He stopped in front of her. She felt that bond knit itself again, the fibers long ago severed, now reconnected.
Then he reached out for her, and she took his hand.
Chapter Four
Rose’s hand in his felt small and soft. It’d been a long time since he’d touched a woman in any way except to move her out of harm, but even being close to her caused him to ache.
How many nights since walking away from her had he woken to thoughts of going back? Of carrying her off and making her his?
He led her back through the crowd, avoiding stares. A couple of them The Guard brought here to Elizabeth, and she continued to keep them safe, but he couldn’t recall their names.
He didn’t lead Rose to the door they’d come in. Instead, he took her through some of the rooms, down a hallway with cheap greenish lighting.
“I don’t understand this place at all,” she said.
To protect her—all of them—the less she knew the better. He didn’t reply.
When they reached an elevator, he pressed a button and the doors opened immediately.
She hesitated before following him inside and gave a small shake of her head.
“I’ll answer as much as I can soon enough.” He tugged on her hand, and she stepped onto the lift with him. For the first time, they were completely alone and he could focus all his attention on her.
Christ, how could she be more beautiful? Stunning, actually. He’d seen pictures of her in her Navy JAG uniform and that hat didn’t do her justice. Seeing her now, blonde hair fluffy and curling just short of her breasts, and those dark blue eyes turned on him…
He stepped closer. She stared at his lips and then dropped her gaze to his chest.
Throat tight, he gazed at the slim line of white scalp visible between the honeyed locks of her hair. He swallowed hard, but it did nothing to dispel this thing rising inside him.
“Fuck.” He slid his arm around her and pulled her close. The crush of her breasts against his chest had his head filling with every dark and dirty thing he wanted to do to those breasts. She tipped her head up, and a puff of air escaped her lips.
“Oz…” Her pupils dilated, which darkened her eyes a shade.
“I want to kiss you,” he grated out.
Her eyes slipped shut, and a tremor ran through her. When she opened her eyes again, he swooped in. Bringing his hand up to cradle her neck, he crushed his mouth over hers. The plush feel of her lips raised a growl from his throat.
She lifted a hand to his face and kissed him back. Not the soft hesitant kisses of a young woman just finding her sexual awakening, but she kissed like a woman who knew how to get the completion she needed.
Damn, he wasn’t sure which he liked more—being the teacher or having a woman who knew what she wanted.
Angling his head, he deepened the kiss. As he slipped his tongue between her lips, a fire flared within him. She tasted like fucking heaven and hell all at once, but damn if he could move away now.
He plunged his tongue into her mouth. She met it with her own. Need blasted, and he backed her against the side of the elevator, holding her prisoner as he plundered her mouth.
The elevator stopped, but he couldn’t tear free. He continued kissing her, drawing on her tongue until she quivered.
Finally, the doors opened on their own, and they both twisted to stare at the opening. Then they turned back, eyes locked. For a moment, he considered taking another ride with Rose instead of stepping onto the floor.
Gently, he closed his fingers around hers and gave her a hint of a smile. “C’mon.”
Wordlessly, she followed. This hallway looked a hell of a lot different from the one they’d just left. The warm glow of expensive lighting and plush carpet underfoot led them to a room at the end.
“You’ve been here before?”
“Only once,” he answered.
A pass of his microchip over the door lock would open it for him. He shielded her view with his body and lifted his wrist to the lock. He pushed open the door and led her into a penthouse room, enormous and decked out in fine furniture and linens.
He closed the door behind them, and it automatically bolted. This space couldn’t be breached. And damn if he hadn’t come back for Rose knowing he’d bring her here and seduce her. But the look on her face told him she’d give in to him easy.
She searched his eyes. “I want answers, Oz. I’m bruised and I’ve been terrified for far too many hours now. I don’t even know what day it is or what hour. But I want your hands on me…to make me feel alive and safe.”
Jesus Christ. The woman’s directness ripped the last of his control away.
In two strides, he caught her up in his arms. She looped hers around his neck and clung as their mouths collided. The kiss wasn’t a gentle, seeking escape—it was a demand.
The fact she wanted the same thing from him left his cock aching. He swept her off her feet and carried her into the bedroom. The high bed piled with white pillows invited the guests never to leave, and knowing at some point they’d have to face the world again gave him a pang of regret.
For now, he had her in his arms. And she wanted him with the same goddamn intensity she did back then.
He lay her on the bed and followed her down. Bracketing her face in his hands, he bore his weight on his elbows, hoping his erection pressing into her soft flesh wouldn’t scare her off.
She sucked in sharply and rocked into him. When she curled her hand around his nape and dragged him closer, a rumble lifted in his chest.
Fuck, he wanted her like no other. Then or now—it didn’t matter—she belonged to him. The time that separated them vanished like smoke on a summer’s breeze as he plundered her lips. She raked her fingers over his shoulders, and he took note of every small detail about this woman.
Short, blunt, no-nonsense fingernails. Her muscled thigh locked around his hip echoed all those runs she took and visits to the gym he’d seen on the map.
And her roughened cries when he skated a hand down her side told him that she hadn’t been touched like this in a long time.
“No husband? No boyfriend to cheat on?” he rasped out between kisses.
She shook her head but paused, staring up at him with so much torment in the blue depths of her eyes. “And you?”
“I’m free.”
Her eyelids fluttered shut. He swept his gaze over her beautiful features. At eighteen she’d stunned the senses from him, but now… fuck, if he walked out of this suite without losing his heart a second time to Rose Kilbourn, he’d count himself lucky.
He lowered his mouth to her throat. She arched to give him access, and he swirled his tongue behind her ear. Her flavors permeated his mind. He kneaded her hip, and she wiggled underneath him.
“Oz…I want you so bad.”
He continued pressing soft kisses over her pulse point and down to her collarbone. When he slipped a hand beneath her top and touched warm, silken flesh, his cock throbbed.
As she reached for his shirt, he stared into her eyes. Sparks of desire fed from her into him, and back again. That electric current never fizzled out, then. Was that a good thing or bad?
As she stripped his shirt overhead, Rose gave him a ghost of a smile.
Fuck, now all he could smell was the flowers and the garden and know the slick, hot feel of her walls around his cock.