“You don’t belong to him. You don’t go to him. No one orders you around. Ever. You get me?”

“But he said—”

Rhett reached out to cup my chin. “He’ll have to bring an army to get through me. No one touches you. Over my dead body.”

There was no way I was going to use Rhett as a human shield. He wasn’t going to suffer for this. I refused.

“But—”

“No buts. He doesn’t touch you. Ever again. In any way. You belong to you and no one else.”

For a moment, it shocked me that he didn’t throw out the caveman phrase that I belonged to him. By recognizing I belonged to myself, he wasn’t marginalizing how hard I’d worked to become independent and self-sufficient. He recognized that it was a massively important part of my identity that I couldn’t and wouldn’t surrender. Something surged in my chest with the realization.

Rhett didn’t just see me—he saw me clearly. He understood me in a way no one else had before. And that meant everything.

I wanted him. Now. This man came rushing to my rescue only to find out that I’d gotten myself into a horrible position, and yet he didn’t judge me for it. Instead, he vowed to protect me in any way he could.

His presence gave me strength because I was able to lean on him without worrying that I was sacrificing any of my autonomy.

No one else could make me feel the way Rhett could. He wasn’t my childhood crush anymore; he was a man who could handle life at my side. I’d never had that. Ever. And the possibility intoxicated me.

“You scared the hell out of me.” His words came out roughened with emotion.

“I’m okay.” I took his hand and pressed it to my chest. “I promise.”

My heart hammered beneath his palm, and I swallowed as I slid it so he could feel my hardened nipple. His gaze burned into mine, and I knew I would have to ask because he wouldn’t push. Not right now.

“I want you.”

He didn’t make me repeat myself. His fingers closed around my breast, catching my nipple between his thumb and forefinger. Shivers of arousal shot to my clit, and his mouth covered mine again and our tongues collided.

Rhett tore his mouth away and tugged my wrap away from my hips. “I’m going to touch every inch of you. Memorize you. Drive every other thought from your head except how perfect you are. How much you matter to me.”

I melted. “Okay.”

Rhett tossed the wrap aside and I reached for his shirt. He let me drag it up and over his broad shoulders. I pressed my lips over his heart.

“You matter to me too.”

My words unleashed him. His nostrils flared as he yanked at the tie to my bikini top and it fell, revealing my breasts. He lowered his head, capturing a nipple between his lips as he pushed me onto my back and braced himself to kneel over me.

Heat sizzled through me as he nipped with his teeth and tugged before switching to my other nipple, leaving the first one hard and aching. I wrapped my hands around his shoulders, at least until Rhett lifted and caught me under the armpits to haul me further up the bed while he stayed braced over my thighs. With his eyes on mine, he moved a knee between my legs, and I slid them wider apart to make room.

Oh God. I knew what was coming, and my body was already aching for it. Rhett’s gaze never left my face as he untied my bikini bottoms and pulled them from my body.

“You belong to you, but this is my pussy. Mine. No one else touches it. Tastes it. Fucking thinks about it. I don’t care if that makes me a dick. I don’t share.”

Hearing that declaration come from Rhett sent a shock wave of heat through me that ended with a hard thump of my heart. “No one else.”

Rhett reached down and spread me wide with his big hands, stroking from bottom to top with his thumb. “Already wet for me, Red.”

“I can’t help it.”

“I wouldn’t want you to.”

His thumb circled my clit, and pleasure mounted until I was writhing beneath him, on the edge of coming, and he’d barely touched me yet.

Rhett bent down and replaced his fingers with his mouth, ripping a moan from my throat. With each lick and nip and then the thrust of a finger inside me, I tumbled closer and closer to shattering.

“I’m going to—” My words broke off as he plunged a second finger inside, and an orgasm burst over me.

I twisted on the bed, bucking against his mouth as he continued to drag out the waves of pleasure until I didn’t know when they stopped or began again.

When Rhett finally rose, I was a boneless mess.

He produced a condom from the pocket of his jeans before he kicked them off. My eyes fixed on the bulge in his boxer briefs, and how much I wanted to return the favor.

When I tried to sit up, Rhett held me down with a hand on my chest. “You put that mouth on me, and I’ll be coming in a second. Right now, I need to be inside you.”

I understood. I needed the connection too.

Sheathed and rock hard, he notched the head of his cock against my entrance and powered inside. I gripped his shoulders and lifted my hips to take him deeper. With each thrust, the connection intensified until we moved together in a perfect rhythm, and when I screamed his name, he roared mine. I let go of everything, and the orgasm swamped me as Rhett’s cock pulsed inside. When he collapsed on top of me, our ragged breathing merged into a single pattern.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him tight, feeling like I could face anything with him by my side.

I was right. He was so much more. He was a gift, and he was mine.

42

Ariel

Once our skin started to cool, Rhett pressed a kiss to my forehead and levered off me to take care of the condom. When he came out of the attached bathroom, I rewrapped my sarong to fit like a dress.

He planted a swift kiss on my lips before surveying the interior of the safe room. When he’d arrived, he was wholly focused on me, so I supposed it wasn’t surprising that he was taking in the details.

“Do you want to hear all of it?”

He nodded. “Absolutely. Lay it on me. Don’t leave anything out.”

I proceeded to tell him everything I knew and everything I didn’t. By the time I got to the end of it, I didn’t feel like I had a better handle on the situation.

“I don’t know why he targeted me. I really don’t. It doesn’t make sense, unless he was after my technology.”