She swallowed hard. “Zane?” Hadn’t Amaury been the one warning her about Zane? And now he wanted to throw her at his mercy? So much for all the bullshit about him wanting to offer her protection.

“Now, you’ll do exactly as I say. Do we understand each other?”

She understood all too well as she caught his gaze sweep down her body. “Let go of me!”

She jerked against his hold, but his grip was iron-clad.

“Take your jeans off.”

“No!” She hit her foot against his shin, but the effect it had on him was negligible.

“Careful, Nina. You don’t want to piss me off even more,” he warned, his voice tight. “I’m telling you one last time: strip.”

His command made Nina shiver. She hadn’t imagined this would happen, at least not this way, not here, not with him being so angry. Least of all had she imagined that it would turn her on like it did. Just the way she felt unprepared for the shame and guilt that flooded her. What kind of woman was she that she felt aroused by a man commanding her to strip? Had she no self-respect left? Or was it proof that her sexual history had tainted the way she saw sex, that anything twisted, anything violent was the norm for her?

With shaking fingers she tried to open the top button of her jeans, but failed. A second later she felt his warm hands on hers, assisting her. The button sprung open.

“Pull the zipper down.” His hot breath teased her neck. “Slowly.”

She did as he asked, unable to fight him or herself.

“Now, push them over your hips.” Was his voice getting hoarse?

“Please, don’t do this,” she pleaded with him, making one last attempt to stop him.

His lips grazed her neck, then nibbled at her earlobe. “You’ll have to learn this lesson. Do it.”

A few moments later, she’d stripped out of her jeans. She felt naked in her small panties. Amaury’s thighs brushed against hers. Strong, powerful muscles.

“Do you remember what you did to me last night?”

“Yes.” Her throat was dry. She remembered all too well.

“No, you don’t. You’ve never felt as frustrated as I did last night. May I demonstrate?” He didn’t wait for her permission.

His hand stroked her hip before he slipped it between her legs, touching her through the fabric of her panties. She sighed involuntarily. His touch wasn’t rough as she’d expected, but gentle, teasing. Had he not come to punish her after all?

“I was so fucking hard for you last night,” he continued whispering into her ear while his finger ran along her folds. “I was in agony with wanting to be inside you.”

Her breath hitched at the thought of it. He wanted her—he still wanted her. The thought elated her.

Amaury’s hand drew up and briefly slipped over her clit, before he let it slide into her panties. Nina held her breath as he traveled through her curly mound of hair, then stroked lower. The heat shooting through her core made her exhale sharply. When his finger touched her naked sex, she realized she was wet and yearning to be taken by him.

“I wanted my cock in you last night. To fill you, again and again. I wanted to eat your pussy and make you come with my mouth.”

The images he was projecting together with his probing finger at her core, made her break out in an instant hot flash. His mouth nipped at her earlobe, not helping either. Instead of trying to stop him, she tilted her pelvis toward his hand. This was madness. But she didn’t care. He was different from other men. He hadn’t come back to hurt her, he’d come to give her pleasure.

“I wondered what you would taste like,” he said and dipped his finger into her. Her hips bucked toward him, wanting more, but Amaury instantly pulled out and away from her. She looked up at him and saw how his finger came to his lips, and how he sucked it into his mouth, licking it clean.

“Delicious.”

Nina gasped and felt her knees buckle. He was seducing her, plain and simple, and she had no defenses. They had all crumbled, and she hadn’t even seen it happen.

“Amaury, please …” She had no idea what she wanted to ask him or tell him. Her brain was mush. His scent was all around her, enveloping her in a cocoon of desire.

Maybe he had understood what she was unable to tell him, because his hand came back, and again he slipped it into her panties. He penetrated her once more, then withdrew instantly and pulled his finger up and over her clit, circling it slowly.

“And I was wondering what it would feel like if you came for me, if your muscles clenched around my cock, milking me, making me spill inside you.” Amaury spoke slowly, his voice husky and calm at the same time. This was not the voice of an angry man. He wasn’t hurting her with his touch. Instead he was tempting her to surrender to him.