"Couldn't you change that, if you really wanted to? If you let people see who you really are?"

Nicola had actually asked herself that question many, many times during the past year, every time her stylist brought her skimpier and skimpier outfits that were barely a few strips of fabric. If she were talking to her manager and record label and publicist, it seemed she couldn't. None of them were blind to the fact that her career had absolutely exploded after Kenny had betrayed her. She'd ended up on the cover of more than one magazine, had suddenly been hot property for late-night talk shows. Her popularity hadn't waned since. In fact, she'd only gotten bigger.

"I don't know," she said, and then, "Maybe." Another shrug. "My career has never been better. Maybe wild isn't necessarily a bad thing."

"No, wild isn't necessarily a bad thing," he agreed. "But it isn't you, is it, Nicola?"

How, she wondered a little helplessly, did he already know her so well? When their bodies were coming together last night, this morning, when he'd been pulling every ounce of pleasure from her, had he also been reaching into her heart to find the truth she'd been hiding from everyone else?

When she didn't say anything, he continued to hammer her in his gentle way. "I've only heard one song so far, but it was great. Seems to me you're talented enough to let your songs speak for themselves."

All of this was. .h.i.tting way too close to home. For a relationship that was just supposed to be about s.e.x, it sure felt like Marcus was going a whole heck of a lot deeper.

Simultaneously wanting to deflect his attention from her-and deciding it wasn't fair for him to be the one asking all the questions-she said, "Enough about me. During our dinner break today, Lori was telling me about your winery. How did you get started with that?"

Instead of answering her question, he said, "My sister likes to talk, doesn't she?"

She grinned. "You're her hero." Her smiled slipped as she softly said, "She told me that you basically raised her and her twin, along with a couple of your brothers who are just a bit older than she is."

Lori had almost been offhand about the fact that her father had died when she was two, leaving her mother with eight kids to raise on her own. Nicola had immediately wondered how much of the burden had fallen on Marcus's shoulders. Looking at him, knowing after only two nights how steady, how strong he was, she felt that she already knew the answer.

Marcus shifted her weight so that he could better reach her other foot. She groaned with pleasure as he began to press into the sensitive skin.

"Too hard?"

"No, it's just perfect."

The air sizzled after the word perfect, taking her right back to those moments when he'd been pounding into her and she'd been begging for more, for harder, for deeper. She knew he'd been afraid of hurting her.

But, oh, what little pain there'd been that first time had been so worth it.

"My father was a big backyard gardener," he said as he began to work his way from her foot to her calf. "My first memories are of digging in the dirt beside him as he planted tomatoes and strawberries."

Her insides went all gooey at the thought of Marcus as a toddler, jamming his shovel in the dirt. She tried to tell herself that she was just reacting like that because she loved babies, but she knew it was Marcus himself that had her melting. Of course, the fact that he was getting closer and closer to her thigh, nearer to the part of her body that was throbbing in antic.i.p.ation of his touch, was definitely contributing to her overall meltability.

"I've always admired people who have a green thumb." She looked at her own. "I'm afraid mine are the black thumbs of death. Plants run screaming when they see me coming."

She loved his grin as he said, "I don't think my thumbs are any greener than yours. It's really just math and science."

He made it all sound so easy, like he didn't have anything to do with it, but she didn't believe him. "That's like saying songs are just combinations of notes and words." She shook her head. "They are, but I've always thought what makes a song really special is some indefinable magic that's either there or it isn't. I'll bet your grapevines are like that." She smiled a small smile. "And that you're the magic that makes them grow so well."

"I've never thought of it like that," he said slowly. "As magic."

She was waiting for him to discount what she'd said, to go back to his whole quantifiable math and science thing. Instead, his eyes were intense, filled with that hunger that had her blood racing.

"You know, I think you might be onto something."

In an instant, the magic that had existed between them from that first moment in the club leapt back to life as if some s.e.x faery had just flown over with her wand.

Chapter Thirteen.

"Put your arms above your head, kitten."

She swallowed hard at his low-pitched command. After taking a shallow breath that didn't even come close to filling her lungs, she leaned into the pillow behind her back and slowly did as he asked.

Once her hands and arms were out of the way, he reached for the zipper of the loose sweater Lori had loaned her at the end of their very long day. "Do you remember what we agreed on this morning?" he asked her as he slowly drew the zipper down.

"Yes," she said, the sound more a breath than a word. "I remember."

"Good," he said, and then, "Tell me."

Oh G.o.d, that breathing thing was getting harder by the second, especially with his hands brushing over her b.r.e.a.s.t.s as he pulled the sweater open. Her nipples were sharp points against the thin fabric of her tank top.

"While we're together-" She couldn't bring herself to repeat what he'd said.

"Go on, I'm listening."

She took a shaky breath. She knew she didn't have to say it, but something inside her wanted to, wanted to please him. "-my body is as much yours as it is mine."

His eyes flared with approval...and so much desire it took what was left of her breath away. "Take your sweater and tank top off and then lie back with your hands above your head again."

Apart from the ma.s.sage, he hadn't even really touched her yet, and she was already soaked between her thighs from nothing more than his s.e.xy commands. Perhaps she shouldn't still be surprised at her reaction to his gentle dominance, to the fact that her body clearly loved it, but she was.

"Have you ever been spanked, Nicola?"

Her eyes flew to his as his shocking question yanked her from her musings. "Spanked?"

Her pulse began to flutter even more wildly at the thought of being laid out over his lap, bared to him from the waist down, his big hand coming down over her skin.

"No." She shook her head. "Of course not."

His mouth curved up at the corners at her reaction. But instead of saying anything more about spanking, he said, "What did I ask you to do?"

She suddenly realized that she hadn't yet taken off her sweater or tank top. She was torn for a split second between leaving them on and risking a spanking-a flood of arousal shot through her at the shocking thought-or doing as he asked.

Fear of the unknown-and of her own surprising desires-had her moving quickly to do as he asked.

When she was naked from the waist up, she lay back against the pillow and started to lift her arms. But even though Marcus was more than a little familiar with her b.r.e.a.s.t.s by now, she was still shy about baring herself to a man like this.

"You're doing beautifully."

His sweet words combined with the warmth in his eyes had her finally lifting her arms all the way up.

She expected him to touch, to fondle, to taste. Instead, he simply looked at her, for so long that her nipples ached terribly for him and the vee between her legs was throbbing and damp. And then, he surprised her by picking up her sweater and tying it around her wrists.

"Try to move your hands so I can see how tight that is."

His voice was husky, rich with desire. She moved her arms and found the binding to be soft against her skin, and yet, she knew she'd have to work quite hard if she wanted to be set free.

Two days ago, she would have sworn she would never let herself be put in a position like this. She should be pulling free. But she didn't want to, did she?

As if he were privy to the silent questions she was asking herself, Marcus said, "Tell me what you need, Nicola. Tell me what you want."

He put his hands on her waist, his tanned skin dark against her pale belly. She shivered at how small she was compared to him, at the knowledge that he could do anything he wanted to her right now, that she was completely helpless against his strength. Those thoughts shouldn't have made her more aroused. But, shockingly, they did.

"If you won't tell me, I'll just have to guess," he said before leaning over her bare torso. His hair tickled the underside of her chin as he pressed his mouth to her shoulder for just long enough that she was seared with his heat before he sat back.

She wasn't used to voicing her s.e.xual needs, but they were strong enough that she forgot all about keeping her hands above her head. She started to reach for him before remembering her hands were bound.

By Marcus.

Obviously seeing the flare of desire in her eyes, he said, "That's right, kitten. You're all mine to play with right now, aren't you?"

Seriously, for all that she portrayed a s.e.x bomb for the world, she was a feminist. Girl power was her thing. She should be freaking out right now.

Not practically coming at the thought of being all his to play with.

"This isn't-" She didn't know how to tell him what she was feeling, but somehow she knew it was important that she did. "I shouldn't be feeling like this."

"Tell me what you're feeling."

His low voice that rumbled over her, through her, made her want to give up all her secrets, all her desires that she hadn't even known were there, waiting to be uncovered this whole time.

"This isn't me. I don't like being bossed around."

She swore he almost smiled and strangely, instead of being angered by it, instead of feeling like he was laughing at her, it made her feel like maybe she wasn't so weird after all to be liking these things he was saying-and doing-to her.

"Am I bossing you around?"

She was about to say yes, when she realized it wasn't precisely true. "You tell me to do things," she whispered, unable to look at him now, feeling more shy than she ever had before. "I shouldn't do them." She could feel how hot her face was. "I shouldn't like doing them."

His fingers slid beneath her chin and gently tipped her face back up to his. "I love watching you respond to me. I love watching the most beautiful woman I've ever seen tremble with desire in front of me. I love hearing you beg me to touch you, to kiss you, to take you."

Everything he'd just said, the rough quality of his voice as he said it, had her shivering with l.u.s.t. But still, she felt she should try one last protest, one last bid for sanity. "But I'm the one who usually tells people what to do."

"Have you thought that maybe this is the break you've been waiting for?" he said softly. "That this is the chance to let someone take care of you for a few hours, instead of having to take care of everything yourself?"

Her brain felt fuzzy with desire, but even so, what he was saying made sense.

"Touch me now, Marcus. Kiss me." She paused, gathering up all her courage. "Take me."

The next thing she knew, she was laid out flat and Marcus was over her, his large body pressing hers into the cushions. He made sure her bound hands remained over her head with one of his while the other moved between her legs at the exact moment that he covered her breast with his mouth.

She arched into his touch, their conversation about how much he liked telling her what to do and how much she liked doing it-not to mention the ma.s.sage before that-more than enough foreplay to prime her for even the slightest touch.

"Give me more, Nicola," he urged her, his words hot as he feathered kisses across her chest so that he could take her other nipple into his mouth. "Give it all to me."

Her inner muscles clenched so tightly on his fingers in response that she actually cried out at the pleasure-pain as she climaxed beneath him. His thumb made delicious circles of pleasure over her c.l.i.toris and she pressed her hips into his hand over and over again as her o.r.g.a.s.m continued to shake through her.

Almost incoherent with exhaustion from the way the climax had wrung out her system, she was only vaguely aware of Marcus unwrapping the sweater from around her wrists and moving to remove his clothes. Through half-closed lids she watched him go to the bathroom and then return with a condom on over his hugely erect shaft. Her arms weren't bound anymore, but she simply didn't have the strength to move them.

And then he was kneeling in front of the couch and shifting her so that her back and shoulders were braced against the cushions, but her hips were hanging off the edge. Before she could take her next breath, his hands gripped her bottom and he surged into her.

She curled her fingers into the couch, needing to hold onto something as he took her body, made her irrevocably his, owned her as nothing but music ever had. And even as exhausted as she was from her day, from the ma.s.sage, from the mind-splitting o.r.g.a.s.m she'd just had, the feel of his thick shaft had her pulling from her final well of energy.

Needing to feel his hard muscles beneath her fingertips, she reached for him. Winding her arms around his neck, she pulled herself up so that her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were rubbing against the dark hairs on his chest. Her mouth found his, greedy for his kisses-kisses she'd dreamed of all day long, even as she'd tried to convince herself that she was too busy to think of him.

He kissed her back just as hungrily, as if he couldn't get enough of her, and then he was groaning against her lips, and she could feel him grow even bigger, filling her so completely she had to fight for breath.

And then he broke their kiss and threw his head back, coming with a loud roar that excited her so much, with the sound of his pleasure still reverberating in the room and his pelvis rubbing against her c.l.i.toris, Nicola was pitched over the edge yet one more time.

Straight into Marcus's waiting arms.

Chapter Fourteen.

Marcus was getting too used to waking up with Nicola curled up in his arms. When he was making love with her and she was coming at him with all her hunger and pa.s.sion, he almost forgot how small she was. But as he spooned her body in the big bed, he was reminded all over again.

His erection stirred against her a.s.s as she shifted in her sleep and rubbed against him. She was holding one of his hands over her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and he had to dig deep for a control that had been missing practically since the moment he'd met her. He would not take her before she even woke up.

He tightened his hold on her, pulled her closer into him, even as he forced himself to face the insanity of what he was doing.

He shouldn't have spent more than one night with Nicola. h.e.l.l, even one night on Smith's couch while she slept on his lap had been too much. He definitely shouldn't be looking forward to an entire day with her, shouldn't feel like a kid in a candy store at the chance to see the way her skin glowed in the sunlight, to wait with held breath for her to laugh again and fill his soul with her joy and beauty.

And he sure as h.e.l.l shouldn't be dreading saying goodbye to her when she got on her next plane to another town, another show.

He was so focused on steeling himself against everything he shouldn't be feeling for her that he was caught off guard by the slow slide of her tongue against one of his fingers, and then another, and another.

Jesus, was she really going to lick her way up each finger, one at a time?

Holy h.e.l.l, she was.

Thank G.o.d he'd put some condoms close enough to the bed for him to easily grab one. Hating to take his hands from her for any longer than he absolutely needed to, he broke the wrapper open with his teeth and quickly slid it down his throbbing shaft.

There were no words between them as he put his hands on her thigh and shifted her hips so that he could position his c.o.c.k head at her entrance...and slide right into the wetness already waiting for him.

Her breath left her in a hard whoosh as he bottomed out inside of her and gripped her hips to pull her back tightly against his chest. They lay like that for a long moment, his c.o.c.k throbbing inside of her as she clenched and tightened around him.