“You smell delicious, too, my love,” he told her softly. “Vanilla and spice and woman. It’s my very favorite scent in the entire world.”

They snuggled together happily for several minutes, and she could hear the steady beat of his heart beneath her cheek. At some point she lifted her face to press a gentle kiss against his darkly stubbled cheek.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “For everything you did today and last night. I don’t think I could have survived it all if you hadn’t taken such good care of me.”

“Darling.” Ian cupped her cheek in his palm, his thumb brushing over her lips. The look in his hazel eyes was filled with so much love and compassion that Tessa felt like weeping from the sheer emotion of it all. “Don’t you know, Tessa, that the entire reason for my existence is to take care of you? I live for the privilege of being able to do just that. So, in actuality, I should be the one thanking you for allowing me to do what I’ve longed to do for so long now - worship you, spoil you, and take exquisite, complete care of you.”

This time she did cry, not because she was sad or frightened, but because his words touched her so deeply. The tears spilled from her eyes as she shook her head in wonder. “As long as I live, I’ll never figure out how I got this lucky,” she breathed. “How by some miracle no other woman managed to snatch you up and make you her own a long, long time ago.”

Ian kissed away her tears. “It’s because I was waiting for you all these years, my love. And not just since the day you walked into my office. I’ve been waiting for you - for a love like yours - all of my life.”

Tessa clung to him, burying her face against his neck as she continued to weep softly. “I love you so much, Ian. And for the first time in my life I feel truly protected, truly safe. I may have lost everything I owned last night in that fire, but as long as I still have you that’s all I really need.”

He groaned at her heartfelt declaration, one of his hands pressing her face closer against him while the other stroked her back comfortingly. “And you will always have me, Tessa. There’s nothing or no one who can keep us apart any longer. And I hope you know it goes without saying that this is your home now, love. This house and everything in it belongs equally to you. God knows how long I’ve wanted that to happen. Not, of course,” he added hastily, “under such terrible circumstances. But regardless of how you came to be here, it’s a dream come true for me to finally have you right here where you belong.” He pressed a soft, sweet kiss to her lips.

She fought the urge to begin sobbing again, and instead twined herself around his body, returning his kiss feverishly. Ian groaned as she began to run her palms over his taut, chiseled abs and then lower, until she was stroking over the hugely swollen erection that strained against his snug fitting briefs.

“Christ,” he panted, his fingers clamping around her wrist and pulling her hand away. “Tessa, love, we can’t. You need to rest tonight, need to -”

“I need you,” she interrupted, and moved swiftly to straddle his thighs, grinding herself against him. “I need you to love me.”

His big hands bracketed her hips, gripping her through the soft fabric of her soft gray robe. “You know I do, Tessa. But not this way. Not yet. You’re still too fragile, too emotional from what happened last night. You need your rest, darling.”

Stubbornly, she shook her head and continued to rub her cleft against his throbbing cock. “No. I need this, Ian, need it inside of me. I need your hands here.”

Tessa drew one of his hands to her breast, where the robe clung lovingly to the soft, lush globe. She moaned out her pleasure as his thumb rasped over the already erect nipple.

“Please,” she begged. “Make me forget, Ian. Make me forget everything except you and what we have here right now.”

He cursed softly beneath his breath before tumbling her back onto the pillows. He rose above her, his face darkly flushed and his eyes boring into hers with ferocity. His hand returned to her breast, plucking at the engorged nipple through the robe.

“Very well, you little temptress,” he acquiesced. “Unfortunately you’ve already learned that it’s nearly impossible for me to refuse you anything - especially when you beg me so sweetly to do what I want to do constantly. Know this, my love - there isn’t a single minute in the day that I don’t crave you, that I don’t long to be buried deep inside this delectable body - loving you, fucking you, owning you. And even though I should know better, I can’t refuse you one damned thing.”

Tessa smiled triumphantly, her hands unfastening the belt of her robe and spreading it wide to reveal her nudity. “That goes both ways, you know. I want you constantly as well. But especially now.”

Ian growled as his eyes raked over the lavish display of her breasts, her quivering belly, the pale thatch of curls between her thighs. “But there is one stipulation, love,” he cautioned in a raspy voice. “We do this my way, or not at all.”

She nodded, too enraptured by the way he was staring at her to argue. “Anything you want. I’ll do anything.”

“Good. Just trust me then, Tessa. Trust me to know what it is you need tonight. Trust me to take care of you.”

What followed was the most exquisite, soul-stealing lovemaking that Tessa could have ever imagined or dreamed of. Ian could frequently be a tender lover, touching and kissing her with gentleness and care. But tonight it felt as though he were adoring her, coddling her as if she was the most precious, fragile being in the entire world. The kisses he bestowed on her forehead, temple, cheeks, were whisper soft, the touch of his lips against hers like a butterfly’s wings. And even when she groaned beneath his sweet, soft kisses and tried to let her lips cling to his, inviting him to go deeper, he resisted.

Everything was different tonight, everything done with the sole intent of making her feel pampered and protected. He cupped her breasts gently, instead of squeezing them and pinching the nipples hard as he usually did. The feel of his tongue laving her nipple with light, delicate flicks still managed to arouse her unbearably, and her hips began to move restlessly beneath him. The caress of his hand against her hip and thigh was barely imperceptible, no more than a fleeting touch. His lips traveled a tender path between her breasts to her belly, and then lower still until he was softly licking at the moist, ultra-sensitive folds of her labia.