in the maze when I’d done something similar to him. And he’d let me. Now, I was seeing how a real man makes love, with the skill of an artist who knows how to carve marble. How to trace the natural curves and rivulets, brushing this way and that, chipping away all resistance.
My skin the form he’d mastered as he teased and flirted with his fingers, seducing and lulling, sparking the brightest passion.
I couldn’t speak another word—couldn’t let them escape my lips because he’d stolen my breath away—he’d taken one of my nipples into his mouth and was sucking, using his tongue to thrum against the sensitive tissue. One breast and then the other, his tongue was darting between them, flicking before nipping with his teeth and sending an erotic pleasure between my thighs.
He leaned up and reached for my hand, kissing my fingers tenderly, and worked along my wrist, forearm, and then leaned in to run his tongue beneath my armpit, continuing on between my breasts and downward, downward still, until he reached my abdomen when he ran his tongue along my public bone and lower toward my core.
Our eyes met as he said, “Relax.”
With a nod, I told him I would and felt myself sink deeper into this bliss he wanted to give me.
The sensations he elicited were delicate at first. He flicked slowly, circling, and then frantic as he devoured me like a delicious flower, blossoming beneath the thrill.
I opened my legs wider for him.
“My Anya.” His voice was husky, his breath warm.
His mouth possessed me there, playing, teasing, and flicking, hungrily eating my secret place, causing my back to arch and needing a release more than anything.