Faith closed her eyes as his lips met hers, gently at first, then more insistently. The heat of his lips, the taste of his tongue, the strength of his arms around her—all of the sensations combined inside Faith's chest and stirred the embers of her desire, sparks catching and flames licking. The fire spread down through her arms and legs until the tips of her fingers and toes crackled with energy.
She was left breathless when Troy finally pulled back.
"How did that kiss make you feel?" he asked. "And remember, I'll know if you're lying."
Faith struggled to find the words to describe what she was feeling, but there were simply too many layers, too many emotions swirling together. Eventually, however, she thought of a single word that summed up the experience.
"Alive."
Troy growled in approval. "That's exactly right. Touching each other doesn't make our lives worse in any way. It's all good. It's heaven."
Faith caught her breath at his use of a word that represented a sacred part of her religion—but as she thought about it, she realized he was right.
When they touched, she forgot all of her apprehension, objections, and conflict between her beliefs and desires. Tension and torment vanished, replaced by pleasure…even ecstasy.
He was right. It was remarkably similar to what she had always thought heaven must be like.
Faith felt as though she could no longer be sure of anything. When Troy was this close to her, when his touch lit the fire in her blood, she no longer knew what she believed. Being with him had a way of making all the things Faith knew fly away, of making her question everything she had accepted as truth.
And her confusion only grew as he pulled his shirt over his head, his bare chest more temping than ever in the firelight's warm glow.
"What do you want, Faith?" Troy asked quietly. "To go back to people who will curse and despise you, or to stay here with me?"
Faith's heart fluttered, her thoughts splintering like a drift of confetti. She balled her hands into fists, trying desperately to resist the urge to touch all that gorgeous bare skin in front of her. To feel his heat. To soak in his strength.
To give in completely and accept him deep within her body.
Troy must have sensed her hesitation because he didn't wait for her answer, just lifted her hand and placed it against his chest. Her fingers slowly relaxed into his warmth and unfurled against him, feeling the strong and steady beat of his heart.
The heart of an alpha, yes—but a man, not a devil.
A man different from every other she had ever known. A man who made her feel things she never knew were possible.
"Tell me what you want, Faith," he repeated.
And just like that, she was lost.
"You," she whispered. "I want you."
His reaction was immediate. Troy lifted her up and carried her to his bed, tracing a path Faith remembered deep in her soul, the same path they'd taken their first time. There was no fog clouding her mind now, no overwhelming rush of hormones that she could blame her lust on.
Faith had chosen this.
Now she could only pray that her choice was the right one.
It felt more than right when Troy laid her down on the edge of his bed—it felt natural. As though their lives were destined to lead to this moment. As though they'd been made for each other.
When Troy peeled off her dress, Faith lifted her arms, urging him to hurry. When he kicked off his pants, the first hot rush of slick gushed out of her.
For the first time, she didn't try to hold it back. Instead, she watched his eyes darken to navy as he drank in the change in her scent.
Sliding his hands between her knees, Troy spread her legs and bent to lower his head between them.
Faith tensed. This was still so new, so unfamiliar. Maybe if they stuck with the things she'd already known men and women did together, she could work up to…the other things.
"Troy, you don't have to—"
"Sweetness, I know I don't have to do a goddamn thing," he said, raising his head to grin at her. "But, you can't tempt me with all this honey and not expect me to take a taste."
Faith sucked in a breath as his tongue swiped up the length of her thigh until he reached her opening—and she found herself aching with need.
"Your pussy might make me believe in God after all," Troy muttered before plunging his tongue between her private lips and finding her secret spot again.
Faith tried to stifle her own sounds of pleasure, despite the sizzling sensations that shot through her. But as he laved and stroked her in all the ways he'd done before and then some, she couldn't contain her cries any longer, until he brought her to a release that was far too sweet to be cursed.
While she was still feeling the echoing waves of her orgasm, Troy moved above her.
"Tell me you want it," he said. "Tell me you want me."
"I do," she gasped.
But that wasn't enough to satisfy Troy. He growled and lifted her hips up off the bed as though she weighed nothing. This time when Faith wrapped her legs around him, her wet opening brushed against the head of his shaft. She looked up and sucked in a breath at the predatory look in his eyes.
“You'll have to do better than that," he growled. "I want to hear all your nasty thoughts, the things you think when you're about to come. Let me hear you say you want my cock. Let me see your angel mouth telling me all your dirty secret desires."
Faith blanched, but she couldn't stave off the fever inside her building again. It was as though his commands were doing the opposite of what they ought to.
Instead of feeling shame, she felt excitement. Instead of pulling back in revulsion, her body reacted by gushing and trembling and aching for him.
But he couldn't expect
