CHAPTER 403: CHAPTER 403 BREATHLESS ★

Warning: This Chapter contains intense adult intimacy and sensual graphic detail. Recommended for mature readers only.

His thumb brushed lightly against her hipbone as he studied her expression.

Her lashes fluttered, and her chest rose and fell with tiny, trembling breaths, but she didn’t push him away.

He read the answer in her eyes, in their shy, trusting silence.

"We’ll go slow," he whispered, more to himself than to her. Then, with a careful slowness that made Bella’s heartbeat echo in her ears, he lowered the band of her panties. The soft fabric glided down her hips, his knuckles brushing her skin as it slipped inch by inch along her thighs. Bella’s breath caught in her throat, her toes curling as warmth spread through her whole body.

Leo’s eyes darkened, his breath growing heavier, and he swallowed hard as more of her soft skin came into view. He tried to control himself, to not rush like a greedy wild beast. He wanted to savor every second, watching her reactions.

When the panties finally slipped past her knees and pooled at her ankles, he took them off and tossed them somewhere behind him. He exhaled a long, slow breath, as if he had been holding it the entire time.

"Beautiful..." he whispered, his voice barely audible as his hands slid up her thighs again, slow and reverent, completely lost in her.

Leo’s eyes darkened further when he looked at her delicate p*ssy, every breath he took slowing and deepening as if the sight of her had stolen the strength from his lungs. Bella’s whole body warmed under his stare, and she quickly covered herself with her hands, her cheeks burning as she tried to curl into the pillow.

"Don’t."

The single word fell from his mouth with quiet command, sharp enough to make her freeze.

His voice dropped even lower. "Hands above your head."

Bella swallowed, her blush deepening, but she lifted her arms slowly until they rested on the pillow, her wrists trembling. Her heart thudded wildly against her ribs, and a shiver rolled through her when he murmured,

"Good girl."

His hand brushed across her stomach in a soft pat, and she let out a tiny nervous giggle she hadn’t meant to make, her nerves twisting together with something warmer and needier.

Leo moved closer, his breath ghosting over her skin, his presence so near that Bella felt like the air around her had grown warmer. She could feel his gaze trailing over her with a hunger he no longer bothered to hide. Her thighs pressed together instinctively, trying to hide from him, but Leo’s fingers touched her knees and gently coaxed them apart again with slow, patient insistence.

"Leo..." she whispered, trying to sit up, overwhelmed by how intensely he was looking at her. "What are you doing?"

His tone snapped back into authority. "Lie back."

Her breath hitched at his seriousness, and she sank slowly against the pillow again, her arms still stretched above her head as he had ordered.

"And keep your hands where they are." His voice was firm but strangely gentle at the edges. "I want to see you. All of you."

Bella squeezed her eyes shut, feeling both shy and cherished, and the trembling inside her grew stronger. She could sense his warmth near her and feel the way he lingered close enough for his breath to brush her skin. Every tiny movement held an intimacy that made her entire body heat up.

Why was he looking at her like this?

Why did his gaze feel so intense it made her toes curl?

Her face burned with embarrassment, her chest rose in small, shaky breaths, and her thighs quivered as she tried not to close them again.

"Leo... you’re staring too much," she whispered weakly, her voice breaking with shyness.

His answer came out low, rough, and honest.

"I can’t help it, Bella. You’re too beautiful."

His voice wrapped around her like warm velvet, and before she could even take another breath, he leaned closer, his presence sinking into her skin like heat. His hand slid over the curve of her waist, slow and reverent, before moving lower...so close to her most delicate place that the air left her lungs in a trembling gasp.

When his hand touched her lightly there, she cried out softly, her fingers curling against the pillow as her body arched without her permission. No one had ever touched her there, not even close, and the shock of sensitivity washed through her in a wave so intense her breath shook.

"Leo..." she whispered, her voice cracking.

Her back lifted again when he brushed his fingers over her p*ssy, the contact so light yet so deliberate that she couldn’t hold back the sound that escaped her. Her thighs trembled, parting for him instinctively, and her whole body felt like it was melting under his hands.

Her eyes fluttered shut, lashes trembling, lips parted as she let out helpless little sounds that made Leo’s chest tighten. His expression shifted into something fierce and deeply satisfied, his gaze fixed on her the way a starving man watches something he finally has permission to devour.

"That’s it," he murmured, his voice husky and proud. "Let yourself feel it."

Bella whimpered, clutching the pillow above her head as her body responded to every slow, careful stroke he gave her. She felt overwhelmed, breathless, dizzy like he had unlocked something inside her she didn’t even know existed.

Leo watched every flutter of her lashes, every sound she made, every tiny tremble.

His voice came out rough with restraint.

"If just this much makes you breathless... what are you going to do when I take all of you?"

Her eyes opened at that, wide and dazed, and he leaned toward her face to kiss her cheek, her jaw, the corner of her mouth...each kiss more possessive than the last.

"But not tonight," he whispered, brushing his thumb across her trembling stomach. "I have to be patient with you. I promised myself that, but..."

Even though his restraint showed in the tightness of his jaw and the hunger burning in his eyes, he held himself back for her because she mattered more than his own desire.

"But... I’m going to explore you," Leo murmured, his voice low and rich against her skin, "and you’re going to take it like a good girl. Got it?"

Bella nodded quickly, her cheeks burning, and he rewarded her with a slow, intense kiss that stole her breath and left her dizzy.