Save Me by Shara Azod Read Free Book Online Page A

to himself, telling himself all the overtures she made towards him were merely gratitude.  The truth was he didn’t know how to deal with this, with all that she brought out in him. It was scary wanting someone like this, needing someone like this. So he had tried to deny it. For what? This moment had been as inevitable as the sun rising in the east. The old Claus had died the moment he’d killed Grgur, and Alicia’s Claus had been born. A better Claus, because that was what she deserved.
    That was why as soon as they made it to his room, he took a step away from her. Distance was needed in order for him to keep his head, and it was so very important now more than ever that he keep a firm grasp on his control. Going to his room instead of the suite he had procured for her was strategic. His room was far simpler, though at the Hotel Adlon Kempinski, every room offered a certain amount of luxury.
    “You wouldn’t be more comfortable in the suite?” she asked, looking confused.
    The suite, not my suite. She always did that—referred to things as if they were a coupel already. He guessed they were, and in a way, had been for a very long time.
    “You could change your mind,” he explained. “It would be easier for you to leave my rooms to escape to your own, ja ?” It was getting harder to speak. Everything about him seemed harder, so fucking ready. His body was tight with long anticipation.
    “Claus, I promise you I want this.” The earnestness in her eyes nearly unmanned him. She had no idea what she was doing to him. No clue how badly he needed her. “I want this. I want you.”
    As if it were ever going to play out any other way. Both of them had known it.
    “Then you shall have me as you want me.”
    Walking even a short distance away from her was hell, but Claus was determined that the night be entirely on her terms. For far too long he had dreamed about this. Riding the razor’s edge of sanity. Shucking his suit coat, he threw it casually over a chair before sprawling his big body in an overstuffed armchair. Unbuttoning his shirt to almost mid-chest, he paused.
    “You will take from me what you want,” he told her in a low growl. “Whatever you wish.”
    “What?” Alicia blinked at him, shifting from one foot to another. She had assumed he would take control, but that was something he just couldn’t do. Not tonight. Trust was earned, and in this, he hoped she would trust him sexually as she did in every other way.
    “I am here.” He gestured to his deceptively lazy body. Underneath he was coiled tight. “I want you very much, Alicia. Too much. It’s important for me that you take control. For tonight. You lead, and I will follow.”
    The bafflement on her face would have been almost funny, if he hadn’t been hurting so very badly to be inside her. If he weren’t aching for her that no one had ever given her this option before.
    “I don’t understand.” Damn it, she looked close to tears. That wasn’t what he had intended at all.
    “ Mein engel, you have never had a man who allowed you control, am I right?” It was so hard to stay seated. He wanted to go to her, wrap his arms around her to take away her fear. But this was not something he could kiss better. This was the one thing she had to do all on her own.
    When she nodded, he pressed on. “Tonight, all the control is yours.”
    “But you aren’t like any of the men…” She stopped, took a deep breath, then shook her head. “You’re not any of them. You wouldn’t be like them. I trust you.”
    The problem was, he was a little like them. Underneath, he was a criminal, a thief, and so much worse. The only difference was he would rather die than hurt her.
    “And this is where I will prove it. Tonight I am yours to command.” More than just tonight, but they would cross that bridge when they got there.

Chapter Six
     
    He really wasn’t going to make a move, Alicia realized. Not sure what else to do, she began to walk toward the