Or maybe it was just Paxton fully unleashed.
His fingers were deadly, unrelenting as they stroked over her body, over her breasts. The pads of his thumbs were rough as he drew them across both nipples. She shuddered, wanting so much more.
“God, you’re beautiful,” he growled, throwing the covers off and grasping her rib cage, laying her down and covering her. Even though he kept his weight off her with his elbows, he blanketed her, completely pinning her to the bed. A delicious little thrill zipped through her entire body, electrifying her from within.
She didn’t know what to think.
He was demanding ultimate surrender, and she couldn’t give that to him. She couldn’t give it to anybody, but she had never been so tempted. Had never felt more feminine.
“Pax.” She gripped his face and held tight. His whiskers burned her palms, adding to the erotic sensations already whipping over her skin. “We have to stop.” Her body protested, and she tried to ignore it.
He lifted his head, and his eyes were a sharp, silvery, metallic blue with green striations.
For a second, she couldn’t speak. Everything inside her wanted to submit to the primal demand in them, and she wasn’t a woman who submitted. “We can’t do this.” Her voice trembled. With fear? With need? Maybe both.
He didn’t answer. Instead, he suddenly moved to the side, planted his heavy hand in the center of her chest and swiped his palm down her body in a hot caress that had her biting her lip to keep from begging for more. “You tell me to stop, I’ll stop. If not, you’re giving me this.”
She opened her mouth, and just as his fingers brushed over her clit, she couldn’t help but arch into his hand. “Paxton,” she whispered, shocked, needy, stunned.
His gaze searched her face, his jaw hard, his nostrils flared. “Yeah. You’re giving me this, Hope.” In one quick movement, he had the little shorts off her, and then his mouth replaced his hand. She cried out, arching into him as ecstasy ripped through her. She would never be the same.
And she needed more.
She craved.
He dropped to his knees beside the bed, grabbed both her legs and tossed them over his shoulders. What was happening? This was too much, and yet it wasn’t enough. She cried out, knowing without a doubt that if she told him to stop, he would.
She didn’t want this to stop. Ever.
She bucked against his mouth, and he planted one hand on her abdomen, holding her down.
He reached up and tweaked her nipple and then soothed it before moving to her other breast. There was enough bite in his touch that she was moaning, moving against him, needing more.
He raked her clit with his tongue, lashing mercilessly, and then slid two fingers inside her. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. She could only need, and Paxton was the only person in the world who could subdue this fire.
“Paxton,” she moaned. “Hurry up.”
He looked up, his whiskers scraping her needy clit. Sensation sliced through her, tightening every muscle. “You’ll take what I give you, Hope, and you’ll learn patience.”
The words should have pissed her off. Instead, a traitorous trembling rolled from the top of her body to the bottom of her feet, making her clit pound even harder as that shudder passed through.
He moved down again, sucked her entire clit into his mouth, and then went at her like a male possessed.
He was tongue and teeth and lips and fingers.
She didn’t know which one was coming when they were all over her, and still it was not enough. He drove her up fast and then played with her on the edge until she was bucking and nearly crying in her need for relief.
When panic was hitting her, and desperation was making her plant her heels on his back and press against him, he finally let her fall over. She crashed hard, live wires uncoiled inside her, tossing her off that ledge to be broken into a million pieces.
She cried out loudly, and she was pretty sure it was his name she shrieked. Her body rippled with something way too close to pain to be called mere pleasure, and yet she couldn’t stop shuddering wildly with the climax. She came down slowly, her heart thundering so loudly she was sure Libby could hear it on the other side of the house. Oh man. She covered her eyes. Had Libby heard that?
Hope came back to the cool air brushing her skin, lying there stunned, satiated, and vulnerable. Paxton stood and gazed down at her. The look in his eyes showed need and lust, desire and something deeper. Much deeper.
She blinked and slowly forced herself to sit up, dazed. She could have stopped him, and she had chosen not to. They both knew that.
His chin lifted, giving him the look of a warrior about to charge. “I’ll take your taste with me until the day I die.” He pulled off his shirt.
She blinked at the raw play of natural strength. She could see the animal deep inside Pax—the warrior who’d taken on a squad of Kurjans by himself and hadn’t broken a sweat. His muscled torso was wide and tapered to ridged abs so tight it was shocking bullets didn’t bounce right off them. “What are you doing?”
“I’m not leaving you.” His jeans were next, and she tried to look away, but there was a lot to look at in those dark boxers.
“Paxton.” She should feel foolish. Instead, she felt satiated, stunned, and still aroused. She shook her head, torn between reaching to take what she wanted and being the responsible person she needed to be.
He lifted her as if she weighed nothing, pulled the covers back, tossed her in, and curled in behind her. “We’re just gonna sleep, baby. We both need it.”
Had Paxton Phoenix just called her baby? She should not like that. Not at all. Yet pleasure unfolded inside her. Man, she was screwed up. She should make him leave. But as she settled into his magma-hot body, every muscle in her body relaxed and settled and submitted as if this was exactly where she should be.
She didn’t know what to say. What had just happened? She wanted to roll over, kiss him, and take care of the raging hard-on pressed against her butt. A shiver took her. His arm tightened like a band of iron beneath her breasts, and he pulled her closer to him, so much bigger and stronger than she’d ever be.
His lips wandered over the top of her head, and she felt that touch through her entire body. “Pax? I’ve never done that before.”
He paused. “Good.”
She shouldn’t care, but she did. “I’ve kissed people but not much more.”
His body was a shield around her. “Why not?” There was curiosity in his tone as well as a definite growl of possessiveness.
She swallowed, feeling way too vulnerable. “I guess I figured it would be like cheating on someone.” On her future mate. On fate. “Plus, it’s not like I’ve had a lot of alone time in my life.” She was quiet, her mind spinning.
His thighs were solid heated rock behind hers. “Ask the question.”
How did he know her so well? It didn’t matter. They weren’t dating and never would. She’d agreed to Drake’s terms. “You were good at that. Have you been with a lot of females?” She told herself, again, that it didn’t matter.
“No. Nobody.” His lips moved lazily down to her ear. “There’s only been you. My entire life.”
Her heart pretty much exploded—then ached. She wanted happiness, to be with him, but if she could save the world from another war, she had to do so. “Pax—”