Her brows furrowed harder and she was silent for a long moment.

“Why didn’t you tell me when you gave it to me?”

He pushed up to one elbow so they were more eye to eye. He reached out to touch her cheek, caressing the smooth skin. Then he let his fingers drift down to the choker, to the diamond that rested against her throat.

“I was afraid that it was too soon. That you wouldn’t fully understand. I didn’t want to pressure you. I was afraid you wouldn’t want it if you knew what it truly meant.”

She bit her lip pensively. “But Jace, why would you want me to wear it if I didn’t understand the significance? It’s not real until I know what it means. Any satisfaction you felt at having me wear it had to have been hollow because I didn’t know what it was I wore.”

His lips twisted ruefully. “You have me there. And you’re right. For me it was enough to see it around your neck and for me to know what it meant. But you’re correct. It could never mean what it should until you recognized and accepted its true meaning.”

“It’s important to you,” she said, not as a question but as a statement of fact.

He nodded. “It is. But perhaps not for the reasons you think. It’s not that I’m this asshole who has to mark you as a possession. The simple truth is I like seeing it around your neck because I gave it to you and it’s a symbol of your gift to me.”

Her eyes widened. “I hadn’t considered it from that perspective.”

He smiled. “No, you’re still convinced that you give me nothing, that you have nothing to give. But that’s not true, baby. You’ve given me the most precious gift I’ll ever receive. Yourself.”

Tears glittered brightly in her fierce blue eyes. Then to his surprise, she reached back to unfasten the choker. She let it slide from her neck and then held it out to him.

Panic took hold and he stared wordlessly back at her. Was she rejecting it?

“I didn’t know what it meant before,” she said, still holding the choker out to him. “I want you to put it on when we both know what it means.”

His chest nearly exploded as it tightened and swelled. His hand shook when he took it from her fingers. He pushed himself upright to his knees and then he said, “Get on your knees, baby. Kneel for me here on the bed.”

She positioned herself in front of him, so achingly beautiful with her tousled hair and sleepy eyes. Eyes that were full of something he didn’t dare hope for. Love.

He held the choker so she could see it spread in his hands. Then he met her gaze.

“Will you wear my collar, Bethany? It’s not only a symbol of my possession. It’s a symbol of your gift to me but also my gift to you. I will absolutely cherish and protect you. See that your every need is met. Your body will be mine, but mine will also be yours. I will love and adore you with everything that is me.”

“Yes. Oh, Jace, yes,” she breathed.

He slipped the choker once more around her neck. It was all the more sweet this time because as she’d said, now she knew its significance. She accepted it and him. Could he possibly ask for more than this?

He fastened it and then ran his fingers around to the front, touching the diamond teardrop so it dangled just so. Then he leaned down and claimed her mouth, his tongue finding hers in a heated rush that made him dizzy.

“I love you, Bethany.”

“Jace!”

But he wouldn’t allow her to cry. Not in his bed and not while he held her. He wanted only her happiness and as long as he had the power to keep those tears at bay, he’d do so.

“Make love with me, baby. Again and again. This time with us both knowing that you belong to me heart and soul.”

Her arms wrapped around his neck and she pulled him toward her until she folded beneath him, falling back on the mattress. He went with her, pushing her firmly into the bed, his mouth devouring hers, his body covering hers.

“Never felt like this for a woman,” he murmured against her skin. “Never before. Never will again.”

“Jace,” she whispered, a husky catch in her voice. “Love me. Please.”

“I do. I will. Love you. You never have to ask for that, baby. It’s yours. I’m yours. That’s never going to change.”

He kissed his way down to her breasts, tonguing one nipple into a rigid peak before turning his attention to the other. He licked and then sucked, loving the excited hum that emanated from her. Her entire body went taut beneath him and she arched into his mouth.

Her hands tangled in his hair, pulling and then holding him firmly against her breast.

He smiled. “My baby likes that?”

She groaned. “The only thing I love more is when you have your mouth down . . . there.”

Still adorably shy. He loved that about her. How hesitant she was when it came to telling him her wants and needs.

“Never let it be said I didn’t make every effort to satisfy my woman,” he purred as he moved down her body.

He spread her thighs, opening her sweet pussy to his gaze. He traced a finger down the delicate folds, opening her wider so he had access to the swollen, pink flesh. It glistened with her moisture and his dick went even harder as he imagined her taste on his tongue.

He licked roughly, swiping the entire pad of his tongue over her entrance and up to her clit. He swirled delicately around the velvety nub and then carefully pulled it between his lips with a light sucking motion.

She bucked beneath him, arching, her fingers diving into his hair to hold him in place. He feasted on her. Eating, licking, sucking, sliding his tongue inside her, fucking her with liquid strokes.

He couldn’t get enough. He’d never have enough of her taste, the sensation of her, silky and sweet against his lips. He loved how she trembled beneath his touch, her little gasps and breathy sighs. Never had he imagined being so gutted over a woman. He hadn’t lied when he’d told Bethany that she held immense power over him. Far greater power than he’d ever wield over her. Because without her, he had nothing.

Without her, his money, wealth, prestige, none of it meant a damn thing. She didn’t believe herself worthy of him because he had material things she didn’t. But what she gave him was sweeter, was without price or measure.

“Jace,” she said on a soft moan. “Baby, please.”

It was the first time she’d ever used an endearment and he liked it. He liked it a hell of a lot. He’d never considered himself a man who wanted his woman to call him cutesy names. He himself had never used them with another woman. But with Bethany, the words came so easily. Affectionate terms that slipped from his lips before he even knew they were coming.

“Say it again,” he said huskily.

She lifted her head, her eyes soft with love and warmth. “Say what?”

“You called me baby.”

A smile curved her lips and her eyes shone as her smile broadened. “You liked it?”

“Yeah,” he said gruffly. “I did.”

“Baby,” she whispered.

He closed his eyes and licked over her sweet pussy again, enjoying the intense shiver his mouth forced from her.

“Tell me how you want it,” he said. “Do you want to come in my mouth or do you want me inside you?”

“I get a choice?”

There was amusement in her voice and he lifted his head to see the teasing glint in her eyes. God, he loved this. The comfortable, easy rapport that had built between them. He could well imagine them laughing and loving this way for the next several decades.

“Yeah, baby, you get a choice. Either way, you come, so I figure it’s a win-win for you. And it’s a win-win for me as well. Either you come all over my tongue—definitely no downside to that choice—or you come with my dick so deep inside your pussy that my balls are straining to get inside you too. Definitely not a downside.”

She laughed softly and her head fell back against the pillow, a contented sigh escaping her chest. “Well. It is a hard decision because you have such a wicked, wicked tongue. But I really love it when you’re inside me.”

“Say no more,” he growled as he shifted up her body until their mouths lined up.

He kissed her, stroking his tongue deeply over hers, allowing her to taste her essence, the sweet musk he carried on his tongue.

“Help me inside you, baby. Guide me in.”

He nearly lost it when her fingers curled around his rigid cock and then with her other hand she spread the folds of her pussy and positioned the head of his dick at her opening.

She paused a moment, stroking lightly with her fingertips, sliding them up to cup his balls. She massaged and rolled gently until he was damn near panting with need. He was so close to spending himself all over her pussy before he ever got inside her.

She did that to him. Made him crazy with need. Made him forget his control, his patience. He closed his eyes and held his weight up off her with his forearms.

“You ready?” she whispered.

“Little tease,” he whispered back.

She grinned and then arched up, sheathing him an inch. Then her hand left him and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him down so he was flush against her body.

“Take me. Make love to me, Jace.”

He slid inside, slow and gentle, pushing until his hips met the backs of her thighs. She hooked her ankles around his back, moving with him, countering his thrusts.

He kissed her lips, moved to the corner of her mouth and then kissed a line down her jaw to her ear. He nibbled playfully at the lobe and then sucked it between his lips, mimicking the attention he’d given her breasts.

She went wet around his cock, bathing him in instant heat.

“My baby likes that too,” he murmured.

“Mmmm,” she moaned. “My ears are so sensitive.”

He licked the lobe and then traced the shell of her ear until she shivered violently beneath him. Her pussy contracted and then clenched tightly, sucking him deeper.

“She really, really likes that,” he said with chuckle.

Her teeth sank into his shoulder and it was his turn to shudder and tighten over her.

“Hmmm, my baby likes that,” she said smugly.

“Hell yeah, I do. I like your teeth, your mouth, your tongue. Any part of you I can get, baby. I like it all.”

“In that case . . .”

She nipped her way up his neck to his ear and then back down again. His nerve endings sizzled and went haywire. His cock surged forward, hammering into her until he feared hurting her. But he was beyond control, his body taking over his need and instinct to find release.

“Get there,” he gritted out. “Get there, baby. I’m close. Won’t last much longer.”

She circled his neck, hugging him against her as she lifted her body to his as if seeking more.

“I love you,” she whispered, the words fluttering over his ear.

Those words. God, those words. It was the only thing left he’d wanted from her. The one thing she hadn’t given until now. It was the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard in his life.

Euphoria filled him, spreading to the darkest recesses of his soul and shining light on every shadow.

“Bethany,” he choked out. “God, baby, I love you too. So damn much. Come with me now.”

“I’m already there.”

The sweet words, her sweetly whispered I love you still echoing in his mind, sent him into free fall. His semen erupted from his cock, jetting deep into her pussy, the heat and friction nearly painful in its intensity. And still he kept coming and coming, his orgasm an unstoppable force. He bathed her pussy in his release and then he pushed deep and held himself locked against her, wedged as deeply as he could manage. He remained there, wanting to plant himself into her womb.

In that moment, he cursed birth control. He had a savage need to give her his baby, to make her pregnant with his child. Their child. A son or a daughter. The image of her swollen with his baby kept him hard when he should have been losing his rigid erection.

He slumped over her, falling into her delicate softness. God he loved the feel of her underneath him. She sighed in contentment and kissed the side of his neck as her hands rubbed up and down his back and down to his ass.

“If I had my way, I’d stay inside you forever.”

He felt her smile against his skin.

“Tell me again,” he urged. “I want to hear the words again, Bethany.”

She didn’t hesitate. Didn’t misunderstand what it was he asked for.

“I love you.”

He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. He would never ask for more than this. For what he had right here and now in his arms.

“I love you too, baby.”

Chapter thirty-three

Jace woke to the sound of a ringing phone. He roused and glanced at his watch and then swore. He never overslept. Not even in college had he ever been late to a class. It was past nine and he hadn’t even stirred until now. It was the second time he could ever remember waking late and unaware. And both times had been after a soul-stirring night with Bethany.