The flicker in his eyes was raw and overt. Wrapped entirely in muscle, Victor was a formidable man—power-infused and authoritative. But nothing about him elicited fear in me. The opposite, actually. Everything about him triggered a desperation to throw myself into his arms and taste his lips like a woman starved. To feel every powerful curve of flesh on his body. To discover for myself definitively what these feelings I had for him were; the impossible emotions that had continued to blossom inside me, filling every space and leaving nothing untouched.It was impossible to do that when the consequences of those actions could very well lead to tragedy. So I steeled myself against the desire to lean forward.

I shook my head, rejecting his statement yet again with my firm resolve not to be talked into something that I didn’t want to do. “I would prefer to have my own room,” I said simply, glancing away to keep from being pulled once more into the strong current of his eyes. “Even if it’s next to yours, that would be better than having to share one.”

“Is there a reason you are disagreeable towards rooming with me?” Victor asked, and I felt the hot heat of his hand as it wrapped around my bicep and urged me to look at him.

Against my better judgment, I did. His eyes pulled me in once more as his jaw strained, stare going severe. It was alarming that the gentle Victor I had come to know had such an expression. It made my cheeks flush. Gave me mind to run away even though everything inside me wanted desperately to stay, but I knew that if I stayed I would eventually give into his demands. There was no denying that his commanding persuasion was something I wasn’t adequately skilled to defend against.

I moistened my lips absently, attempting to formulate a response but finding that words were fleeting. And before I managed to screw my head back on straight, Victor was closing the distance between us, pressing his lips firmly into mine.

It was instantaneous—the flood of relief and desire that flowed through me at the amazing feeling of his mouth pressed against mine. Once again, it ignited the sensations from before as our lips touched for the second time.

I panted, attempting to pull away but being immediately followed by Victor’s mouth. He enveloped my body into his arms, lifting me and pressing his mouth once more to mine in another kiss that stole the air right from my lungs.

It felt like something inside me shattered, emotions erupting from me so abruptly that my body hummed with power.

Reason fled me as my arms encircled his broad shoulders, carding my fingers through his hair as I moaned in desperation to feel him deeper. I lost all sense of modesty as I slid my lips over his lips, opening my mouth and tangling my tongue with his. I barely registered that we were moving until I was laying sprawled beneath Victor’s much larger frame, pinned down to the mattress by both body and gaze.

Victor’s illuminated eyes strayed down the length of me, eliciting core-deep trembling with the entirely lascivious act. It made me want to cover myself and hide away my body from his perceptive eyes. My honeyed skin had flushed nearly the entire length of me, peeking from the dip of my shirt. My breasts heaved in a deep, uneven pattern as I laid underneath this powerful angel, completely at his mercy. Everything in my body had become oversensitive to every glance, every touch, every possible action that Victor made.