Only one little scrap of clothing remained. His eyes locked on that triangle of lacy fabric between her thighs.

It was completely sheer. He could see everything.

Cristiano clenched his jaw. He couldn't remember being so turned on in his life.

He half expected to see her hands moving to cover her breasts, the V between her thighs, or both. However, She didn't move. She didn't scream or run as he expected.

She just stood there proud, chin raised, hostility in her eyes, her chest rising and falling quickly. Her large creamily pale breasts, full and heavy, lifting and falling in sync made his mouth water and had his hands clenching.

He was harder than stone as he let his eyes roam up and down those beautiful, shapely legs. A slow pink blush crept over her neck and face as her eyes locked onto his despite the fact she was nude while knowing she was going to meet his wrath.

Seeing her standing there safe and sound, still in his home and her escape attempt failed, the breath he didn't even know he'd been holding exhaled slowly, and his shoulders unclenching slightly in relief.

He was silent, turning, forcing his eyes to drag away from her. He didn't know if he should haul her over his shoulder like a barbarian, throw her on the bed, throw her in the dungeon or shake her senseless for attempting to run away.

"Let me go–" she whispered, with those full pink lips. "I will never stop trying to leave."

A fierce look bloomed over his face, her words angering him.

He froze, half turned away from her, his hand on the doorframe. The room went quiet except for the thudding of his pulse in his ears, his whole body tingling and aching with the nearness of her nakedness and bared body. All it would take is one move and claim what he'd been denying himself for too long.

In a flash she picked up the towel and wrapped it around her. Cristiano could hear the blood rushing not just to his painful erection but in his ears.

"Put some clothes on!" He nearly shouted, feeling his temperature rise, surprised himself at his outburst. His face flushed and his body burned hotly as if he were on fire. It took every ounce of restraint not to continue drinking in every inch of her exposed skin.

He was on fire for her.

Very little remained of his self-control.

Her body bare and on display knowing he couldn't take her infuriated him even more. If she didn't obey he was going over there and make her first kiss punishing instead of a soft caressing one like she deserved. For that, he knew, she would despise him for and God only knew how desperate he was to taste her.

Some part of him even wondered that maybe if he just got one taste, a sample, then move on from her it would help him. Help him stop thinking about her every time he walked the halls or every time he lay his head against his pillow at night, every time he had a woman who resembled her.

But she was off limits. He couldn't have her.

She annoyed the hell out of him with her fighting nature, defying him at everything and tested his patience like no other. But he wanted her so badly he was almost blind with it. He had to have her.

"As long as you're here. You're mine!"

"I am not yours. I will never be yours. I am not a possession." She insisted defiantly.

"I can do with you as I wish. If you run I will not be able to help myself. I will come for you and I will never stop. And if you try to leave one more time, you will join your lover down in the dungeons."

"I hate you so much it hurts." She had only a brief glance, but it was enough to see the anger in his eyes.

Perfect, she thought. Let him burn with anger.

However, the next expression taking over Cristiano's face was something she would never, ever forget.

That heated dark molten stare of his ran quickly over her covered breasts, stomach and sex as though he could see right thru the towel. They widened a fraction, flared and burned her with their heat. Jasmine gasped in a mix of surprise and pleasure.

Her body had a say of its own when it heated up at the thought of him taking her into his arms and kissing her. No one had ever had such a physical effect on her, just by their presence.

How did he make her go so quickly from wanting to escape to wanting to be in his arms?

Afraid of her feelings and wanting to avoid him at all costs she says, "I'm rather tired. You need to leave."

Jasmine walked slowly to the bathroom door, careful not to drop the towel and turned around as she reached for the door handle. Her heart kicked up again as she heard Cristiano approach. She pulled down on the brass handle, then started to yank it open when a big hand slammed against the door an inch above her head. With a startled scream, she spun around, nearly losing the towel.

He was standing. Not even a foot away.

If she plastered herself any more throughly against the door, she'd carve herself into it, pinned by that glittering, ferociously hot gaze.

"Cristiano."

She said his name in a sigh, drawing his attention to her mouth. It looked so softy, so vulnerable, so exposed that he had to kiss her.

Seeing his intent, she stiffened and made a startled exclamation. She stared up into his eyes, hers so large and questioning that he could have gotten lost in their grayish-blue depths. They reminded him of a stormy sea.

In that instant everything changed. He was lost. He felt the blood roaring in his ears. He couldn't wait anymore. If he died tomorrow at least he would finally know what she tasted like.

He rips the skimpy towel away from her body.

She gasped as he yanked her into him, taking her into his arms. His firm body molding to hers. Sensing her panic he was prepared when her hands went up to push against his chest. He didn't give her a chance to get away. His hard, muscled frame towering over her, his lips kissed her hard.

Her first reaction was ridged shock. But he didn't let her escape the erotic assault. The very first touch was electric pleasure zapping through him. Immediately he pulled away in shock. But he didn't want it to stop. He felt a surging white-hot passion threatening to erupt inside him.

He bent down and pressed his lips to hers, his tongue breaching the barrier of her teeth and began to explore the softness beyond with little teasing strokes. Cristiano kissed her hungrily–fiercely, with nothing held back. His hands slid up her hips to her sides, teasing over the skin and sliding around to her back. He slid one up her spine, sinking his fingers into her luxuriant wet hair grasping a handful of the satiny thickness and, cupping the back of her skull, tilting her head so that he could deepen the kiss. His other hand slid down, cupping the softness of her bottom, pressing closer to his rock-hard body.

She was perfect. Soft and delicate on the inside, just like she was on the outside.

She cried out softly and swayed against him. He growled something low and unintelligible lifting her on her toes so that her body was more perfectly aligned with his. He had never kissed any woman who tasted so sweet, whose skin felt so soft beneath his fingers. But it wasn't enough. He couldn't get her close enough, feel her enough, taste her enough.

He moaned as his thick, throbbing bulge rubbed, pulsing against her center as he moved between her thighs. He heard her gasp, kissing her harder and rocking his hips feeling himself twitch against her bare core. He drank in her sweetness as she clung to him like a lost kitten trying to grasp something solid. Jasmine arched her hips forward and he groaned with approval as she brought herself firmly against his rapidly hardening arousal.

Her lips opened under his, and he took advantage of her surrender. He tasted passion, heard a low murmur in her throat that made the blood in his veins run hot. Her tongue began dueling with his as her own hands wandered over the muscles of his hard back.

Like a coin flipping, shock turned to pleasure.

She felt helpless to repress her response. She'd been afraid to let her defenses down with this man for a long, long time. Jasmine fought him as much as her brain willed but her body wanted it too badly as a whimper left her. The gliding of his tongue against her sensitive flesh brought a wave of heat crashing through her body like a tidal wave. Against her own violation, his kiss made her ache, feeling herself crumple.

Jasmine didn't want to stop it. She'd been wanting this, wanting it forever. There was too much pent-up hunger between them. Too many weeks of not having, of needing and pretending not to.

Jasmine moaned deep in her throat, melting into him and feeling her heart jump as he whirled them. He pushed her back against the wall as his powerful hands held her by the hips. Her fingers curled against his chest, feeling the solid strength of muscle beneath his shirt.

She hadn't known it would be like this. So hot. So overwhelming. So empowering.

Deep inside herself she sensed that he was as much her captive as she was his.

He finally lifted his head, he was breathing hard as was she, their heart rates doubling. Her eyes remained closed, her kiss-swollen lips moist and slightly parted, her breath coming in uneven puffs.

She could feel the impact of the boundary they had crossed.

Confused and shaken from the intensity of what had transpire between them, she dragged her eyelids open and stared directly into Cristiano's eyes. She expected to see triumph or perhaps even mockery at the way she'd come undone in his arms. She was surprised to encounter emotions that seemed to mirror her own. Maybe she was kidding herself. Maybe she wanted it so badly she conjured up what her mind wanted to believe.

The only real thing was Cristiano and the magic his hands were working on her senses. They skimmed her down her arms.

Her flushed cheeks grew hotter. The sensations he evoked with his devouring dark eyes alone pooled desire deep in her middle. She thought she could see the black of his iris deepen to charcoal black. She felt hot, sensual feelings spiraling through her. Tonight she sensed how much he needed her.

She couldn't meet his gaze any longer suddenly aware of her breasts brushing against his chest with each breath she took. Her nipples tingled with pleasure at the contact. Tiny shudders racked her body, her inner muscles clenching. She hadn't known desire could be this overwhelming, this insistent.

"Yasmina. Tesoro."

Jasmine tried to wiggle from his embrace, but he tightened his arms around her. To her surprise, still holding her, he maneuvers them and sits in one of the nearby chairs and pulling her onto his lap. Still dazed as though drugged she couldn't do anything once he sprawls her naked over him, her middle pressed to his hard bulge. Her soft breasts flattens against his chest. She moaned when he took her earlobe between his teeth, kissed her ear, nibbled it hungrily, filling her head with the sound of his hot, predatory panting. He murmured more endearments in Italian as his lips nibbled a trail down her neck then to the V between her breasts.

A little voice inside her head was warning her that this was going too far. That she shouldn't be allowing this intimacy with him. She shouldn't permit the soft stroking of his fingers up and down her skin. This web of desire and passion they were trapped in unleashed a monster they wouldn't be able to control.

But how could she break the spell when she needed it so much? It was thrust to the side as her body choose to remain captive in the web of sensuality binding her to him.

Her hands slid around his neck, her fingers seeking the sensual thickness of his black hair. The heady scent of his masculine cologne, the intimate taste of his mouth, the thudding of his heart against hers–that all combined to dominate her senses. Jasmine realized that she was losing control not just of her flesh, but her will, too.

She caught her breath, her body tensing as his fingers slid from her waist to rest against the side of her breast. And then his palm was closing over her breast. She gasped, as his thumb stroked over her swollen nipple and Jasmine shuddered, feeling shock waves pulsing to her core.

It was the most intimate touch she'd ever experienced.

His hot tongue against her sensitized flesh made her gasp. His mouth attacked one breast and found one hardened nipple. She cried out and arched against him, dazed by the pleasure of it. And shocked to her core.

"I've never wanted a woman like I want you." He says between kisses to her breast and switching to the other.

The sizzling shock of his words is what broke her free of the pressure of his mouth as reality reached back around her. She went very still, her arms around his neck. His words sent cracks all the way down the foundation of her defenses and snapped her back into awareness.

I've never wanted a woman like I want you.

The women he's had in his bed, his fiancée, the maid he fondled and kissed, raced through her mind. She'd never felt so torn. Never felt such overwhelming desire mingled with dread. It was the most vulnerable moment of her life and a part of her felt sick to her stomach for allowing him liberties with her body. She was going to be just another tally on his list. She almost choose to be another female who spread her legs open to him and easily discarded like all the rest.

"Wait Cristiano!" She managed to pant out.

He froze against her, his finger stilling their movements.

Her muscles tensed an instant before she pushed herself out of his embrace and sprang to her feet. She snatched the forgotten towel from the floor and held it in both hands in front of her body as if it were a shield that would protect her from him.

As she stared at him in horror, Cristiano pushed himself up from the chair, his gaze never leaving her. The firelight glittered from his dark eyes. His face was flushed and she could hear his short, sharp intakes of breath.

He took a step toward her and she almost screamed. Shaking her head, she backed away from him until her groping hand touched the wall behind her.

"Don't!" She ordered. "You can't–we can't. No, no, no, no, no." She repeats over and over. "This–this is a mistake. It shouldn't have happened."

How could her body betray her?

"Why not?" He questioned, his eyes hard, tortured, resembling a man driven to the end of his endurance. His fingers were clenched at his side as if he couldn't decide if should haul her back into his arms or leave her alone.

"I will never be one of those women. I cannot live with myself. This is wrong. Not to mention I'm here as your prisoner." She explained. It was pathetic, she knew, but it was the only explanation she could summon with her brain a jumbled mess. "This can never happen again. Please. . . Just go."

"Quite the contrary. You are nothing like those women. You are much more."

Jasmine couldn't stop the blush from coloring her cheeks. She didn't know if it was from embarrassment or the compliment that he gave her.

"If that is what you want Bella, I will leave, but we know this will happen again."

With that, he takes a deep breath, straightens and strides out the door, sparing her one last heated look.

****

Cristiano reached for the coffee pot not waiting for his servants to pour a cup for himself and sipped the steaming brew. He wrapped his hand around the warm porcelain, his eyes focus on nothing at all.

Mistake? He could think of several words that described last nights near explosion of passion.

Hunger. Lust. Need.

Any one of them was a better match than mistake. There was no other acceptable excuse. Cristiano took a large swallow of coffee, wincing as if scalded the inside of his mouth. He frowned down into his coffee, his thoughts circling back over last nights brief lovemaking.

He didn't sleep the night thinking about her. She consumed his every breath. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her face, her cheeks flushed, her surrender intoxicating him, driving him wild with need.

It was easy to forget her purpose in his home. All he could think about how it had felt to kiss her, the soft, silky weight of her breast in his hand and the eager response she'd given him. The fragrance of her hair. The creamy softness of her skin.

Cristiano's patience had never been tested more than it had that night. And he never wanted a woman ever again if it wasn't her. No other woman he'd ever met compared to her. She was like a drug he'd tased and now craved.

He'd never had a woman in his arms quite like her. He was wrapped in heaven, whenever she was near, possessing a sweetness, an innocence he believed couldn't exist in a woman.

All his life, he'd made sure sex was just physical. A release. Maintaining absolute control at all times but Cristiano was sure he would feel much more than desire and passion if she had let him continue. It wasn't just her body he craved, he wanted everything she had to give.

A familiar warmth infused him. It always seemed to assail him whenever he thought of her. A sense of peace descended upon him and he still couldn't explain the change he felt. He couldn't put a name to it.

Tired of pretending, he couldn't go back and erase what transpired between them. It opened a door for which he had no key to lock and away and forget it existed.

He was supposed to be in control. He was supposed to be honorable in her eyes. Not kissing her. However, he was frustrated that things hadn't progressed to their natural conclusion. He drowned the last of the coffee, hardly noticing the discomfort as it stung his already burned mouth.

The vision of her, with her magnificent thick hair spread all around his pillow, her nipples damp and erect from his tongue, her eyes dark with passion. . .He could still taste the sweet giving of her mouth, her innocent face flushed with passion and her grey stormy eyes filled with sensual bliss haunted him.

"Damn." He was getting aroused just thinking about her. "Damn, damn, damn."

From the start of their acquaintance to seduce her, he was the one who had been seduced and he hated it.

He was burning. He was shaking. He was desperate. He was obsessed.

Never had he wanted a woman so much. Never had been consumed by this fierce wave of possessiveness. He always considered himself a man of extreme self-control. Some force he couldn't control and didn't understand had him firmly in its grip.

She was right, of course, It was a mistake to kiss her. He shouldn't have given in to his urges. She was changing him. Her presence in his life was turning everything in the wrong direction. Her kisses alone nearly brought him down to his knees. Dropping his head back, he squeezed his eyes shut and hoped for strength. It was almost time to let her go. After the weeks of having her in his home untouched like she asked, was the hardest of challenges. If he gave into his deepest desires, it just might start his troubles instead of finishing them.