Ultimate Surrender by Lydia Rowan

on, couldn’t make herself let go.
    Soon, as the moments passed, she became aware of him in different ways. His arms around her, the masculine scent that was all him.
    She’d noticed all of them before, and though she tried to pretend otherwise, now, there was no room for pretending, no room for anything but being close to him.
    She tightened her grip on him, flattening her breasts against his chest. Their bodies molded together—she fit him perfectly.
    Cassandra moved even closer. Lucian didn’t respond, at least not initially, but then he moved, shifted just the smallest amount until their bodies were completely aligned, every inch of their upper bodies in contact, his ever-hardening cock against her stomach.
    And then, finally, she looked up and gazed at him.
    His eyes were dark, even darker than before, and when she peered into them, she saw the desire that she felt reflected back at her.
    She saw the moment when she knew that desire would not be fulfilled.
    Lucian reached up, tucked a loose stand of hair that had fallen out of her tight bun behind her ear. “It’s been a long day. You should get some rest.”
    His voice was soft, his words sensible, and they had the same effect as being doused in ice-cold water.
    The automatic step backward was thwarted because her arms were still hooked around his shoulders. By now, the cold shock had been replaced with the heat of embarrassment, and Cassandra quickly dropped her arms and stepped backward until she brushed against her sofa.
    She’d put several feet between them, but those feet were not nearly enough. Not enough to lessen the intensity of his gaze on her, not enough to make her forget her throbbing body, the need for him nearly a living thing. Not enough to make her remember why this couldn’t happen. When she locked eyes with him, she knew she couldn’t, wouldn’t , let this chance pass her by.
    Reversing course, she moved closer to him, her eyes on his the entire time, even when she stood in front of him, mere inches separating their bodies. “Lucian, I—”
    “Don’t say you’re sorry,” he said, cutting her off.
    “I wasn’t going to say I was sorry,” she said.
    His eyes flashed, a moment’s confusion on his face. “What were you going to say, then?” he asked.
    Cassandra’s heart began to thud even harder as she considered the weight of this moment. It would change everything, probably in ways she couldn’t even anticipate, but leaving things as they were was not an option.
    “I was going to say it’s pretty obvious what’s going on here. Has been for years. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but tonight…” She lifted her hand to stroke her fingers against his chest, the softness of his T-shirt, the hardness of the muscle it covered, creating a contrast that had Cassandra squirming. “I want to put that aside, explore the chemistry that neither of us can continue to ignore.”
    She finished, kept her hand on his belt buckle, and waited, watched him for a response. He kept his features impassive, but she saw the subtle change in his eyes, a deepening, darkening that confirmed to her she wasn’t in this alone.
    “And when you say ‘explore,’ what, exactly, do you mean?” he asked, his voice a rough rasp.
    Cassandra chuckled and pulled his shirt up to let her fingers play against his hard abs. “I think you have some idea,” she said, looking up to meet his eyes.
    “A couple come to mind,” he said as he unbuttoned her jacket and pushed it open so that her blouse was exposed.
    “I like where this is headed so far,” she said, her voice a little breathless as Lucian settled his hand at the curve of her waist, his palm burning her skin through her shirt.
    “Then you’ll like where I want it to go even better,” he said, momentarily tightening his hold on her waist before he loosened it, snaked his fingers up her back, and popped open her bra.
    “So far, so good,” she said as he moved his fingers in an irregular