She couldn’t understand the words he murmured, over and over again. But she understood what was in those eyes. They were tearing each other apart, and they couldn’t stop. The animal had taken over, and it had diamond-sharp claws and jagged teeth.
There was nothing left but the sound of their mixed labored breathing, the solid slap of flesh against flesh, and the heady scent of hot, desperate sex.
She felt his body go rigid, felt the rippling muscles in the arms she gripped turn to stone. He groaned out her name as his eyes sharpened like daggers. When he poured himself into her, she cried out in triumph, then again in wonder as he drove her over that crumbling edge with him.
The strength that had screamed through him switched off like a light, and he collapsed, panting, his full weight on her. Fighting for breath, he wallowed in her hair, drawing in the scent of it and the fragrance they’d made together. He couldn’t find his center, the focus that was so vital for survival. He no longer had one without her.
God, he could feel her vibrating beneath him, shuddering from the aftershocks. And there were tears mixed with the dew of sweat on her face.
With breath still burning his lungs, he levered himself on his elbows and shook his head to try to clear it. At the movement, she made a small, whimpering sound in her throat that both aroused and dismayed. Trying to find the gentleness that had always been so easy for him, he shifted their positions and began to stroke her hair, her shoulders, her back.
Murmuring apologies, he cradled her like a child. “Milaya,I’m sorry. I hurt you. I must have hurt you. Don’t cry.”
“I’m not crying.” But, of course, she was. He could feel the tears fall even as she ran kisses over his face and throat. “Just tell me you love me. Please tell me you love me.”
“I love you. Shh.” He covered her mouth tenderly with his. “You know I love you.”
“I love you.” She pressed those wet, shaky kisses to his cheeks, to his jaw. “You have to believe that I love you.”
A hot fist clenched in his gut, but he kept his hands gentle. “Just let me hold you.”
Tearing up again, she pressed her face to his shoulder. “Even now you don’t believe me. Alexi, what more can I do?”
“I believe you.” But they both knew he said it only to comfort. “You belong to me. I believe that.”
“You’re everything I want.” She relaxed against him, satisfied that he would take that much.
“No more tears?”
“No.”
He tilted her chin up to search her face. “How badly did I hurt you?”
“I don’t think the results will be in for days.” She smiled a little. “How badly did I hurt you?”
His eyes narrowed, and her smile widened. “You’re not... upset?”
“About what?”
“I was an animal.” With a hand that had yet to steady, he brushed her tumbled hair out of her face. “I took you on a table like a lunatic.”
“I know.” After one long, satisfied sigh, she slid her body lazily over his. “It was wonderful.”
“Yes?” Guilt began to turn to pride. “You liked it?”
After being so thoroughly ravished, it wasn’t difficult to stroke his ego. “It was like being dragged off by some barbarian. I couldn’t even understand what you were saying. It was exciting.” She kissed his cheek. “Frightening.” And the other. “It was also the most erotic experience of my life.”
“You were crying.”
“Alexi.” She touched a hand to his face. “You didn’t just overpower me. You overwhelmed me. No one’s ever made me feel more wanted. More irresistible.”
“I can’t resist you, but I’m sorry I put bruises on you.”
“I don’t mind—under the circumstances.” After another luxurious sigh, she glanced around the room. “I don’t know how I’ll ever work in here again, though.”
Now he grinned, wickedly. “Maybe it’ll inspire you.”
“There is that.” She shifted to straddle him and watched his sleepy eyes skim down to her breasts and back. Possibilities, she thought. There were definite possibilities in that look. “Being a cop, I imagine you’ve been through arduous physical training.”
