Damien POV
The taste of Isabella's lips was everything I'd dreamed about for seven years. She melted against me like she'd been made to fit in my arms, her soft moan sending fire straight through my blood. Every wall I'd built around my heart crashed down the moment she kissed me back.
Mine. Finally mine.
I pressed her against the tall windows overlooking the city, my hands gripping her waist through her silk dress. She gasped when her back hit the cool glass, her green eyes dark with hunger that matched my own.
"Seven years," I said against her neck, tasting her racing pulse. "Seven fucking years I've wanted you like this."
Her fingers tangled in my hair, pulling hard enough to make me groan. "Then stop talking and take me."
Take me. Christ, the way she said it, demanding and desperate, made me want to devour her whole.
I found that spot on her neck that always drove her crazy, the place that made her arch against me with need. She hadn't changed. Her breath caught, her head falling back to give me more access to her throat.
"You taste the same," I whispered, biting gently. "Sweet and dirty and perfect."
Her laugh was breathless. "Damien, please, "
"Please what?" I pulled back to look at her, lips swollen, chest rising fast, looking like every wet dream I'd had. "Tell me what you want."
"You," she said, her hands sliding down my bare chest. "I want you to fuck me until I forget everything else exists."
The words hit me like a punch. I kissed her harder, deeper, until she was making those small sounds that used to drive me insane. My hands found her zipper, pulling it down in one smooth motion.
"Fuck, you're beautiful," I breathed as her dress hit the floor. Black lace lingerie that made my mouth water, curves that were even better than I remembered. "So goddamn beautiful."
She shivered, color flooding her cheeks, but she pressed closer instead of pulling away. Her nearly naked body against mine was torture and paradise at once.
"Your turn," she said, already working at my pants. "I want to see all of you."
My pajama pants joined her dress on the floor. Her eyes went wide when she saw how hard I was for her, her tongue darting out to wet her lips in a way that made me throb.
"Holy shit," she whispered, her hand reaching out to touch my chest. "You're not the same boy."
"No," I said, catching her hand and pressing it over my heart. "I'm the man you made me. Strong enough to take what I want and keep it."
"What do you want?" she asked, though her body was already telling me she knew.
"Everything," I said simply. "Your body, your heart, all of you. I want you to forget every other man and remember you're mine."
She moaned, her legs wrapping around my waist as I lifted her. The feel of her hot center pressing against me through thin lace was almost enough to end me right there.
"Bed," she gasped. "Now."
But I wasn't done with her yet. I held her against the window, the city lights making her skin glow. My hands slid up her thighs to the straps of her lingerie.
"Not yet," I said, tearing the lace away like paper. "I've waited too long to rush this."
She cried out as I bared her completely, her body perfect and wanting in my hands. Better than any fantasy.
"You're staring," she said, but she wasn't shy about it.
"I'm memorizing," I said, my hands exploring every curve. "Every inch of you." My thumb found her nipple, circling until she arched with a gasp. "Every sound you make when I touch you here, " My hand slid lower, finding the wet heat between her legs. "And here."
"Damien," she breathed, moving against my hand. "Please."
"Please what? Say it."
"Please touch me," she whispered, blushing but not backing down. "Make me come. Make me forget everything but you."
I stroked her until she was shaking, until she was so close I could feel her body tightening around my fingers.
"Let go," I commanded. "Come for me. Let me watch."
She shattered with a cry that was pure sex, her whole body trembling as pleasure took her. I held her through it, my own need forgotten in the face of her beautiful surrender.
When she came back to herself, her eyes were soft and hungry at the same time.
"Now bed," she said, her voice rough. "Because I'm not done with you."
I carried her to my bedroom, laying her down on black sheets that made her look like a goddess. Isabella Sterling spread across my bed was a sight that brought me to my knees.
"Seven years of dreaming," I said, settling beside her. "And you're better than any fantasy."
"Show me," she challenged, her hand wrapping around my cock with strokes that made me see stars. "Show me what seven years of wanting feels like."
What happened next was more than sex. It was claiming and being claimed, taking and giving, seven years of need finally satisfied. When I finally pushed inside her, when she wrapped herself around me like she never wanted to let go, it felt like coming home.
"Mine," I said as we moved together. "Say it. Say you're mine."
"Yours," she gasped, her body taking me deeper. "Always yours. Even when I hated you, always yours."
That broke me. I took her harder, faster, until we both went over the edge together in a climax that felt like redemption.
After, we lay tangled in sheets and satisfaction, her head on my chest, my fingers in her hair.
"So what now?" she asked. "We've started a war with Blackwood, I've basically quit my job, and we just had mind-blowing reunion sex. What's next?"
I smiled. Still my brilliant Isabella, able to switch from lover to strategist without missing a beat.
"Now we give Blackwood something he never expected," I said.
"Which is?"
"A team. He's been counting on us destroying each other. Tomorrow, when your board meets to fire you, they're getting a surprise."
"What kind?"
"Cross Enterprises makes a formal offer to buy Sterling Industries. Not a hostile takeover, a merger. With you as co-CEO and me as majority owner."
She lifted her head, eyes bright with understanding.
"We save Sterling Industries by giving it to you," she said. "Protect the employees and screw Blackwood."
"And we do it as partners," I added, rolling her under me again because seven years was a lot of lost time. "In every way."
"Partners," she repeated, smiling. "I like that."
"Good," I said, kissing her because I could now, because she was mine. "Because we're about to show Blackwood what happens when he messes with us."
Tomorrow we fight. Tonight, she's mine.