When I'm with You (Because You Are Mine #2)(91)

Elise pressed her chin between his shoulder and neck, shielding herself. She cried silent tears, warmed by dappled sunlight, filled by Lucien’s embrace.

“Because your parents didn’t prize you doesn’t mean that you’re not a precious, priceless jewel,” he said gruffly near her ear minutes later. “It only means that you have to learn to prize yourself. And you are, ma fifille. Aren’t you?”

She swallowed thickly and inhaled for courage. She leaned back and let him see her damp cheeks.

“I am,” she whispered.

His eyes glinted between narrowed lids as he looked upon the gaping weaknesses and uncertainties she’d run from her entire life . . .

. . . and she’d never felt so whole.

She kissed his mouth softly, and he plucked at her parted lips with his own. For several golden, sunlit moments she melted in the cocoon of Lucien’s acceptance. Her flesh grew torpid, her sex damp. She felt him harden against her and knew he shared in her arousal. But it was more than just a sexual embrace.

It was so much more.

She wasn’t sure how long they remained like that, but eventually Lucien cradled her face with both hands and waited for her to open her eyelids sluggishly.

“Come on. Let’s head back to the city. I’m going to take you for dinner. Where would the chef like to go? Everest? Savaur’s? Tru?” he asked, referring to some of the finest restaurants in the city, all with world-renowned chefs.

She leaned her forehead against his and stroked his back. “To be honest, I wish I could go to Fusion. I’ve never been there to dine.”

He chuckled appreciatively. “We’re closed on Sundays.”

“I could cook for you,” she murmured languidly near his mouth.

“Absolutely not. You’re not working tonight. I want you focused on one thing: pleasure,” he said gruffly before he kissed her once, brisk and thorough. He stood and cupped her ass, letting her body slide against his hard length sensually before he set her boots on the ground. “But that gives me an idea.”

“What?”

“You’ll see soon enough,” was all he said as he led her toward the grazing horses and she stumbled after him, her mind still fuzzy from arousal and Lucien’s all-encompassing embrace.

* * *

When they returned to the penthouse, Lucien left her to attend to a few things in his office. She was so relaxed and content following the sunlit ride on Kesara that she took off her boots and curled on top of the made bed, almost immediately falling asleep.

She awoke to the sensation of Lucien’s lips skimming along her hairline and the sound of running water in the distance.

“Wake up, beauty,” he murmured, the sound of his rough, low voice in her ear making her shiver with pleasure. “We have dinner reservations to make.”

She blinked her eyelids open sleepily and brought him into focus, her gaze glued to the sexy shape of his firm, curving lips.

“How long did I sleep?” she asked, disoriented.

“Two hours,” he said, his white teeth flashing in his shadowed face. “You needed it, no doubt. After you kept me up all night,” he added, pulling on her hand until she rose alongside him.

“After you kept me up all night, you mean,” she muttered drowsily, letting him lead her to the bathroom.

“Your bath awaits,” he said with a flourish once they’d entered.

She purred in satisfaction at the vision of the large Jacuzzi bubbling away on the center island, steam rising off the surface.

“Will you get in with me?” she asked huskily when Lucien turned her and began to unbutton her blouse.

“That’s the plan,” he replied, slipping her blouse over her shoulders.

Once they were both naked and submerged in the bubbling water, Lucien leaned against the side of the tub and pulled her into his arms, her back against the front of his body. She moaned softly as he began to run his hands over her, caressing and massaging, his touch decadent in the midst of the hot water.

“You could make a woman into a slave with those hands, Lucien Sauvage,” she mumbled, her head resting on his chest, her eyelids fluttering closed in sensual pleasure. She sensed his smile near her cheek.

“I can’t see you being a slave to any man. Could you?”

She went still, the back of her neck prickling.

“Perhaps,” she breathed. “What if I wanted to experiment with the idea once in a while, at my discretion . . . with you?”

“That would be your decision. But after you consented to this enslavement, your freedom of choice would end for an agreed upon span of time. You would be at my mercy until the period ended.”

She inhaled sharply when he began finessing her nipples with his thumb and forefinger and she felt his already semi-erect cock stiffen into full readiness along the crack of her ass and her lower back.

“How long would this span of time last?” she asked, stifling a moan when he cupped her breasts from below and squeezed them gently at the same moment he tweaked her nipples.

“Hypothetically?” he asked right next to her ear, his rich voice causing a shiver to run down her neck.

“Yes.”

“Well, for an example, if you agreed to be my slave tonight, it would last until I had my full pleasure of you or until morning came . . . whichever comes first.”