He pinched and tugged at her nipples and massaged her breasts, and then his mouth covered one soft mound, suckling, a hot, moist furnace that was pure torture. Her womb clenched and her inner muscles clamped down hard, needing. She heard her own soft cry, and it didn't sound anything at all like her.

Jake lifted his head, eyes gleaming with sheer male satisfaction, and then caught her hand and slid it into the loop he had waiting. "Hold that. Don't let loose." He placed her fingers around the loop attached to the other side of his desk.

"You've been thinking about this for hours, haven't you?" she asked, gripping the leather tightly. "Bondage, Jake? Is this my lesson for the week?"

"Hours?" His eyebrow shot up. "Weeks. Months."

He bent his head and licked at her nipples again, first one and then the other, his mouth hot as he suckled at her, tugging with his teeth, laving with his tongue while she arched her back to push herself closer into his mouth. Her hips bucked and she writhed, trying to rub her body against his, to get at his leg or his shaft, anything to relieve the building pressure. But her thighs were spread too far apart, and if she stayed where he put her, she was helpless.

"You aren't ready for bondage yet, honey. You can get out if you start to panic or feel uncomfortable. I never want you to be afraid of anything we do. I just want to drive you crazy until you can't think about anything but me being inside you and when I'll let you have your next orgasm." His smile was a little wicked smirk. "Until you beg me. Begging would be appropriate."

She touched her tongue to her upper lip, panting, trying to remain calm when all she wanted to do was jerk her hands free and grab him. She tried a little snort of derision, but she was already hot enough to start the begging process. "Now what are you going to do?"

"With my new desk ornament?" He licked her belly down to her mound. "I'm going to work. You're an inspiration for me."

Naked, he sank back down into his chair and awakened his laptop. Pulling up a report, he slid his hand up the inside of her thigh, fingers massaging while he read. Emma gasped as every nerve ending went into a frenzy. She hadn't realized how waiting could be so erotic, or how it would feel to be spread across his desk, her body open, completely on display for him, while he frowned at his work, his fingers sliding almost absently over her silky smooth skin, climbing higher and higher until- He dropped his hand away to do something on the keyboard. Emma released her breath in a little rush of disappointment. He hadn't really touched her, and yet she'd never been wetter or more ready for him. Every point in her body strained for his touch. Her breasts ached, her throat felt stretched and needy, her mouth dry, wanting him to fill it. Her sheath was on fire. She wouldn't be surprised if the desk burst into flames underneath her, and Jake was barely paying attention to her.

She closed her eyes, determined not to let him get to her. The pads of his fingers were back again, stroking her thigh, moving higher. His thumb traced along her wet slit, made absent circles around her hard nub until she moaned and her thighs jumped in reaction. He dropped his hand away from her and continued to read.

A few minutes later, his tormenting fingers were back, this time traveling the same route, making the circles on her inner thighs, stroking and caressing, and then his fingers plunged into her. She cried out as his fingers retreated and returned, over and over, stretching and teasing, dancing inside her, flicking at her hard little bud, sending streaks of fire racing through her body, but never giving her relief. He just built the tension higher and higher until she was stretched on a rack of pleasure so intense she was nearly crying for release.

Close, so close, she reached for the edge, but abruptly he withdrew his hand and sat at his desk, absently licking his fingers while he continued to read.

"The word 'bastard' comes to mind," Emma hissed.

"I was having trouble concentrating all day, thanks to you. I think you deserve a little sensual torture."

"Jake . . ." Emma couldn't stop the faint pleading note from creeping into her voice. Demands weren't going to work with him, but, honestly, she was going to go up in flames. He'd said she had to beg him. Well, that wasn't going to happen.

Jake pressed a button and music flooded the room. He ignored her again and she closed her eyes, listening to the weeping notes, feeling every one of them vibrating through her throbbing channel. She considered allowing her hand to pull free of the leather and drift down to relieve the ache that built and built, but that would be cheating, and she wasn't about to cheat.

His hands circled her thigh and she felt the rub of his shadowed jaw on her sensitive skin. Her eyes flew open. His head nuzzled between her legs, his tongue licking at the insides of her thighs. His teeth scraped, making her muscles tighten. Waves of pleasure wracked her entire body and her sheath was flooded with liquid desire. His hair slid over her skin, teasing the insides of her thighs, her mound and her exposed, hardened nub.

His tongue flicked and she cried out as every muscle tensed and a streak of fire raced through her. His smile was wicked, his eyes molten gold, hooded, heavy with lust. He dipped his head low and stabbed his tongue deep. Her hips bucked. A sob escaped as she writhed under his assault, trying to push herself onto him. He kept his hands on her thighs, holding her pinned to the desk while he feasted on her. He was careful to avoid her engorged clit, careful to keep her teetering on the edge. Every now and then he'd flick the hard bud and scrape against it with his teeth so that she cried out and squirmed.

"Jake." Her voice was a wail now. "I really can't take it."

He pressed kisses into her soft, moist heat. "What do you want, honey?"

"You. Inside me. Just let me-" She bucked again when his tongue made lazy circles around and over her. Her entire body shuddered. So close . . . Just out of reach. If he touched her just one more time, she'd go spinning off into subspace.

He stood up abruptly, leaving her gasping.

"Jake. What are you doing?" She lifted her head slightly to try to watch him walk around the desk again. "Get back here and do something before I spontaneously combust."

"I don't think so. You're not being very good." His hand slid up her belly to tug at her nipples, making her breath hiss out between her teeth. "I think you need to wait."

"Don't I get a safe word? Because I think this is torture."

He laughed softly and tugged on her head until she slid just a couple of inches, straining her arms and legs just a little and allowing her head to hang over the side of the desk. She had no hands, no leverage, leaving her completely at his mercy. "I think we're going to use that mouth of yours for something other than trying to torment me." He cupped her face and kissed her, a long, leisurely, hungry kiss.

He moved behind her head, his impressive erection over her face. Her heart beat faster, her thigh muscles twitched with arousal and her mouth watered at the sight of him standing there, long and thick and so on fire for her. She knew what he was doing. Claiming her. Showing her who she belonged to. Feeling in control.

She had gone from simply going along with his silly domination routine to wanting his pleasure above all else, even above her own. Whatever he needed, she wanted to provide. Without her hands, Emma realized she had to really work at understanding how to please him-to pleasure him. And she never wanted him to forget this moment-or her, and what she could do to him. When he moved into position above her, she rubbed her face against him, all over him, almost purring like a cat. She saw his start of surprise and he stopped trying to take control from her, allowing her to nuzzle him.

Jake was shocked at the sensations exploding through him just at the feeling of her face rubbing along his shaft, at the sensuality of the act itself. He was shocked at how she loved him, never pulling away, never turning her face from him. Her eyes went soft, almost glazed, as if by giving him pleasure, she was enjoying herself, even delighting in her sensual play. His breath nearly stopped when she took him in her mouth, not deep, just enough to apply slow, wet heat and soft suction. Just enough for her tongue to curl and tease around and under the mushroomed head where he was most sensitive.

She made him soft inside-like mush-when his body was rock-hard. He looked down at her face, her eyes half closed, long lashes like two thick crescents fluttering against her skin, her mouth worshiping him. Worshiping. He had been with a lot of women and none had ever looked like that. Enthralled with giving him pleasure. Caring that she took him to another place. Other women had fallen under his domination and submitted to his will, wanting their reward-wanting him to pleasure them. Thinking they would come away with a ring on their finger and a fat bank account at their disposal.

She kissed the broad, flat head and then along his shaft before sliding her mouth over him again in a slow, loving movement that nearly had him on his knees. She sucked gently, the feel of her tight mouth sizzling along every nerve ending he had. Her mouth left him again so she could give the same treatment to his balls. He was already tight, boiling hot, and she nuzzled, kissed and licked him with that same purring vibration that nearly drove him wild.

He was melting, damn it, turning inside out. She was taking control of him again, making love to him. He felt the emotion wrapping around him like living silk, squeezing him, milking him, tightening around his heart the way her mouth tightened around his cock-strangling him until he couldn't breathe for the pleasure.

He caught her long hair, wrapping it around his fists, startling her. His heart beat too fast, nearly exploding in his chest. His lungs burned for lack of air. He took back control the only way he knew how, taking over, forcing her compliance when she would have given it to him freely, because if he didn't-if he didn't-he would be lost for all time. Her mouth was tight as he slid deeper. Jake thrust his hips closer, his head thrown back in ecstasy.

"Come on, honey, you can do it. Breathe. Take me farther. I love the feel of your mouth and throat squeezing me like this. You want this as much as I do. This is one of those lessons that is very important. Relax your throat for me." He didn't want her to ever know that she had cut him off at the knees with her lovemaking. He couldn't let that happen.

Emma wasn't certain what happened. One moment she was thoroughly enjoying herself, loving him, feeling his response, and the next he was treating her objectively, as if her only reason for living was to service him. Was that his only way of receiving pleasure? She tried to please him, struggling to take his thickness, feeling the need in him, the pleasure bursting through him. Her throat was sore from his size and he controlled every move, which was just a little frightening, but also vaguely exciting to her. His fists were tight on either side of her head, as he slid in and out of her mouth, holding himself deep for a few moments and then pulling back just enough so she could breathe.

The phone rang and Emma froze. Jake released one hand from her hair and hit the speaker phone before gripping her hair again and thrusting more gently this time, urging Emma to continue.

"Yes?" His voice was gruff.

Emma smiled, relieved he wasn't as casual and unaffected as he acted. Deliberately she swirled her tongue around the flared head, teasing the underside. If he could try to keep his mind on his business while she lay naked, sprawled out on his desk with his shaft sliding erotically down her throat, she was going to make certain it wasn't going to be easy for him.

"They've come back with a counteroffer, Mr. Bannaconni, one I think is really exciting as well as advisable to take." Dean Hopkins, the manager of his real estate business, once again called to persuade him to sell. "I took the liberty of beginning to draw up the papers so you would just have to sign them."

"No." The word was clipped, harsh. Jake threw back his head and moved his hips, so close to ecstasy his ears were ringing.

"But, Mr. Bannaconni, we're losing money every month. It's pouring out of here, covering the mortgages on all the property you've bought up, and nothing is coming in. We're not going to get another offer like this."

"No." His voice was hoarse.

Emma flattened her tongue and stroked, humming softly as Jake slid deeper, increasing the vibration, going back to her way of making love to him. He gave a soft sigh of pleasure and she relaxed, focusing completely on his erection, making it her entire world, a playground of sensual pleasure where nothing else mattered to her. She used her lips and tongue and the gentle edge of her teeth, used her throat and her mouth, pouring her love into, around him, so that the world surrounding her receded and even the sound of his voice drifted far away.

She reached her head back farther and the position caused her to be aware of the stretch of her arms and legs, of her neck, and she moaned. She knew he felt it from his reaction. She felt him swell more.

"We're done, Hopkins," Jake hissed and abruptly leaned over to punch the button on the phone again, disconnecting. The action caused her muscles to squeeze him tightly. She didn't fight, although it must have hurt, must have been frightening, the loss of breath and complete control. He hadn't meant to do it. He withdrew, hardly able to breathe himself, let alone walk with his body full and hard and pulsing with desperate need. Her eyes watched him, sparkling emerald jewels, just watched and waited, never condemning, never hating, her body lying open and ready and willing to do anything for him. Not for money. Not for her pleasure. Simply because she loved him.

"Damn you, Emma," he said softly, moving around to position himself between her spread thighs. "You're killing me slowly."

"Maybe I should give you a safe word, Jake," she answered, her voice soft.

"What would it be?" He caught her foot and tugged it out of the loop, wrapping her leg around his waist and then repeating the action with the other one.

"Love." She smiled at him, that slow, gentle smile that left him weak. "I know you won't use it and we can go on like this forever. I want you to be inside me forever."

"What the hell am I going to do with you?" There was soft despair in his voice, a strangled note of love that rasped over his skin like the caress of her fingers.

He thrust into her body, driving through her soft folds, needing to be deep within her, to feel her surround him, skin to skin, the hot flames licking up his legs to his thighs, centering in his shaft as he welded them together. "Stay with me, honey. Right with me." He kept his pace slow, savoring the heat of her, the way he moved inside of her, the way he felt in that moment, almost as if their souls slid against each other. "Give me your hands."

He bent his body over hers, and when she held up her hands, he wove his fingers tightly through hers and stretched her arms over her head, holding her beneath him, covering her, blanketing her, his body driving deeper, wanting to touch her inside as deeply as she touched him.

Her hips picked up his rhythm as he rode her, rising to meet each hard thrust. He was big and he could feel himself bumping against her cervix, pushing deeper, insisting she take all of him. And she did. No matter how much he asked of her, she gave him more. This time he was the one who needed to see into her soul.

"Look at me." He had to know it was there, real or not. He didn't even give a damn anymore, he had to see her looking back at him with love in her eyes.

Her gaze met his and he was lost again. Drowning. Whatever he had been before her was gone and only this man-both man and cat; he didn't know anymore-looked back at him.

"Who am I, Emma?" he challenged softly. "Who's inside of you so deep I'm part of you. Who am I?"

He surged forward again, plunging through the tight muscles, feeling the fire spread up over his belly, threatening to consume him. Her breath hissed out between her teeth and her eyes glazed, but she didn't look away. She kept her gaze locked with his.

"Jake. You're Jake. The man I love with every breath in my body."

"Can you really love who I am, Emma?" He took another dizzying stroke, watching her eyes go opaque.

"Yes." Her hips rose to meet him.

"The man and the cat? The rage? The domination? Can you live with that?" He slammed into her hard. Aggressively. Tearing through her silken sheath to bump hard against her cervix.

She didn't even wince. Instead, she smiled that slow, gentle smile that turned his heart inside out.

"I love everything about you, Jake. Everything. But can you live with me-with this? With me loving you? With you loving me back?"

His eyes burned and his throat closed. He held her pinned beneath him, his body thrusting in and out of hers, while his blood sang and the fire ran up from his belly to his chest, burning over his lungs and heart to consume him. He heard his hoarse shout. Her name. Emma. His life. His world. Emma. That was all. That was everything.

Her muscles clamped down on him, raw silk, alive with heat and fire and something much, much more. He didn't know what she did to him, only that when he was deep inside her she took him all the way in, to someplace far beyond what he'd ever known or imagined. He heard her soft cries, knew there would be no holding back, and he let himself go, giving himself up to the sheer ecstasy her body provided. He emptied himself into her, feeling the earth-shattering orgasm ripping through her body, through his, so that for that never-ending moment stolen in time, they were one body, one soul.

Jake stayed draped over her, still deep inside her, spent, fighting for air, his body sated and limber, stretched out across hers, his arms caging in her head while he buried his face in the softest part of her neck. His eyes burned, his body shuddering. He held her tight to him, his lips pressed against her pulse while she wept for him. If this was love, whatever was between them, he had no intention of ever losing it.

"Jake." Emma untangled her fingers from him. His face was wet against her neck. She stroked caresses over his head, not wanting to make him move, but barely able to breathe with his weight pressing her into the wood of the desk. "Are you all right?"

He lifted his head, his hands framing her face. He looked stricken and his eyes seemed wet, but she couldn't tell if there were tears.

"I swear, Emma, every time I'm in you, the fucking earth moves." He lowered his head and kissed her. Not one of his usual demanding, take-charge kisses, but a long, lingering, tender kiss that left her weak and shaken.

Jake carefully slid his body from hers, helping her to sit on the edge of his desk. His hands steadied her as she swayed a little. "Can you stand up, Emma?"

"Jake?" Emma wrapped her arms around his neck and used him to pull herself into a standing position. She stood, swaying against him, afraid her legs wouldn't hold her. "Next time, I want a bed. I mean it. No floors, no outdoors, no desks-an actual bed."

He laughed softly and hugged her to him. "That's a promise."

She lifted her face for another kiss. "Sex with you is an adventure, but I'm thinking I might be getting too old for it. Give me a mattress and I'll be a happy woman." She looked at the bathroom door. It seemed miles away. "You're going to have to carry me."

"What makes you think my legs are working?" he demanded, cautiously straightening to his full height. His golden eyes searched her face. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

She smoothed the lines of anxiety from his face. "I'll let you know when you've hurt me, Jake." She slid her arms around his neck and held him to her. "I'm not going anywhere."

"You should, Emma." He buried his face in the fall of silken red hair. She smelled of sex and essentially Emma. She smelled like his. "Why don't you want to marry me immediately?"

Emma sighed, savoring the feeling of his body against hers. "Because you still think you have to trap me into staying, Jake. How are you going to believe I love you and accept who you are if you can't trust in me? If you can't accept who you are and believe you're worth loving?"

He swung her into his arms, cradling her against his chest. "You don't have their blood running in your veins like I do. It's hard to trust myself when two monsters made me."

She tilted her chin at him. "Yes, I do have bad blood running in my veins. My father was Trent's nephew. He went to the rain forest to find a woman, seduce her, bring her back to the States and sell her. I don't really think my bloodline is all that much better than yours. And as Trent was very willing to rape me that night, and watch someone else rape me, I'm thinking he's right up there with your enemies."

She smoothed his hair and leaned into him to brush kisses along his jaw and the corner of his mouth. "You made something of yourself, Jake, because you had a code and you've always lived by it. You're strong and you're good and so is that part of you that is your cat. The traits you don't like in yourself will always be there, and like the rest of us who have undesirable traits, you'll have to find a way to overcome them on a daily basis. That's what the rest of the world does."

"You make life seem good, Emma, and it really isn't. You need me to protect you from yourself, otherwise people like Trent-like me-would eat you alive." He set her down in the large, tiled shower.

"As long as it's you," she agreed and went back into his arms.

18.

KYLE was officially her son! Emma danced around the kitchen before flinging herself into Jake's arms, nearly knocking him over as he stood smiling at her. A courier had delivered the papers from the lawyer's office in the late afternoon and Emma had burst into tears when she saw the official record.

"I can't believe you managed to do this so fast, Jake. You're a miracle worker. I just signed the papers a couple of days ago."

"I knew it was important to you, honey, and there was no reason to delay it. Fortunately the judge saw it the same way." Jake held her in his arms, using his fingertips to brush the tears from her eyes. He kissed the tip of her nose. "I'd like to stay and celebrate with you, but I have to fire Hopkins and make certain he hasn't done any permanent damage to my real estate business. I've had my secretaries, Ida and Clara, going through the paperwork for me. Ida, in particular, is really good at spotting inconsistencies. Basically Hopkins was used to distract me from the primary target, which we now know was you. But in going over to the other side, he was dumb enough to try a little creative bookkeeping since we were already losing money. He can be prosecuted."

She hid her smile against his shoulder. Jake with his unconventional employees. Ida was nearing eighty years old but was as sharp as a tack. He'd found her in the back office of a small accounting firm some twelve years ago. Her husband had left her years earlier, forcing her back into the work force, and despite being brilliant at what she did, no one treated her with the respect-or wages-Jake thought her due. No one wanted to hire her because of her age, and the small firm had kept her working for minimum wage, so he'd had no qualms about stealing her away from them.

Clara was another misfit. Her husband left her when their fourth child was born autistic. She'd married him right out of high school and had no work experience whatsoever. With her children young and Clara often having trouble getting a sitter, especially for her youngest, she'd been desperate, homeless and trying to acquire skills in order to keep her family together by going to school when she could. Jake had spotted the children in the beat-up car and, furious, had confronted her. He'd hired her on the spot. Found her a place to live and put a small day-care center into one of his office buildings.

Emma had no doubt that the two women would be meticulous in going over every single document, and if Dean Hopkins was stealing from Jake as he suspected, they would find the evidence. She kissed him again, just because he was Jake and never suspected the goodness in himself. He would have said he'd hired Ida and Clara because they were brilliant and loyal, not realizing he had created their loyalty through his own actions.

"The news said the storm is going to be very bad," she reminded. "There's going to be widespread flooding. If you can't beat it home, stay in town so I'll know you're safe."

Jake pressed her tighter against him, hearing that note in her voice, the one that conveyed worry and love, the one he listened for now. Going to his office to confront Hopkins wasn't nearly as much fun as he had anticipated. He'd much rather stay home with Emma and the children now, but he'd put the confrontation off for too long.

"I'll be fine, honey. I'll call you if I think the roads are too bad."

Emma pressed the papers against her heart again. "I love seeing my name on his birth certificate. Thank you, Jake, this means the world to me."

"I'm the one who's thankful to have you as Kyle's mother, Emma." He kissed her again and picked up his briefcase. "If you need anything at all, let Drake know."

"Storms don't scare me," she assured.

Emma watched him leave. Although it was still only late afternoon, the sky had already darkened and the winds had picked up. She wasn't frightened of storms, usually she really enjoyed them, but she did feel uneasy. Knots developed in the very pit of her stomach. Andraya ran into the room, chased after by Susan.

"Mommy." The little chubby arms went up.