He slowly moved up the side of the bed, careful not to touch her, not to let her know everything he was thinking, everything he’d be doing to her soon. Then he reached across her and braced both his hands on the headboard, his forearms within inches of her golden hair, tumbling wildly down her body. He’d feel that hair against him soon.

He grasped the headboard tightly, then brought his face to hers. “The part about me being able to touch, with everything but my hands.” Then he lowered his body to press against her hot flesh and to his complete delight, the friction was just as sweet as before.

“Do you feel that, Celeste?”

She nodded, her eyes dilating with pleasure.

He moved his mouth to her forehead, kissed her lightly, and felt her skin scorch his lips. “Tell me,” he said. “Tell me everything, what you feel, what you sense, what you want. I want to know.” His words feathered across her temple as he nuzzled her hair out of the way and nibbled his way to her ear.

He licked the lobe, blew warm air on the dampened spot and demanded again, “Tell me, Celeste.”

“I-” She turned her head so that her mouth rested against his. “I feel hot, burning all over.”

He put his tongue against the corner of her mouth, then swept it slowly along her lower lip, while she gasped. Then he eased it inside and was rewarded with her hips bucking up to rub against his erection.

She broke the kiss and, panting wildly, said, “Please, Dax. I-I want this, all of this, but I don’t know how much I can take. Please. I want to feel you inside of me.”

Strengthening his grip on the headboard, he rose above her and peered into her eyes. They were still silver, still glittering with desire, and there was no sign of charcoal, or darker gray, or-heaven forbid-black. He wasn’t about to rush his first time with her if he wasn’t in danger of losing her.

“You can take a little more,” he said, and her eyes widened. “Can’t you?” he asked, and he moved his head down toward her breasts, but he didn’t kiss them, not yet. First he moved his face beneath them, then bowed his head and rubbed the stiff peaks with his unshaven face.

Again, her hips bucked wildly, this time pushing against his abdomen, and he could feel her damp heat, hot and ready.

He moved his head, forcefully grazing her nipples with his stubble, and he knew every sensitive nerve ending was being teased by each pass.

He looked up at her, saw her eyes were still silvery-gray, then took his tongue to the base of her breast and slowly licked his way to the tip. Her back arched off the bed as she pushed the tight point into his mouth, and he hungrily accepted her offer, sucking it between his lips, then pulling it between his teeth.

A sharp, piercing moan escaped her, and he felt her juices begin to flow between her legs.

“Need-you,” she said on a gasp. “Please.”

He looked back at her eyes, and though the change wasn’t drastic, they were darker now, and as much as he wanted to make this last, he didn’t want to push her too far. He couldn’t lose her after one time, but he wasn’t going to leave her this hot, this feverishly ready, either.

Pressing against the headboard, he lifted his body from hers, and she shook her head. “No, don’t stop. Not now.”

“I won’t,” he promised, shifting his weight so he could release his hands, bracing them on the bed on both sides of her, then lowering his mouth to her thigh. “Raise your hips, Celeste.”

She did as he asked, pressing her heels against the bed and lifting her center.

Her scent teased him, and he nearly lost his fight to keep his hands away. He gripped the comforter in his fists, then lowered his head to her hip and ran his tongue beneath the tiny strap of her panties.

While she watched and moaned, he pulled her panties off with his teeth, moving down one side, then the other, and kissing, nipping and sucking as he worked. By the time he had them at her ankles, her entire body was writhing, and her center was glistening wet and completely open…for him.

Dax took one more glance at her eyes, gray now, with no hint of silver anymore. But they weren’t black yet, and he prayed they’d stay that way, at least until she came. He wanted to take this slow, but slow wasn’t an option anymore.

“Now spread your legs, chère.” She did, and Dax moved his face to her most feminine spot and licked.

Heat, fiery, blazing, sizzling heat met his tongue, made his lips burn, and he delved deeper.

Celeste arched her back, lifted her hips and pressed against his mouth, while Dax ran his tongue up her quivering folds to her sensitive nub, accessible and exposed and perfect. He kissed it, then he flicked his tongue over it while her hips rose higher and she moaned his name.

“Please, please, I’m…almost…”

He moved his tongue faster, then felt her body tense as she strained to find release and fell just short of her climax. He wasn’t going to make her wait any longer; she was getting way too close to the edge, way too close to being taken from him again, and he didn’t want to lose her yet.

He pressed his mouth against her hot clitoris and sucked it between his lips, then she screamed, vigorously riding his mouth with hard, quick convulsions, her sweet juices soaking her pulsing center. Dax slid his mouth toward her opening and licked the delicious treat.

While she shuddered through the last ripples, he continued to lick her, kiss her, adore her. Then, when her body finally stilled, he rose above her and saw her eyes, dark charcoal and glazed with fulfilled desire.

“That was wonderful,” she whispered while he moved beside her, careful to keep his body against hers but his hands away from temptation.

“Yes,” he agreed. “It was.”

She closed her eyes, then slowly opened them again, and Dax could see the exhaustion claiming her spirit.

He frowned, and started to tell her, but she knew.

She gave him a soft smile, then reached out and touched his mouth with her finger. “I know. I need to rest now, or I’ll be taken again.” She nodded. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to leave you too soon this time. I’ll rest, but when I wake up…”

“When you wake up,” he said, his mouth moving against her finger as he spoke, “we’re going to talk.”

She blinked, then gave him a sultry smile. “On one condition.”

“Name it.”

“After we talk, I want to know.”

“Know what?” he asked.

“I want to know if there’s any way possible that it could be even hotter when you’re deep inside.” She slid her finger from his mouth, then moved her hand to her womanhood. “I want to feel that heat…deep in here.”

“Then promise me something, chère.”

“Name it,” she said, grinning as she echoed his words.

“You’ll get plenty of rest now, because after you wake up, and we talk, you’re going to need it.”

11

THE SOUND OF Dax’s stomach growling woke Celeste from a blissful sleep. She giggled as she rolled over, opened her eyes and viewed the beautifully naked man beside her on the bed. At one point during the night, he’d retrieved a silk necktie from the closet and asked her to tie his hands to one of the bedposts. They were still there, stretched above his head in a position that could in no way be considered comfortable. Safe, yes. Comfortable, no. But he’d said that he didn’t trust himself to keep his hands off her unless they were otherwise engaged.

The thought that she had that much power over him sent an arrow of desire straight to her core.

“You know, I could get used to waking up and finding a guy all naked and tied up and waiting for me,” she said, leaning above him and watching the way her glowing hair tickled his chest and his nipples promptly responded. “Even if his stomach does sound rather monster-like.”

He smirked. “I’m sure you could, and I’ve done my damnedest not to wake you, even though it’s well past lunchtime.”