“Not that I’m complaining,” he gasped, the words so rough and raw that it pulled at something deep inside her, “but what did I say to bring this about?”

Her heart twisted in her chest, all of the doubt washing down on her again. “Maybe I’m just thinking about the future. About tonight. We’re going to war, Barrons. What if I never get this chance with you? What if I never get to make love to you?”

His expression sharpened, understanding what she was truly suggesting. People died. Even blue bloods. Especially those she cared about.

“I thought we’d covered that.” He took the easy way out.

“You tied me to a chair. I would hardly call what happened here before ‘making love.’ Something more akin to war.”

Fingertips skittered down her face. “We’ve got but an hour or two, love.” Leaning closer, his voice dropped several octaves. “That’s hardly time enough for what I have in mind to do to you.”

A little thrill whispered over her skin. “You’re a resourceful man. I’m certain you’ll come up with something.”

“Something? Hmm?” His expression darkened, teeth nipping at her jaw, her throat. “I think we can do better than that.” The press of his body against her earned a gasp. Taking her wrists in one hand left the other free to explore, and he used it with devastating effect.

“Barrons?” She wriggled against his hold.

“Yes?” His fingers paused, trailing over her leather-clad thigh.

Her lashes lowered. “I liked the way you kissed me. That time at your secret house, in your bathroom.”

Not so much the method of kissing—he excelled at that—but the look in his eyes as he did it, the way he stared at her as if she were the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. As if he saw every facet of her: strengths, her weaknesses, the way she girded her armor against the world… Saw it and understood all of it.

Long, slow moments trickled by. “Did you?” His eyes blackened, far more intense than they’d been. Burning right through her.

Barrons leaned down and caught her beneath her bottom, lifting her up into his strong arms. He kissed her, slow and deep, striding toward the bed with her legs wrapped around his hips. The armored corset came off, then her undershirt and chemise, leaving her pale flesh bared to his gaze as she tumbled onto her back on the bed. Leo’s eyes drank her in, fingertips skating up over her ribs and brushing against the undersides of her full breasts. A square of dying sunlight from the window gilded the hard muscle in his shoulders, catching the faded tips of his eyelashes.

Mina’s breath caught. He was an astoundingly handsome man, all hard planes and lean angles, with those dark, fathomless eyes. Only she knew what lurked there. A man of impressive strength of will. Being beaten down, facing the loss of all he knew had cut any softness from him, but instead of destroying him, she could see it making him anew. Like a blade, forged in hot coals and hammered out slowly to hone its edges.

There was a softening in her at the thought. She cupped his face and he leaned into it instinctively, seeking more from the touch. She didn’t like to see him hurting, though it was necessary if he wanted to move through all of this.

Leo’s pulse raged in his throat as he knelt over her, callused palms rasping up over her breasts. “I never thought you’d ever surrender to me,” he admitted, kneeling over her.

“This is not a surrender.” Her hands pressed flat against the heavy slab of his chest, her body tensing.

“No?” The muscle in his biceps flexed as he lowered himself over her, her hands giving way slowly, those dark eyes watching her as he brushed his lips against her breast. “Then what do you call it, Mina?”

Her hands tensed.

“Let me in,” he whispered, his breath stirring over her sensitive flesh, his tongue darting over her nipple and sending shivers across her skin. “Stop fighting me. Let me make love to you. Let me show you all the ways I’ve been dreaming of to pleasure you over the years.”

She couldn’t stop a shaky breath. Surrender was a word she didn’t like. It spoke too much of leaving herself unprotected, leaving her heart bared and wide open. But she had asked this of him. Her arms yielded, her eyes closing softly. Her fingertips grazed his lean flanks as she let her hands fall to the bed.

She was the picture of submission, but she couldn’t help feeling as though a part of her steeled itself.

“What do you have to fear?” he asked gently, his body weight hovering over her as if her hands were still between them. “I won’t hurt you.” Lips brushed against her jaw, her throat… Silken caresses she felt to the bone, with her eyes clenched tightly shut.

His mouth trailed up her cheek. More devastatingly light caresses. Over her brow and eyes, her eyelashes rasping his soft lips. Taking her chin, he tipped her mouth up to his, the weight of his body softening upon hers as he rested on one arm. His tongue caressed hers in light, slow circles, his entire body seeming to wrap around her as if he were melting into her. The kind of kisses that stole her breath and made her dizzy.

Everything that she’d asked for. Mina blinked hotly as she drew back from the kiss, her bones feeling like weighted lead and her skin flushed and heated. It was a little disorienting. She wanted it so much and yet…

Leo rested his forehead against hers, breathing in the scent of her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” She wanted more of that kissing and reached for him, but he held her down, wrists pinned to the bed.

Meeting that gaze was hard. In it was a silent demand. “Talk to me,” he said, then his expression softened. “Please.”

“I just… This is…” Mina looked away. “I’ve always believed that loving someone is giving them the power to destroy you,” she whispered. “It’s… I feel like—I can’t—”

“You already have the power to destroy me.”

Her breath caught.

“And it’s terrifying,” he admitted. “I feel like I’m standing in an entirely new world, a world I don’t know, but one full of so much possibility. But the thing that frightens me the most is that I fear I’m standing here alone. That loss would be greater than anything I’ve suffered this week.”

She opened her mouth—then hesitated.