“I was cold.” I tucked the sheet further under my chin and put my hands out to him in a grabby motion, trying to get him to bring back his warmth.
Blake let out a dramatic huff and lifted himself from the floor. He rested his hands on the bed and peered down at me, his arms flexed so the muscles were protruding. I swallowed hard, paralyzed.
His eyes bore into mine. “When I say don’t move, I mean,” he leaned forward, sending me deeper into the pillow, “Don’t. Move.”
“Sorry,” I whispered, looking up at him. I was lying on my side, one leg hooked over the sheet bunched between my thighs.
“Just be still.” He took the sheet from beneath my neck and draped it so it rested just below my nipples. Tilting his head, Blake analyzed me intently. He twirled one long curl and laid it over the crest of my breast. My breathing became labored as I watched him place me back to the image in his mind. “There. Now. Hold still.”
The bed dipped with the weight of his knee as he balanced himself above me, squinting into the lens. His body was taut, his muscles drawn in as he tried to remain as steady as possible.
Flash.
Blake took a few shots from above me and then lowered delicately so not to disturb my position. He walked to the end of the bed and captured a few more.
My eyes followed him the whole time as he rounded the corner, back to my side, and bent on one knee so we were eye level. He was making love to me for the second time. First with his mouth and now with his mind. The guy was intense.
Bent at the waist, he stretched across the bed to get closer to my face.
Flash.
Finally, he lowered the camera. “Perfect.” With hungry eyes never straying from mine, Blake placed the camera on the nightstand and crawled the rest of the way toward me, leaving his legs hanging off the sides. “You’re like a work of art.” He plucked a curl that lay over my shoulder and lightly brushed it aside. His thumb grazed my bare flesh, sending goose bumps rippling down.
I couldn’t speak. The words were trapped in my throat and my body felt pinned to the very spot he’d displayed me in minutes earlier.
Blake put his hand to my cheek, brushing it with his thumb, and then trailed one finger down my neck. He swiped his finger back and forth along my collarbone, searing my skin and bringing desire back to life in my core. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?”
Swallowing hard, I shook my head no, my lips slightly parted to ease the difficulty I was having breathing.
With the back of his hand, he continued down over the side of my breast, along my ribs, and then over the arch of my hip, coming to rest on my thigh. “You make me want to battle the world just to keep you safe. You do things to me I can’t even understand myself half the time. You’re everything to me, Evangelina. Every-fucking-thing. I never want to spend another minute away from you.”
He walked two fingers up the side of my body like he’d found a treasure and was savoring it. My chest rose and fell in deep, drawn out successions.
His eyes moved to the spot in the center of my chest where my heart lay, battering my insides beneath it. He covered my heart with his hand, like he could see it racing and was trying to slow it down for me, but the feel of him pressed there only sped it up further. “I love that this body is all mine now, and I can’t wait to make love to it, but this is the piece I want.” He held his hand steady over my galloping heart.
“It’s yours,” I breathed in what little voice I could muster.
“No, it’s not.” He smiled softly. “Not yet. One day soon, I hope. You’ll open up to me. Trust me fully. I want this piece of you whole-heartedly. I’m not going to settle for less.”
“Blake, I—”
“Shhh . . .” He put three fingers to my lips, silencing them. “No words. They don’t mean as much.” Inching forward, he removed his fingers and replaced them with his lips, gently guiding my mouth to follow its lascivious rhythm.
I mewed softly and he drowned it out, deepening the kiss. A hint of myself still lingered on his lips, and I was reminded of how he’d ravished me earlier. The familiar heat of a blush creeped across my cheeks and spread over my chest. He was so selfless, even with this.
Reaching over, I grabbed under his arms and pulled, trying to get him to join me on the bed fully. Without breaking the kiss, he leaned up on his knees and crawled the rest of the way toward my body. Not wanting any barriers between us, I tossed the sheet aside, leaving myself bared to him once again.
That got his attention. Blake parted our lips and let his eyes roam my body, his index finger following his gaze, exploring. “I’ve dreamed about this very moment. So many times, I feel like I’ve actually lived it, but at the same time, I can’t believe it’s really happening.”