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She shuddered, visibly blushing.

I traced my finger down from her collarbone. On the right side above her collarbone, I saw an exquisite little tattoo.

"Wild Rose?" I murmured the letters, fingertip circling that rose. "Little rose. Suits you. Thorns, but tempting as hell. Though tonight, you'll bloom for me."

"Oh God..." She moaned softly, almost curling into herself, but I firmly opened her back up.

"Be a good girl, okay?" I lowered my head, lips barely brushing her ear.

I'd planned to treat her like my usual experienced lovers—a little rough play, quick prep, then straight to business. This kind of mutually satisfying adult game, I'd always handled effortlessly.

But when I slid down her flat belly and started to slip beneath the edge of that red lace, I realized something was wrong.

She went rigid as a drawn bow. Her legs instinctively clamped shut, and a deeply suppressed, frightened whimper escaped her throat. Even the muscles of her inner thighs were shaking violently.

That tense, inexperienced defensive posture was absolutely not an act.

My hand stopped instantly.

I looked up, disbelief flooding through me as I stared at her face, drained of color from extreme tension. An absurd but crystal-clear thought struck me like lightning.

"Shit." I cursed under my breath. "Little rose, look at me. Answer me."

She bit her lip, tears sliding down from the corners of her eyes, wouldn't meet my gaze.

"You're still a virgin?"

She was planning to give away her most precious first time to me, a stranger, on the night she got cheated on—for revenge? To prove something?

She turned her head away in shame, tears falling on the charcoal pillow, nodded in humiliation.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

She seemed scared. I softened my voice, didn't want this to get too heavy.

"Because... because everyone said my body has no appeal..." She choked out, voice breaking into pieces, "I thought... I thought you'd be disgusted too..."

"Fucking bullshit."

I swore under my breath. In that moment, my urge to kill hit its peak. How many people had destroyed how much of this girl's confidence to make her this pitiful?

I released her wrists, bent down, kissed away the tears on her cheeks.

"Forget all that, cara." My lips pressed against her earlobe, voice rough. "Tonight, I'll prove to you, inch by inch, exactly how perfect you are."

I worked open her bra and pushed it aside. Her hands flew up instinctively to shield herself. I caught them gently and guided them back to the pillow.

"Don't," I said, voice low. "You're perfect right here."

My mouth closed over the swell of one breast, tongue circling the tight peak until it hardened against my lips. She made a small, broken sound. I switched to the other side, sucking softly, then harder when her back arched a fraction. The skin there was flushed, sensitive; I could feel her trembling under the attention. Lower still, I kissed the soft plane of her stomach, the place just above her navel that she had tried to suck in earlier as if ashamed of its gentle curve. My tongue traced the faint line, tasting her, mapping every inch she thought unlovely. She squirmed, a half-protest dying in her throat when I nipped lightly at the edge of her hipbone.

"This too," I whispered against her skin. "Especially this."

I cupped the backs of her thighs. She tensed again, thighs pressing together. I waited, kissing the inside of one knee, then the other, until the resistance softened. Only then did I part them, settling between. The scent of her arousal hit me, sharp and sweet. I pressed an open-mouthed kiss to the dampness of her panties, feeling the heat through the thin barrier. Her hips jerked.

"Easy," I soothed. "I'm not going anywhere."

I hooked my fingers in the waistband and drew the fabric down slowly, watching her face the entire time. Embarrassment still colored her cheeks, but something else was waking underneath—curiosity, maybe, or the first fragile spark of want. When the last barrier was gone I tossed it aside and simply looked. Pink, glistening, untouched. My cock throbbed hard against the confinement of my trousers, but I ignored it. Instead I lowered my head and kissed her there, soft at first, then with the flat of my tongue, tasting the slick evidence of her body's reluctant interest. She gasped, thighs twitching around my shoulders.