“Oh, Zack.”
“Is that how it is for you? A bone-deep sense of connection?”
He was relentless.
She snatched the shower curtain out of his hand and yanked it closed far enough to conceal her naked body. She put her head around the edge and glowered.
“You know how I feel about you,” she said crossly.
“No, I don’t. I know you’re attracted to me and that we’re probably going to be linked for life by whatever this bond is that has developed between us but that’s all I know for sure.”
Exasperation flared. “For heaven’s sake, I started falling in love with you that first night in Shelbyville. You must have realized that. You’re a hotshot mirror talent, remember?”
He pulled the curtain back again, reached into the shower and hauled her out.
“Zack,” she yelped. “You’re getting all wet.”
He took her spa robe off the hook and bundled her into it. Then he pulled her close.
“Being a mirror talent doesn’t give me all the answers,” he said. He put his big hands under the wide collar of the robe and used it to capture and frame her face. “That’s especially true when it comes to the personal stuff. The nuance problem, remember?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “I remember.”
“In this case it’s real personal. I didn’t start falling in love with you that first night in Shelbyville. I fell all the way. Hard. I knew you were the one the minute you opened the door of your room.”
She stared at him, stunned. “You did?”
“Marry me, Raine.”
She felt as if she had fallen off the edge of the world.
“That’s not possible,” she got out.
“Why not?”
“Because you’re going to be the next Master. There is no way you can marry the daughter of one of the Society’s most notorious outlaws. You know that. Your family and the Council would be horrified, to say nothing of J&J. You’ve got all that crap about tradition to worry about. The only feasible solution for us is an affair. And someday that will end because you’ll have to marry and—”
He silenced her by pushing her up against the closed door and kissing her with calculated deliberation. When she finally gave up struggling and more or less collapsed against him, he raised his head.
“There’s something you don’t seem to understand about the office of Master of the Society,” he said, his voice very rough around the edges.
She swallowed hard. “What?”
“The Master is the boss.”
“So?”
“So, as boss, I get to do whatever I want to do.”
“After what I read about my father in that J&J file you gave me, you’d have to rewrite history to make me acceptable to the upper echelons of the Society.”
He gave her a slow, sure smile. “Not a problem.”
Anxiety and frustration welled up inside. Why was he torturing her like this?
“There’s no way marrying me can be anything but a problem for you,” she said tightly. “And for me, too. I don’t want to be surrounded by people who are suspicious of me. It’s been hard enough trying to avoid having folks think I’m crazy.”
“Have a little faith, woman.”
“Zack, you have to be realistic. No one in the Society who knows anything about my past will trust me. I’ll be forever tainted by my father’s illicit activities. If you marry me, the Council might not make you the next Master.”
“Let me worry about that.”
“But you want the job.”
“Not as badly as I want you.”
She was dumbfounded. “You’d walk away from the Master’s Chair for me?”
“In a heartbeat.”
“Zack.”
He laughed. “But you’d probably feel guilty if I did that, so I won’t. I’ll just make certain that I get the job instead. Easier that way.”
“What about the matchmakers at arcanematch-dot-com?”
“They’re the ones who screwed up by matching me with Jenna, remember? I sure as hell don’t intend to give them a second chance to find me the perfect wife.”
“You’re serious about this, aren’t you?”
“Given my recent personal history, marriage is one subject I take very, very seriously.”
She drew a deep breath, trying to retain a hold on common sense. “This has all happened so fast. We’ve only known each other a few days, and under very stressful circumstances.”
He gave her a considering look. “You know, if you’d been raised within the Society, you’d understand that this link between us is very, very special.”
She raised her chin. “As has been noted on more than one occasion, I wasn’t raised within the Society.” She widened her hands. “I don’t know what I’m doing here. Haven’t got a clue.”
“You do know that you want me, though, right?”
She squeezed her eyes tightly shut. “Yes, I want you. More than I’ve ever wanted anything in my whole life.”
“That’s enough for now.”
He unzipped his pants.
She looked down, startled to realize that he was fully erect. A wave of heat rushed through her. “What are you doing?”
“I can’t resist you when you’re all damp from the shower like this. Gets me hot.”
“Gosh, I could have sworn you said it was my hearing voices that got you hot.”
“That, too. Pretty much everything about you gets me hot.”
She expected him to carry her back to the bed. Instead, he reached inside her robe, gripped her rear and lifted her straight off her feet. Instinctively, she clutched his shoulders to steady herself.
“Wrap your legs around my waist,” he said against her throat. The words were dark and soft and a little hoarse. “Tight.”
Excitement mingled with shock, creating an erotic thrill that danced through all her senses.
She enclosed him between her thighs. He held her in place with one arm around her back. With his other hand he teased her mercilessly until she was soaking wet and desperate for him.
He braced her against the door. Then he was deep inside, impossibly full and hard. The feel of him was a delicious shock to her wildly excited senses. She sank her nails into his shoulders as he stroked rapidly in and out.
The release rocked through her almost immediately, leaving her voiceless and breathless. When he climaxed a few seconds later she knew he had been deliberately holding back, waiting for her to come first.