Steam rose from the giant enclosure as he opened the door. She filed in. For a reason she didn’t understand, her obedience made him happy. Knowing she had pleased him made her happy in return.

  He cupped her shoulders and settled her under the warm spray. As she tipped her head back, water splashed over her face and sluiced down her body. Her chill receded. A moan slipped from her throat.

  Trees leaned in and settled his mouth over hers in a slow slide of a kiss that seemed to last forever. He was in no rush, made no demand for her to take him deeper. Instead, he seemed content simply to be near her, to breathe her in, to share this tick of the clock with her.

  The moment felt profound. They didn’t exchange words. Yes, they had more to discuss, but it was as if they both realized nothing was more important than connecting.

  Laila sighed and gave herself over to him, gladly drowning in the warm water and his hot flesh around her. In his scent, like the forest filled with damp earth. In the desire only he had ever filled her with, bestowing it every time he touched her.

  Until Trees, she had hated having a man’s hands on her. She had never known what it was to be treasured. He had coaxed her body, teaching her to enjoy his caresses that gave her untold pleasure. Now she felt herself mentally falling to his feet and surrendering to whatever tender demands would please him.

  But instead of deepening the kiss, he backed away, brushing wet strands from her upturned face before he grabbed a bottle from a small corner shelf and dumped a dollop of shampoo into his hand. “Come here, little one.”

  She trembled when he called her that. Instead of a jab about her height, as she’d first thought, the soft way he verbally stroked the syllables told her it was an endearment. Immediately, she complied.

  “Good girl,” he praised before he kissed the tip of her nose. “Close your eyes.”

  Obeying took more of her trust. But Laila reminded herself that, not only was there plenty of light in the bathroom but this was Trees. Even when he’d suspected her of conspiring with Victor to kill him, he hadn’t hurt her. Set her body on fire with throbbing need for him, yes. But he hadn’t raised his hand or his voice. He certainly hadn’t punished her in any of the vile, cruel ways Victor and his brother had over the years. She was in good hands.

  Laila let her eyes slide shut.

  He kissed each lid softly, reverently. “So very good. Now just enjoy.”

  She had no idea what he meant until he worked his fingers through her hair and began sudsing her scalp with strong, slow circles. She moaned, swaying on her feet as his touch made her pliant and boneless.

  Peace seeped into her. It was momentary, she knew. But so welcome.

  Though Laila ached to see Trees, drink in his expression while he touched her with such reverence, she didn’t want to disappoint him. Instead, she kept her eyes shut and focused herself on him, his touch, his scent, his breathing. And she felt him, not with her eyes but with her senses. She didn’t have to see his face to know he was pleased. And his approval was a pleasure all its own.

  “God, you’re so beautiful, Laila,” he murmured against her lips, then dipped to kiss her again, as his long, strong fingers worked at her hairline, cleansed her crown, then lowered to massage her neck.

  She pooled into a melted puddle, sighing his name like a benediction. “Trees…”

  “I would love to pamper you every day. The world hasn’t shown you the kind of love you deserve. But I can. If you let me, honey, I will.” He settled her under the spray and rinsed her hair, his fingers gently working their way through the curly mass until it felt clean.

  Before she knew what he was about, he squeezed the excess water from her tresses, then doused the ends in something that smelled like coconut. “Let that sit for a few minutes.”

  “Can I open my eyes?”

  “Are you all right? Or nervous? Scared?”

  “I am”—she sighed, smiling in the direction of his voice—“happy.”

  “Good. Keep your eyes closed. I want to show you that I could make you happy every day.”

  Words like that warmed the corners of her heart, which she’d been sure would be dark forever. It sounded as if he saw a future for them beyond this dangerous life dictated by cartels and plagued by violence. It was a beautiful fantasy. But she couldn’t let herself think beyond tonight, beyond the pleasure of his tender touch. Killers and drug lords were still waiting to tear them apart, but they had this moment. Laila basked in it.

  “That sounds perfect.”

  “There’s nothing I want more,” he vowed, then he fell silent.

  Laila did, too, not wanting reality to intrude on their idyll.

  Moments later, Trees added to her paradise by spreading a citrus-smelling soap across her skin with his hands, starting with her neck, then working down to her shoulders and her breasts, where he paused to pay special attention to her nipples now hardening as he slid his thumbs across the sensitive peaks. When he wrung a moan out of her, he caressed his way over her ribs, down her stomach, then dropped his hand to cup her mound.

  With a single touch, her earlier desire rushed back to tingling life. Her breath caught. She clung to his shoulders, unsteady on her feet as his fingers dipped between her folds and he slid a finger over her nerve-rich nubbin…

  “Oh,” she moaned out, digging her nails into his solid biceps.

  “Your pussy is still so swollen and sensitive. I love the way you respond to me.” He tapped her left thigh. “Raise this leg.”

  Without thought, without hesitation, she did.

  “Excellent,” he crooned as he positioned it to the side and gently released her, resting her foot on the tiled bench in the corner and giving him unfettered access to her female flesh, growing more and more slick by the minute.

  “What should I do now?”

  “Feel everything I’m going to do to you, come when I ask you to, and enjoy.”

  Then he rinsed the soap. The bubbles cascaded down her skin, seeming to tickle every sensitive spot along the way, until every inch of her felt clean and new.

  Trees bent his head to her, taking her mouth in a sweeping kiss of tongues and slow passion—except that insistent hand between her legs, circling and thumbing the needy bud now throbbing again. He groaned. His breathing roughened. He inhaled her as he filled her needy sex with his fingers, making her gasp and hold on tighter.

  “You are trying to undo me.” Her voice sounded scratchy.

  “There’s no trying about it, honey,” he muttered against her lips, then worked his way down her neck, lingering behind her ear to whisper, “I’m going to make you come so many times tonight, you won’t be able to feel your legs.”

  Her heart surged with excitement, but it wasn’t just for the pleasure he was promising. It was the way he vowed to send her to the stars, like it was a gift he wanted to give her because he wanted her happiness.

  “Please…”

  She felt him smile against her skin as he bent to lick one of her nipples. All her focus had been on the ache growing and swelling between her legs and the man bestowing bliss on her. But now…she tossed her head back under the shower spray, her long, pleading cry echoing off the tile.

  “That’s my girl,” he praised as he switched to the other breast and his fingers inside her shifted, moving, pressing on a spot that had her eyes flying wide open, her body lifting on tiptoe, and the pleasurable pressure under his fingertips nearly dissolving her spine.

  “Yes. Yes. Yes…” The chant fell from her lips. Laila didn’t even know what she was saying, only that she craved everything Trees was doing to her.

  Then he swiped his thumb across her hard nub again and growled. “There you are, just about to tip over. Now look at me.”

  She did. His green eyes glowed with a tender demand that made her heart skip as their stares fused. The electric connection jolted down her spine, spreading to every nerve and far-reaching appendage. Tension strangled her throat, and she barely squeaked out a plea. “Trees?”

  “That’s it. Stay with me. Don’t look away.”

  “I cannot.”

  “Good. Come for me now, little one. Fall, and I’ll catch you.”

  Laila didn’t know if it was his voice or his permission or the cocoon of safety she felt in his arms, but everything inside her released. She surrendered herself for him, to him, allowing him to wring her inside out. As pleasure surged, firing through her veins and shutting down thought, she shuddered and became a shocked, gasping puddle of satisfied woman.

  Seconds later, her legs threatened to give out. But Trees was already there, squatting in front of her to plant his mouth on her still-pulsing flesh.

  She was so sensitive and she stiffened, but he was gentle, patient, planting almost chaste kisses for slow minutes on her lower abdomen, her hips, her trembling thighs, then finally her puffy mound. She should have felt overwhelmed and exhausted by the climax that had overtaken her whole body. But the moment he slid an experimental drag of his tongue against her distended clit, she choked in a shocked breath, thrust her fingers in his wet hair, and let out a stunned gasp.

  He took that as a sign to attack.

  A heartbeat later, he opened his lips over her sex, laved her hard button again, then sucked it into the heat of his mouth, showing absolutely no mercy.

  “Trees!”

  “Hmm,” he hummed into her most sensitive spots.

  With that one syllable, her entire body torqued up again. She hadn’t quite finished descending from the last peak, and another one was about to replace it—bigger, stronger, threatening to turn her legs to jelly.

  “Trees!” she gasped even louder.

  He didn’t bother answering, simply sucked her clit harder and ruthlessly rubbed that spot inside her.

  She took off like a rocket, her head seeming to explode as she screamed in pleasure so loudly her ears rang. That seemed to spur Trees on. He kept at her, reading her body perfectly, knowing just where to touch her, when, how hard, how long, how much as he cajoled every last ounce of ecstasy from her.

  Then she fell limp against him, her legs all but giving out.

  “Oh, little one…” He stood and shut off the water, then gathered her in his arms and left the glass enclosure, heading toward his bed. He didn’t bother with a towel, seemingly not caring if his mattress got soaked. He simply lay back, then lifted her over him. With one hand, he held his cock up to her waiting, clutching sex. With the other, he pushed her down and filled her until she hissed at the stretching of her flesh necessary to accommodate his length and girth.

  Quickly, he lifted her again, settling for a shallow thrust and a seductive rhythm. But the effort was costing him. She could see that on his face.

  She wrapped her fingers around his shoulders, nails burrowing into his skin, and shook her head. “No. No… I want all of you.”

  When she positioned herself directly over him, wriggled her hips, and pumped down, every last inch of him slid inside her. It burned. She hissed, swearing she could feel his length up half her body. But the pain was its own sort of ecstasy, and she tossed her head back, arching her breasts and losing herself in the sensations.

  He gritted his teeth and gripped her thighs so hard it would leave bruises. For reasons she didn’t understand, the idea aroused her. Reminders of their passion they could study later with pride? Laila wasn’t sure, but when his whole body shuddered under her and he growled her name, she lit up.

  “Fuck.” His raspy curse filled her ears the way his hard cock filled the rest of her—completely, until she could think of nothing else. “You take every inch of me and squeeze me so goddamn tight. The minute I get inside you, all I want to do is take you in every way possible, make you come, and mark you as mine.”

  When he said things like that, her brain melted. So did any remaining resistance. Her body should have been sated in the shower. She definitely should have stopped aching for the bliss of his touch after he’d heaped open-mouthed pleasure on her sex. But no. Now that she was stuffed full of this man, Laila wondered if she would ever get enough of him.

  “Please,” she begged, not even understanding what she was pleading for.

  Her breasts felt heavier and achier. Her folds were so engorged and sensitive. Every bit of her body felt electrically alive.

  “Come,” he demanded.

  Again? Was he insane?

  “I do not think—”

  “Then don’t,” he ground out. “Just feel—and let go.”

  He tensed beneath her and lifted her up his heavy stalk. Gravity slid her back down. It was good. So good. The pending orgasm that should have been impossible climbed and gathered quickly, suddenly becoming inevitable. She was sputtering and gaping, dying for him. But he was holding back.

  “No! More.” Her demand came out like a wail, high-pitched and entreating.

  Trees gripped her hips tighter. “I can’t. I’ll hurt you.”

  “No. No. I swear. More. Please. Now.”

  “Fuck. Little one…”

  “Trees.” She caught his gaze, praying the need on her face would say what her voice seemingly couldn’t.

  He froze, gripped her lower, fingers digging in tighter. More bruises. They would be delicious. She couldn’t wait to see them tomorrow, and she wasn’t sure why.

  An almost inhuman sound poured from his chest and erupted from his throat. Then he lifted her all the way up his cock before slamming her back down in an unmerciful, implacable pounding that had her silently screaming and digging her nails into him as the need to climax poured through her veins like lava. She gushed out in another feverish peak that left her near limp and boneless.

  But Trees still wasn’t done.

  He rolled her to her back and kissed her feverishly, delving into her mouth with an urgency that left her dizzy and thrilled. He drank as if her tongue held some elixir he would die without. Laila opened totally and gave him her all.

  Then he lifted her thighs around his hips and drove deep inside her in one long thrust. She cried out, her head swimming, need rising inside her again. Trees set a hard, hammering rhythm, his whole body moving, his bed shuddering.

  Laila grabbed him tighter and held on, arching her breasts up to him, lifting her hips in offering and tilting to take him even deeper.

  He groaned out long and low, seizing her wrists in his hand, his fingers biting as he anchored them above her head. “Grab the headboard. Don’t let go.”

  She didn’t question him, and she didn’t hesitate, merely wrapped her fingers around the metal slats and gripped as if her life depended on it. But she couldn’t touch him, and she needed more—of his scent, of his flavor, of his flesh.

  Her lips burned a path up his shoulder, stretching to nip at his neck before she reached his jaw. “I love the feel of you inside me. You fill me up, give me both pleasure and pain and”—she bit at his chest as he pummeled her again and hit a spot that nearly sent her soaring for a third time—“oh!”

  “I’m never going to stop, Laila.” He maintained his wild pace as he reached up and covered her hands with his, gripping the iron rungs of his headboard and using the leverage to work his way harder and deeper. “Do you hear me? I love you. You’re it for me. Marry me.”

  Yes! she shouted silently. There was nothing Laila wanted more than to spend her life with Trees, having a safe home, building a future, having his children, and sharing their love.

  She doubted that kind of happiness was in her future. How could she and EM Security ever vanquish their powerful enemies so that she could live out her dream? She couldn’t accept. He didn’t deserve a lifetime of her danger, but she owed him as much truth as she dared. “I would love that. Because I love you.”

  As if that flipped some switch inside him, he hardened and swelled inside her even more, slamming her with a force that rattled her body even as he set her on fire. “Oh, fuck. Laila… Fuck! I need you to come with me.”

  It was incredible and insane, but she wasn’t far from another explosion even more incendiary than the last. “Yes.”

  “And as soon as this shit is over, I’m going to put a ring on your finger and a baby in your belly. You’re mine.”

  She closed her eyes and sank into the fantasy of having Trees by her side each day, inside her every night as she swelled with his sons and daughters. He squeezed her hands tighter and forced her mouth open for his kiss.

  Her entire body detonated with an involuntary buck and an ear-piercing cry.

  Seconds behind her, his thrusts picked up pace. His breathing turned harsh. He bared his teeth and stared into her eyes. “Mine,” he growled again, his heart thundering against hers.

  Then he let go with a hoarse cry, filling her with warm jets of fluid and all his love.

  Breathing hard, he held her close and punctuated their pleasure with a tender kiss before he brushed a curl from her cheek. “I love you, Laila. I’m going to keep you safe so I can make you mine.”

  Tears stung her eyes. He’d undone her in every way possible tonight, but his words now stripped her bare all the way to her soul. “Trees…”

  “I mean it. I will—no matter what it takes.”

  She knew he meant it. And that’s what worried her most.

  A few hours later, Laila slept beside Trees, curled into a ball on her side, her back cuddled against his chest, one hand beneath her chin like a contented cat. He dropped his palm to her head, fingers stroking a curl from her cheek, knuckles gliding over her soft skin.

  He wanted her here, by his side, forever. He hadn’t been kidding when he’d told her that he intended to put a ring on her finger and a baby in her belly ASAP. The urge wasn’t logical, which he usually was. Instead, it felt like a biological imperative, and Trees couldn’t explain why.

  Was he trying to make a family now to replace the one he seemingly no longer had in West Virginia? No, he could pick up the phone and call home if he wanted to. It wasn’t as if they weren’t speaking to him. More like they didn’t have a use for him. Then why was he so consumed with the idea of making Laila Mrs. Scott?