Shane stood as still as a statue, at least until Lacie stepped up and began to wrap her arms around his neck. Shane kissed her then; he couldn’t have stopped himself if he wanted to. He lifted her in his arms until her feet dangled above the floor, pulling her to him, tasting her sweetness, growing drunk with pleasure on it. His desire flared to dangerous levels again, threatening to engulf them both.
It was only with great effort that he eased their passionate kiss, setting her gently down on the ground again, though he did continue to hold her close.
“Lacie...” Her name was a tattered prayer on his lips. It was all he could do not to lay her down right then and there and spend the rest of the night loving her as he longed to do.
“Shane, please don’t stop,” she whispered.
“I have to,” he answered, his breaths slightly ragged as he tugged her shirt back down carefully, more to give his trembling fingers something to do than anything.
“Why?” Her face, so guileless; her eyes so innocent and yet filled with such desire. It was a true test of his will to resist when she clearly wanted him with the same clawing hunger that had claimed him.
“Because, Lacie, once I start, I’m not going to be able to stop. And when I take you, it will be all of you. You will become mine, totally, completely, and irrevocably. Know this, Lacie, and be absolutely certain it is what you want.”
*
“Oh.” Had he not been holding her, she was sure she would have swooned. Then his words really sank in, the implications clear. “It works both ways, you know,” she said, gaining strength from the bond she could already feel between them, growing stronger with every passing minute. “You will belong to me as well.”
His eyes blazed. “Yes.”
“Then there’s no reason not to.”
“You’re sure?”
Lacie had never been more certain of anything in her life. She didn’t just want this man, she needed him. “Yes.”
Shane kissed her again, wildly, passionately, sweeping her up into his arms and carrying her to the bedroom. Lacie’s arms held on tight, her hands finding purchase on his muscled shoulders, taut with the tension of holding her.
He laid her down on the bed, sliding next to her when she refused to release him. His hands eased over her curves as if memorizing them. Her body bowed and stretched, begging shamelessly for more of his touch. Her soft, feminine flesh yielded to his every tactile command, burning beneath him.
Lacie arched hard, desperate to feel more of his body against hers, wanting, needing all of those hard planes pressing against hers, knowing he was the only one who could soothe the unbearable ache deep within her. Shane nipped her bottom lip in warning.
“Easy, baby,” he said, his voice roughened with the effort of keeping his hunger leashed. His tongue caressed over the bite, soothing it.
If he thought to stem her desperation with the punitive act, he was sorely mistaken. Lacie’s hands clutched at him all that much tighter, her nails curling into his upper back like a little tigress flexing her claws. Haze filled her mind, incited by that slight bit of subtle pain, even as one leg curled over his hip and pulled him closer.
*
Could it be that his soft, gentle school teacher burned with a darker passion than he’d realized?
His mind flashed back a few days to when Lacie had perched on the kitchen counter with him between her thighs, and she had grabbed the edges of his shirt and pulled hard. At the way she had wrapped her legs around his waist and willed him closer with her heart, mind, and body.
Deciding to put his theory to a little test, Shane exerted enough force to pin her beneath him, grabbing both of her wrists – being extra careful not to further damage her injured hand – and holding them in one of his much larger hands. He moved them above her head, and held them there while he used his other hand to trace small circles across her chest, pausing to pinch her diamond-hard tips through her cotton blouse. Straddling her hips, Shane let his hand alternate between sensual caresses along the column of her neck and encircling her throat – not enough to hurt her, but enough to clearly assert his dominance. Her blue eyes darkened, her lids fluttered closed as if in ecstasy, her chest heaving beneath him.
“Look at me,” he commanded, and her eyes snapped open in immediate obedience. His cock swelled even more – though he hadn’t thought it possible – as an ever-increasing throb built within.
With a wicked grin, he let his fingers stroke down to the neckline of her blouse. Then, in a swift, violent move, he ripped it right down the center. Lacie writhed beneath him, her keening whimpers threatening his control.
“You like that,” he breathed in awe, his fingers tracing the outline of her silky bra, a pretty pink that he knew would simply be a lighter shade of her nipples. He leaned down, retaining eye contact, and took one breast in his mouth. A soul-deep moan echoed from deep within her as he tongued her hardened peak through the material, her hips desperately trying to move against him.
“Shane,” she said, his name a ragged plea from her lips. “Please...”
“Please what, baby?” he purred, biting her lightly, delighting in the hiss that escaped her lips.