“You take my breath away.” It was the truth, and he needed to give her that when the trepidation was creeping back into her eyes.

“I’m afraid. Really scared, Andrii,” she admitted in a little whisper. “Most of the time I feel alone and a bit lost, but when I’m with you, everything is different. I know better than to depend on anyone else, but when I’m with you, I can’t help the way I feel.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Azelie. I want us to have children, grow old together, the works. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you happy. I hope you can hear the truth in my voice.”

He had to reassure her, give her that much. His teeth tugged on her lower lip and then nibbled down her chin. That sweet chin that beckoned him to use his teeth for just one moment. He pressed kisses over the pulse racing in her throat. He needed to feel the way her heart pounded, assuring him she was there, alive and in perfect tune with him.

“You have one foot out the door, baby. I don’t blame you; I’m a bit much, and I know that. Still.” He kissed his way over the upper curves and down the valley between her full breasts. She shivered in response as the bristles along his jaw rasped against that sensitive skin.

Her fingers bit into his shoulders as she struggled to decide what to do. Push him away or pull him closer? He read her easily.

“Tell me what’s happening in your mind right now, Solnyshkuh.” He swept his palm down her body from her breasts to her mound. All that satin-soft skin. Those feminine curves. “What are you afraid of?”

Her blue gaze searched his a little frantically. She gave the barest shake of her head.

“Be brave, Zelie. You’re always brave. Trust me to catch you.” There were little inviting drops of moisture caught in the fiery auburn curls guarding what he wanted. What he was determined to claim.

Cautiously, gently, he slipped one finger lower, swept it across her wet opening and went deep. He’d expected her to be tight, and she was, much tighter than he’d imagined. It was going to take some time to make her comfortable enough to take him. But she was hot and slick, her body reacting to his. There was no denying the chemistry between them.

She gasped at his invasion, her body jerking, but she settled when he turned his gaze on her.

“When I look at you, Azelie, when I see you like this, I feel like I’m drowning. I love the way your body responds to mine. I need that from you, and you give it to me without reservation.”

He’d been doing his best to convince her they belonged together, try to get her to fall in love with him, but somewhere along the line, when he didn’t even believe in love, he had fallen right off a cliff. Fallen hard. He hadn’t even realized just how much emotion he felt for her until that moment.

He brought his finger to his mouth and sucked the taste of her off, all the while holding her gaze captive with his. A shiver went through her. He savored that moment. Let her see how much she meant to him. How much he desired her.

Very gently he nuzzled her breasts, once again using the shadowy bristles along his jaw to stimulate her even more. He slid both hands, fingers splayed wide to take in as much of her as he could, shaping her feminine body, the lush curves, narrow rib cage and tucked-in waist. Claiming every inch of her. Showing her she belonged with him. He knew she was afraid, and she had every reason to be, but he had every intention of going slow. Taking his time. Doing sweet and loving to ease her into their world together.

“Andrii,” she sounded lost. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“That’s the beauty of this, baby. You don’t need to do anything at all but enjoy what I’m giving you.”

Once more, he kissed his way up to her mouth. That fantasy mouth. He loved kissing her, dreamt of kissing her, thought too much about it during the day. He poured the emotion he couldn’t speak of down her throat. Giving that to her. Making certain she felt it. He hadn’t considered that he would be the one to fall. He thought all along that he could hold back, that part of him would always remain aloof and above it. She would fall in love with him, and he would be safe from betrayal. From taking the chance that she would rip out anything that was left of his heart. There was no holding himself apart from her. Not a single chance. He was already gone.

He kissed her with real emotion, pouring his feelings for her into his kisses. He kissed her over and over, stripping himself bare, making himself totally vulnerable by showing her what she meant to him. He did so with what he was best at, only his kisses weren’t practiced perfection. For the first time they were real and intimate and meant something.

Her mouth moved under his, surrendering everything to him. She caught fire, completely detonated. The chemistry between them was explosive. She didn’t know it yet, but she belonged to him. She kept trying to pull back until he kissed her. It was then she completely gave herself to him.

His heart pounded. Thunder roared in his ears. Hot blood pumped through his veins. He caught fire right along with her. He found her nipple, tugging, rolling, catching her whispered moan in his mouth. He kissed his way to her breasts and then flicked her nipple with his tongue. Her entire body reacted to that brief, cautious takeover of her senses. He wanted to go slow and savor every reaction. He wanted to keep her in the moment, so she couldn’t get into her head and feel fear.

She liked what he was doing to her, arching just enough to give him better access and her complete approval. He took the invitation, pulling one breast into the heat of his mouth while he worked the other, tugging and rolling her nipple, gently at first and then with increasing pressure. All the while, he was aware of her every reaction. Breathing. Squirming. Moaning. He needed to know what she liked and didn’t like. What she feared but would try.

He liked control in bed. He needed to know his woman would give that to him. Fortunately for him, his little wildcat seemed to prefer following his lead. The one way he knew he could tie her to him for sure was through sex. He’d spent years being trained to draw his partners to him, to keep them addicted, coming back for more.

Her nails dug into his shoulders as he spent time on her breasts, using teeth and tongue, at times rough and then so gentle, refusing to set a rhythm so she never knew what was coming. Her breath came in rapid little pants, and her legs moved restlessly.

Maestro didn’t want their relationship to be all about sex. If that was the only way he could have her, so be it, but he wanted what was between them to be the real thing. He wanted to give her as much pleasure as possible because, to his absolute astonishment, he had fallen hard for her.

He swept his palm down the length of her, absorbing the feel of her silken skin. The feminine shape of her. His fingers stroked her sensitive mound as he followed the path of his palm with his lips, sipping at her skin. Kissing and nipping. All the while, his fingers played and teased along her mound. Skimming along her enticing lips, looking for her slick heat and telltale dampness where he slid one finger through fiery wetness, testing that she was as eager for him as he was for her. Not that he thought that possible. He felt as if he’d waited a lifetime for her.

Her feminine channel clenched tight around his finger. He felt the silken muscles clamping down, nearly strangling his finger, making his cock ache even more. It was disturbing to need her so much. To want her the way he did. He’d barely touched her, barely gotten started, and he was harder than he’d ever been in his life. Every nerve ending in his body was alive, on fire, desperate for her.

He lifted his head and looked into her eyes. She was completely innocent and yet he saw trust there. It was such a gift. Seeing that look in her eyes humbled him. He was asking a lot of her and would be asking more. On some level, she knew and understood that, yet she was still willing to give her body into his keeping.

He had fallen hard. So fast. Finding her was unexpected, and given the circumstances of their meeting, it came at the wrong time, but nothing mattered to him but her. Her happiness. Her pleasure. She robbed him of his breath. Each separate beat of his heart was for her. He had found something to live for. Someone who elevated him when he didn’t think that was possible. He had been so far gone and yet there she was—his sunshine.

“I want us to always be like this, Solnyshkuh. The two of us.”

His breath felt raw, his lungs burning for air. It was becoming a familiar feeling to him when she was nearby. Fire burned bright and hot, the flames licking over every nerve ending.

He wrapped his palm around her throat, feeling her heart beating in his hand. He continued sliding through her wetness with one finger, then brushed her clit, feeling her jerk beneath him in reaction.

“Tell me how that feels, Zelie. Do you like what I’m doing?”

Her gaze jumped to his, dark with heat. She nodded, giving him that. He read her body, but he wanted her to confirm she was growing desperate for him. He hadn’t even started, but she needed to be at fever pitch to accept him.

“It’s like the brush of a white-hot flame.” She whispered the admission. “Amazing.”

“Relax for me, Solnyshkuh. I’ve waited far too long to taste you. Kissing you sets up an addiction to your particular taste. I love the way you smell. I’m craving your unique flavor on my tongue.”

He lifted his finger to his mouth and licked, his eyes focused on her, needing to see her reaction, tongue curling around his finger, savoring the honey and strawberry spice.

Color crept under her flesh, turning her silken skin to rose. She came up on her elbows, looking at him with a mixture of apprehension and heat.

“I don’t know…” She trailed off, her gaze clinging to his, looking to him for reassurance.

He slid his palm from her neck, moved it gently over the full curves of her breasts to her belly, savoring the feel of her. She was as soft as any rose petal. Like silk. Splaying his fingers wide, his hand nearly took up her entire abdomen. He liked the way his hand, rough and scarred, looked against her skin.

“I promise, baby, you’re going to like everything I do to you.”

His gaze dropped to the scars on her body from the three bullets her brother-in-law had pumped into her when he did his best to murder her. One was very close to her heart. It was a testament to her strength that she had survived and to her indomitable spirit that she was such a bright, shining light.

Slowly, but relentlessly, he applied pressure until she complied with his order, letting herself fall to her back. Her gaze never left his. He loved her looking at him—to him—trusting him to give her pleasure when she felt vulnerable.

“Andrii.” She whispered his name.

His heart accelerated, ached for her, an actual physical pain. He knew what she saw. Lines of lust and the possibility of love were carved deep because he felt both. Desire was stark and raw.

“I’ve got you, baby,” he reassured her. “Just looking at you makes me hard as fuck. You can’t know what that means to me. Natural. Real. Someday I’ll tell you just what kind of miracle you really are.”

Maestro stood at the end of the bed, looking down at the woman he knew was his. His entire life had been one of betrayal by women. His gut, his every instinct, told him she was different. She would stay. She could put up with his bullshit and insecurities.

Azelie lay naked; her gorgeous body with its generous curves was his. She was giving herself to him. He wanted to spend hours devouring her. Savoring her. Convincing her she couldn’t live without him because he was that far gone already. He couldn’t live without her.

He wanted to spend time, hours, days, weeks, hearing her call his name in that soft little whimper she had, the sounds at the back of her throat that drove him mad. He wanted to make her come for him over and over.

She was on the verge of flight half the time, so wary, so afraid what was between them couldn’t be real. He knew her background, that the abandonment of her parents and betrayal of her brother-in-law had made her feel as if no one could really love her. He knew what that felt like—he often felt the same way. But how could anyone not love Azelie?