Page 93 of Maximum Bet

I begin to move into place over him, but he stops me.

“No. The first time I have you as my wife is going to be in our marital bed.”

I tuck my lip between my teeth, my smile breaking free on either side.

Dominic pulls me to my feet as he stands and turns off the jets. Not bothering to drain the tub, he wraps a plush towel around me, drying me and then himself.

The towel falls to the floor, and he grips my ass, lifting until I’m forced to wrap my legs around his waist. He holds me up with one hand and wraps the fingers of the other in my hair, tightening them into a fist. He guides my mouth to his, locking us in a kiss while he walks from the bathroom toward our bed.

I bounce when he tosses me to the mattress, feeling like a rag doll at the mercy of his strength. He settles over me as I cradle him between my legs, more than ready to consummate our union.

Gazing into my eyes, Dominic strokes my cheeks and whispers a reverent, “I love you.”

My own confession of love slips between my lips before he pushes inside me, filling my body inch by inch.

My breath comes deep and hard, in rhythm with our movements.

Where Dominic is usually fast and rough, tonight he’s slow and gentle, making love to me as his wife.

“God, Cassandra,” he whispers in my ear. “You’ve made me the luckiest man alive.”

He lifts onto an elbow, reaching with his other hand to wrap his fingers in my hair. We lock eyes, the air from our lungs intermingling, as we climb high toward release.

It’s me who falls first, clutching Dominic’s shoulders, holding him as close as possible. The crescendo builds, the intensityunmatched. When I tip over the edge, it feels like the stars and the moon have all collided into an eclectic shock of ecstasy.

Dominic follows close behind, a groan of pleasure breaking from his chest as his head drops to the crease of my neck and he pants against my skin.

“Good God,” he says after a minute of recovery. “That was intense.”

“That was us,” I respond, kissing his cheek. “Our connection coming to life.”

He answers with a tired smile and wraps me under his arm.

I lie on Dominic’s chest, drifting off to sleep and dreaming of our future—the life we will create together.

Nothing will tear us apart.