It pissed her off, but it also sent a shiver down her spine.
“Someone tried to hurt you, Kate. That isn’t the same thing. And it happened right under my fucking nose.”
His tone froze her temper. She reached for him, smoothing her hands along his jawline. “You were on stage.”
“But I told you to be there…for me.”
His voice was full of self-loathing. He pulled away, looking like he was ripping himself apart.
“Don’t you dare,” she hissed.
He started to cross his arms over his chest, but she launched herself toward him and grabbed his wrist, pulling on it.
“Don’t you dare pull away from me.” She pushed right into his embrace. “You’re my boyfriend, and you’re not taking it back.”
“Damn it, Kate.” He picked her up by her biceps, driving home just how strong he was. “This is serious.”
“It sure as hell is. You are not pushing me out of your life over a guilt trip.”
Her feet touched the ground, but he held her away from him. His expression was raw. It ripped at her, stabbing into her with white-hot pain.
“It’s fear,” he said at last, his grip losing its strength. She pushed through his hands and was back against his chest as he shuddered. “A fucking lot worse than guilt. Worse than being jealous.” He gripped her head, his fingers twisting in her hair as he fell back against the wall for support. “The only other person I’ve ever felt like that about is Ramsey.”
Kate dug her fingers into his shirt, the thumping of his heart beneath her fingertips making her tremble. He was so close and yet still an eternity away.
He raised her head, locking gazes with her. “It’s eating me alive, Kate. This thing between us.”
“I know the feeling.” They were finally close enough. Both of them laid bare, their feelings in the open.
“Maybe we should let it.” Her voice was a raw whisper. She knew without a doubt she couldn’t take rejection from him now. It would literally kill her. Forget crash and burn. This would be a soul-deep event.
She stretched up and kissed him. Words were just too hard to deal with. She wanted to feel. In the insane, intense way that only Syon made her feel.
He cupped her face, holding her back as he struggled to decide if he wanted to join her in sensory overload or continue trying to sort what they felt into logical thoughts.
“Maybe we have to see this through to the end. Boyfriend.”
His lips thinned. “I don’t want Rams to see you naked again.”
It might have been a strange admission, unless she factored in everything she knew about him. Once she did that, it fit so amazingly well. He was pulling her closer, deeper into the private world where he hid his personal feelings, that fortress that kept him sane when the world around him demanded every last bit of his personality.
He fitted his mouth against hers, kissing her with a deep, hard motion. The way he moved his lips against hers sent her senses reeling. The touch of his tongue tipped the scales completely, so nothing remained but the need to fling herself into the swirling vortex.
She pulled at his clothing, unwilling to have anything between them. There was a rip as she tugged too hard. Syon pulled away from their kiss long enough for her to pull off his shirt, and before he got a chance to kiss her again, she was working on the fly of his pants.
“Oh yeah…” His cock sprang free. Hard. Hot. Ready.
But she wanted him to be on the edge. She sank down onto her knees as she stroked his length, enjoying the smooth texture of his skin and the hardness it covered.
“Why are you doing that, Kate?”
She cupped his balls and looked up, enjoying the sight of his bare body. Every ripple and ridge of hard male. His eyes were alive with a need that seared her.
“Because I want you to know who you need.” She closed her hand around his cock, pumping up and down. “I’m going to suck you off.”
And enjoy every second.
She leaned forward and took him inside her mouth. He arched forward, sucking air through his gritted teeth.
“I’m going to show you…why you can’t stop thinking about me…”
He caught her head, threading his fingers through her hair as she worked her mouth up and down on his cock.
“Suck me… Oh yeah, use your tongue too…”
His words drove her crazy, pushing the heat up another few degrees. She pumped her hand along his length, moving her head forward and back as she sucked. His breathing became rough as he bowed back. His hips were thrusting toward her, his excitement peaking. She opened as wide as she could, enjoying the moment of having him on the edge while she was still able to think. Every sound coming from him delighted her, because she was pushing him past every limit, every polite boundary, and into that place where only instinct ruled.
“Kate…”
His voice was strained, and she clamped her mouth around his cock, rubbing the underside of the head with her tongue. He groaned and started giving up his load. It was thick and hot. He pumped against her mouth as he came. She sucked it down, and he let out a hoarse cry.
“That was selfish of me.” He’d flattened his hands against the wall, his body shaking.
“Maybe it was selfish of me.” She stood up, feeling a glow of accomplishment. It was a subtle shift in power between them. A moment when she felt like she had at least a smidgen of control. A time when he was hers.
He slowly grinned, the expression full of promise. “In that case…”
He scooped her up and took her across the suite. He kicked open a bedroom door and deposited her on a bed. That fast, the power shifted back. The bed hadn’t even stopped rocking before he had her dress pushed up and her underwear down her legs.
“I’m going to enjoy proving myself to you, baby.”
So was she…
Anticipation tingled down her body. He stroked her thighs, the feeling of his hands on her bare skin insanely good. She writhed, already on overload.
“I love seeing you spread out on a bed.”
She looked up and caught him studying her. Pleasure tightened his features, a dangerous glint of possessiveness in his eyes. It stole her breath, making her insides churn. She shifted her thighs farther apart, feeling vulnerable, but there was something about the way he watched her that made her yank her dress completely off.
“Yeah…” he growled approvingly.
She fingered the front closure of her bra, unsnapping it and letting the elastic in it pull it off her breasts.
He nodded, reaching down to cup one breast. She stiffened, sensation flooding her. It was always so intense.
He reached farther down, trailing his fingers along her inner thigh. All her nerve endings were snapping with awareness. Her clit was pulsing, but he made her wait, teasing her inner thigh and then the sides of her slit. He pushed her back on the bed, shucking his pants and crawling up to join her.
She purred, savoring the feeling of his bare skin against hers. He lodged his shoulder against her right leg and settled himself on one elbow.
“I want to play with you…”
He rimmed the opening of her pussy with a fingertip, sinking into the puddle waiting there as she arched with delight.
“Watch you come…”
Her mouth went dry. “Sounds…great.”
It was almost impossible to keep her eyes open. But she watched him smile at her, flashing his teeth as something flickered in his eyes.
He was suddenly gone when she blinked. He disappeared into the bathroom as she sat up, frustration biting into her.
But he was back just as suddenly, pushing her onto her back and lodging his shoulder under her right leg so she was almost helpless again. He teased her belly, rubbing his hand up and down it.
“Let’s have a threesome.”
She stiffened. “What?”
He reached down and lifted something off the bed. She gasped as recognition set in.