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“You’re thinking too hard,” Luc murmured and rolled to face her.

His inky hair tumbled over his shoulder, the ends flirting with his pectorals. His bedroom eyes looked black and smoky in the shadows. Her pulse picked up speed.

It would be so easy to fall into his arms, and let whatever was going to happen between them simply happen. But she’d never had the luxury of wearing rose-colored glasses. Alyssa needed to know why Luc had married her. Asking why had gotten her nowhere. If she wanted to know if he’d married her simply for the baby or the sex, she had to change tactics.

“A lot on my mind,” she answered finally.

“Yesterday was a big day.”

She nodded. “Getting married is huge, and we really haven’t known each other long. I mean, we’ve spent, maybe, five days together total.”

Luc brushed the hair back from her face. “It doesn’t sound like a lot, but . . . somehow, between us, it is.”

Alyssa understood exactly what he meant. Every moment had been full of discovery and gravity, bringing them together when they were at their best, pitting their tempers against each other when they were at their worst.

“I need—” God, her stomach revolted, and it had nothing to do with pregnancy hormones. What if Luc laughed or scoffed or became angry at her question?

Then you’ll know
.

“Need what?” he prompted, tracing his fingertips over her bare shoulder. She shivered.

“How do you feel about me?”

Her question clearly surprised him. Luc hesitated, then resumed his brushing caress. “That’s a direct question, but I expect that from you.”

“I’m pragmatic.”

“That, you are.”

She bristled. “I’ve had to be.”

As he cupped her cheek, his face softened. “I’m not judging you. In fact, it’s part of what I admire about you.”

That warmed her a bit. “So you admire me?”

Like a child caught with a hand in the cookie jar, Luc smiled.

“You’re smart and tough and tenacious. Jack told me the way you rebounded after Peter’s attack even impressed the hell out of him.”

Great, but none of that added up to love. Though she hadn’t expected more, disappointment caved in on her.

Alyssa fought off the feeling. Maybe her love would be enough for both of them.

Then she sighed. She knew nothing about relationships, but doubted one-sided devotion would work. After last night, she needed to pull back, do her best to rebuild the walls around her heart.

“Thank you,” she muttered, rolling away.

He grabbed her arm and turned her back to him, fitting their bodies together. “Where are you going?”

“Get dressed and get to work. I left Bonheur a mess after yesterday.”

He pressed her back to the mattress. “The restaurant has been cleaned from top to bottom—dishes, linens, the works. Today’s food is already prepped for tonight’s opening.”

Her mouth gaped open. “Who did . . . ? How do you know?”

“I called a few people and took care of it.”

Like he’d taken care of everything else. She just kept falling over and over for Luc, with no end in sight. “Thank you.”

He was so thoughtful, good at anticipating her needs and seeing to them. Did that mean he maybe more than admired her? Or was she letting stupid hope talk her into making more of the gesture than she should?

“You work too hard.” His thumb traced the arch of her brow as he stared down into her face with an expression she couldn’t read. “Like I said, I admire you, but I worry.”

“Admiration in a marriage . . .”
Isn’t enough
. She choked the words down. “It helps, I’m sure.”

Luc took her face in his hands. “I didn’t say that was all I felt.”

Alyssa’s heart skipped a beat. His arm encircled her waist, and he urged her thigh over his hip, opening her to him. He pressed a kiss to her mouth, nibbled at her neck, breathed in her ear. Tingles and goose bumps skittered across her skin. Her body snapped to attention, as if it knew its lord and master, and readied itself in anticipation of his possession.

But the way he looked at her made her breath catch. His expression said she mattered. Very much.

“Oh,” she breathed.

“Now that we’re married, we must be honest. Communicate better.” He slanted his mouth over hers again, and Alyssa had to fight to focus on his words when he pulled back enough to whisper. “The truth is, I’ve never felt for any woman as deeply as I feel for you.”

More than Kimber, even?
Thump, thump, thump
. Her heart threatened to jump from her chest.

“You look shocked.”

“I am. I know you’ve been in relationships before . . .”

“They’re behind me.” He propped his head on his palm, his gaze delving deep. “How do you feel about me?”

So ridiculously in love it scares the hell out of me
. “I care, too. More than I thought possible after a few days.”

Alyssa didn’t dare confess to more than that. Telling him too much, being too open, she knew from experience gave a man exactly what he needed to make her vulnerable and drop her to her knees—right at his feet.

“Good.” Luc smiled, his expression so intimate in the dark, her toes curled. “It’s up to us to make this marriage work.”

And what did she know about that? “Agreed.”

“What do you need from me?” he whispered. “What are you seeking in a husband?”

In truth, she’d never given it any real thought. “Someone who likes and respects me, who understands what makes me tick. I’ve enjoyed the fact you’ve taken care of me these past few days, but I don’t expect it. I need you to believe that I can stand on my own two feet.”

He brushed a thumb across her lips, then took possession of them in a lush but brief kiss that melted her even more. “I believe you can do anything you set your mind to.”

Pride filled her. “Thank you. I’m not always good at sharing what I’m thinking. I’ve lived and worked alone for too long, I guess.”

That, and barely surviving the ultimate betrayal of her feelings and trust. But he didn’t need those gory details.

“Don’t be surprised if I ask you a lot of questions. I like knowing what’s going on with you and being involved in Bonheur or anything else you have going on. I’ll help however I can. You have only to ask. I won’t step in the middle of your business unless something seems dangerous or wrong. I know you’ve managed just fine for many years without me, and I’d never presume to think that’s changed.”

God, just when she thought the walls around her heart couldn’t crumble anymore . . . “Thank you.”

“If you think I’ve overstepped, we’ll talk. In return, I’ll ask only three things of you.”

Was this the catch she’d been looking for? “What?”

“First, no more stripping. The male population of Louisiana doesn’t need to see my wife naked anymore.”

“Done.” The last thing she wanted to do was take her clothes off for a bunch of drunk, slobbering strangers again. The fact he cared about who saw her body warmed her heart.

“Good. Second, I need your trust. After Peter’s attack, it became clear that someone once raped you. I don’t need details today or tomorrow. But I want you to know you can trust me with whatever you want to tell me.”

She’d figured he’d come to some fairly accurate conclusions, but the fact he wasn’t going to push her? Her relief was almost tangible. She’d heard enough from the other dancers whose cavemen husbands thought a piece of paper entitled them to know everything to be afraid. Alyssa didn’t think she was wired to share herself that deeply again.

“I appreciate that.”

“Hmm.” Luc exhaled across her shoulder and pressed his mouth to her collarbone. “I appreciate your skin.”

As his palm drifted down to her breast, she caught his wrist and stopped him. Yes, she wanted him again, feeling him deep and strong and demanding inside her. She was a glutton where Luc was concerned. But this conversation was too productive to stop now.

“And third?”

He froze, except for the clenching of his jaw. “Complete fidelity.”

Stinging as if she’d been slapped, she yanked away. “You still think I’m a whore.”

Luc was right on her, curling his arm around her waist and dragging her closer. “No. You don’t turn tricks or fuck customers. Before I got to know you as a person, I believed the stereotype, that a woman who’d shed her clothes for money would also be willing to spread her legs for it. But that’s not you.”

Alyssa pushed back tears, the relief was so profound. Then she noticed that her husband’s carefully crafted reply hadn’t included Tyler.

She’d given Luc a dozen reasons to assume that she and her bouncer were lovers. Tyler touched her openly in public, had a key to her house, saw her naked often . . . In Luc’s shoes, she’d assume the same thing. Insisting again that Tyler was only her friend was counterproductive. Luc would learn the truth soon enough.

“I don’t know a lot about marriage, but I believe fidelity is important. If you’re going to demand it of me, I want the same in return. When you go to Los Angeles to tape your shows next week, don’t imagine it’s okay to hook up with whatever brainless starlet plops in your lap.”

Luc laughed. “Not interested in brainless starlets plopping in my lap, bed, or anywhere else. I’m completely enthralled by you, and being with you, inside you . . .”

His voice lowered an octave, his gaze turning dark and forceful. Intent narrowed his eyes, and before she could think or breathe, Luc probed between her thighs and pushed inward.

His penetration seared her swollen folds. Not surprisingly, she was wet for him. Her nipples beaded. He took one in his mouth and nipped with a stinging pleasure-pain as he forced his cock higher inside her. Alyssa parted her thighs wider and lifted her hips, desperate to have him as deep as he could go. He pressed at her walls, straining her ability to take him. Accepting all of his length and girth in one stroke was impossible. The ramp up to feeling him deep inside her was deliciously maddening.

Her flesh stung, and the burning behind her clit nearly drove her insane. Luc continued to work her nipples. They were already slightly sore from last night. Now they stood up hard and straight and responded to the smallest lick, even to the feel of his breath on them. But when he sucked them in his mouth and bit gently as he plunged the rest of the way inside her . . .

She screamed.

“Yes,” he purred. “Being inside you, making you take every inch of me in this tight, hot pussy. I love sex with you. I’m addicted.”

He withdrew slowly, so slowly, she whimpered. As he lingered, his thumbs brushed her tight nipples before he bit at her neck and plunged deep and hard to the hilt, making her gasp again.

“When I don’t get to fuck you, I’m shaky and strung out. I ache.

I can’t think about anything but getting you naked and working my cock inside you, all gripping and scalding. And bare. Always bare. I don’t ever want anything between us.”

Condoms had always been a way of life for Alyssa. She’d never allowed any man to have sex with her without adequate protection, but what Luc did to her . . . God, there was no description. Even his words made her hot to take him constantly and deeper.

“Your worry, sugar, shouldn’t be what I’m going to do when I’m not in your pussy, but how you’re ever going to be able to keep me out of it. You make me damn hot, so expect that meals will sometimes get cold before you’ll eat them, that your showers won’t be solo, that you may not often get a full night’s sleep. I love you swollen and wet and ready, and I plan to keep you that way.”

Every word out of his mouth melted her into a worthless puddle. When men had talked to her like that in the past, she’d felt sleazy. But something about Luc and the way he whispered to her, almost reverent and amazed, made her feel both needed and special.

As Luc continued to drag his cock through her sensitive channel, blood heated her skin, rushed to her clit. Sensation flooded her as he drew back with stunning friction. She mewled as he pushed back into her so slowly, she dug her nails into his back, tried to push her heels into his ass. He refused to be rushed. In fact, he refused to allow her any say at all.

“Bad girl,” he muttered thickly in her ear. “Impatience will only earn you a slower fucking.”

Before her scrambled brain could regroup so that she could figure out what he meant, Luc withdrew and turned her over. Then plunged in deep again, his strokes maddeningly unhurried and torturous.

“Please. Faster.”

Luc leaned over her back and kissed the side of her jaw, the back of her neck. “What do you want faster?”

God, he was going to make her say it. They’d played this game their first night together, months ago. She’d resisted, and he’d wrung every begging admission from her eventually, then fulfilled a dozen fantasies. That he might do the same now made her blood thicken like lava in her veins.

Alyssa clenched her jaw to hold the words in, but his unhurried strokes were undoing her. Then he added his fingers to her clit and toyed with the distended button.

“Tell me what I want to hear, and you know I’ll give you what you want.”

Yes, he would, but he’d also take so much power from her. She’d already handed him her heart. This . . . would be a sign that she’d surrendered the last of her independence. Her soul.

His fingertips dragged over the exposed head of her clit, and she gasped. He nipped in her ear. “I could do this all morning. You’re so wet, and I love to keep you on edge. You swell and swell, gripping me so tight . . .
Mmm
.”

Pleasure ripped through her body. Her stomach clenched. The pressure built until it burned and tightened, like hot clamps squeezing at her resistance.

Another dragging withdrawal, another sheet-fisting glide back inside until he bumped her most sensitive spot and pressed. She couldn’t breathe. Dizziness encroached. Luc fingered her needy little bud again.