“I scare me. I’m not a casual nudist.”

“And yet . . .” His fingers traced the seam of her capris up the inside of her thigh. “You tore off your pants and threw them at me the first night we met. Seeing those purple bikini panties? Every professional thought vanished from my head.”

She buried her face in his neck. “I don’t know what possessed me to do that. I’ve never done anything like that before in my life. I was just so . . . mad at you.”

“I’ve been told I have that effect on people,” he said dryly. “But most people throw punches at me, not clothing.”

“Did you think I was crazy? Or just easy?”

“Neither. I thought you were fiery and sexy. You were real, Amery. Because of who I am . . . I receive deference, not defiance. Your response intrigued me.” His lips brushed her ear. “You intrigue me. The proper girl who balks at casual nudity, yet I sense your desire to be bold. You can see yourself as the woman who strips bare to skinny-dip because it makes you feel rebellious. You want that rebel to break free.”

How had he read her so easily?

“Am I wrong?”

“No. I want to be freed from the moral shackles that’ve weighed me down my entire life. Not in a Girls Gone Wild way, but like you said, to show myself that I can let go and not feel guilty about it.”

“I’ll help you to let go.”

Her belly flipped. “How?”

“You have to trust me to find out.”

But I don’t really know you.

That realization didn’t bother her as much as the thought of saying no to him. Amery inhaled a deep breath and said, “Okay.”

“Hang on.” Ronin stood and deposited her on the chair. He scooted the ottoman closer to her and sat on it. He claimed her mouth in a sensual kiss. While his tongue tangled and teased, he began to unbutton her blouse.

She lifted her hands to touch him.

He took her hands and peered into her face so deeply she swore his gaze had brushed her soul. He kissed the tips of her fingers. “I touch. You let me.”

“But how is sitting here doing nothing teaching me to be bold?”

“Bold is not only an action. Bold is an attitude. Bold is a state of mind.” Ronin rubbed her knuckles across his jaw. “Sometimes the boldest choice is to let go. It takes more courage to trust someone else to give you what you need than it does to just rely on getting it yourself.”

“I never thought of it that way.”

Ronin smiled. “Which is the perfect time for me to point out I don’t want you to think. I want you to feel.”

Amery had the oddest feeling of . . . surrender? Or was it power?

“I see it in your eyes, Amery. Let me show you how bold you can be.” He kissed her again, his mouth coaxing hers to respond.

And respond she did. She stopped worrying where her hands should be and concentrated on the placement of his hands. Of the dexterity in his fingers as the rough tips brushed her skin. She let his pace—sometimes fast, sometimes slow—roll over her. Feed her. Soothe her. Incite her.

Then his callused hands were sliding beneath her collar. He pushed the shirt off her shoulders and down her arms until the fabric caught in the bend in her elbows. Rather than tugging it free, he murmured, “Perfect,” and pressed an openmouthed kiss to the center of her chest. “Lean back and rest on your hands.”

In this wanton position, she couldn’t help arching her spine, offering him total access to whatever he wanted.

Ronin’s fingers danced over her. Following the edges of her collarbones, the cords in her neck. The curve of her shoulders. “Your skin tone is amazing. So pure.”

Not pure, her anti-goddess side chimed in, pasty white.

For once she told that voice to shut up.

He twisted the front clasp of her bra and the cups separated. Although her eyes were closed, she felt his greedy gaze on her breasts as he slid her bra down to meet her shirt.

She tried to slide her palms out, but there wasn’t any give in her shirt and she couldn’t move.

Not a terrifying thought; an exhilarating one, the new goddess inside her purred.

“That’s it. Just you and me out here. No one knows what we’re doing but us.” Ronin’s hands cupped her breasts. He circled his thumb across her areola, almost brushing her nipple but not quite. His hands squeezed and plumped her flesh. Her breasts weren’t large, but they’d always been sensitive. Former lovers hadn’t paid much attention to her chest, and she’d assumed men preferred a big rack.

But Ronin worshipped her, first with his hands. Then with his mouth. Light flicks of his tongue. Soft sucks increasing in intensity until she swore he’d sucked her whole breast into the wet heat.

He said, “I want to hear you if you like how I’m touching you.”

Amery opened her eyes and met his gaze. “You think I’m being quiet because we’re outside and I’m afraid someone will hear me?”

“Are you?” he asked, and blew a stream of air over the damp tip.

“No. I’m just in shock because no man has ever given so much attention to my”—just say the word, don’t be PC—“tits before.”

Ronin said, “Pity, because these tits are perfection. Soft, creamy white flesh, big pink nipples. And they’re so responsive.” Keeping his eyes on hers, he bit down just shy of the point of pain. “Can you come just from nipple play?”

“I—I don’t know. I’ve never tried it.”

He continued to pluck the rigid points while he moved his mouth and face across the upper swells. “Would I find your cunt wet if I slipped my hand into your pants right now?”

“Yes.”

“I want to make you come. But I want to do it my way, Amery. You still feeling bold?”

“Yes.”

“Say, Make me come, Ronin. I don’t care how you do it.”

Amery repeated, “Make me come, Ronin. I don’t care how you do it, but make me come now.”

She felt him smile against her chest at her added plea. “Close your eyes. No matter what, keep them closed. Arch your back and spread your legs.”

Ronin’s voice had become velvet coercion—soft and sexy wrapped around a steely command.

He curled his hands around her face and he kissed her with the single-minded concentration that left her breathless. Helpless. Delirious. He eased back on the kiss, and one hand fell away as the other stroked her cheekbone.

He said, “Hold still,” and a second later something landed directly on her nipple. Molten at first and she almost cried out from the quick pain, but then it was gone, leaving warmth in its wake. Then his mouth was on hers again, for a long, slow kiss.

She whimpered when he pulled away and whimpered louder when a splash of heat seared her other nipple. That spark of pain lasted longer and was immediately followed by another one on the top of her left breast.

Before Amery could open her eyes, Ronin was there again, his fingers on her jaw, holding her in place as he kissed her stupid.

“So bold,” he murmured in her ear after he broke the kiss. “A little more and I promise I’ll make you come.”

More spikes of fierce pain. More intoxicating kisses. Just when she thought she couldn’t take any more, and considered jumping into the pool to ease the fiery heat spreading across her skin, a breeze wafted over her, cooling her off. Along with that came Ronin’s scent; she let that male musk soothe her senses, even as her heart picked up speed whenever that scent came closer. And beneath that she caught a whiff of citronella. Her mind cleared enough to realize Ronin was dripping candle wax on her.

Ronin didn’t kiss her after the next pinpricks heated her flesh. His hand moved between her legs to rub the seam of her capris against her clit.

“Oh god.”

Then his assault was relentless. Hot wax spattered on her chest, running down the valley of her cleavage—hot enough to steal her breath. Then Ronin’s hungry mouth was licking and biting her neck, turning her skin into a mass of gooseflesh. She swore the man had three hands and two mouths with the way he touched her and teased her.

“My bold Amery,” he whispered against her throat. “Are you ready to come?”

“Yes, please.” She canted her hips up, wanting his hand on the zipper of her pants, wanting his fingers testing her wetness and pushing deep inside her.

“Look at yourself.”

Amery opened her eyes and looked at her chest. Spots of wax dotted her skin. Her nipples were completely coated. A few rivulets ran down the plane of her belly. Seeing what it looked like, knowing she’d let him do that to her, caused her face to flame.

Ronin tipped her chin up. “Are you embarrassed?”

“I don’t know. It looks like . . .”

“Like I came on your chest. Like I marked you.”

She nodded.

“My way of letting you know I intend to mark you this way sometime.”

Be bold. Amery cocked her head. “And if you had? If my hands were free I’d swipe my finger across that big spot above my nipple and lick it.”

Ronin snarled and seized her mouth, one hand on the back of her head as he angled her backward, his other hand diving between her thighs, the heel of his hand grinding side to side, rubbing the seam directly over her clit.

The ferocious kiss ended abruptly. She kept her eyes closed as his teeth enclosed her nipple and bit down until the wax cracked and fell away. Then he suckled the tip strongly.

Amery was off balance. Entirely at Ronin’s mercy. She couldn’t move; she couldn’t control anything except accepting that she had no control.

Ronin moved his mouth to her other breast. The wax pulled at the tender tip as he removed it with his mouth. Then he groaned and his focus was on her nipple.