Or any holding back.

He'd waited too long for her. Had she waited just as long for him? Or was she simply swept up in the moment?

Even though he told himself it didn't matter, that they'd work it all out in the morning, he wasn't quite able to push away the twinge in his chest that seemed to say it did, in fact, matter very much whether this was just an impulse for Vicki.

d.a.m.n it, he'd never wanted anyone as much as he wanted her. But if she was at all hesitant, he knew what he'd have to- "Let's go inside, Ryan." He was surprised to see Vicki's eyes darkened with the kind of pa.s.sion he'd only ever seen her give to her sculptures. "I want to feel more of you beneath my fingertips." She licked her lips, before whispering, "All of you."

Ryan throbbed hard behind his zipper and he quickly punched in the security code and led them up the steps to his front door, then inside the house they'd shared for the past few days as friends.

Together, they went to the couch where they'd been watching the movie together just the night before. Even for the five minutes they'd seen of the movie, it had been torture not to reach for her, not to lay her down on the leather and strip her naked so that he could taste every inch of her body.

What a difference forty-eight hours had made.

Thank G.o.d.

It was the most natural thing in the world to put his arms around her and pull her right where he wanted her. Her green eyes were big and so d.a.m.ned beautiful as she blinked up at him when he came over her. She was so much smaller than he was that he wanted to be careful, didn't want to put too much of his weight over her, even though it killed him not to get even closer.

She took advantage of the small distance he'd put between them to push his jacket from his shoulders. He helped her get it off and then she was using those incredibly gifted and clever hands of hers to undo the b.u.t.tons of his dress shirt.

Ryan's breath was coming faster and faster, his control slipping more and more with each brush of Vicki's fingertips over his chest as she worked her way down the front of his shirt.

He needed to rein himself in, enough at least that he wouldn't scare her with all that he wanted from her.

Everything.

She lifted her eyes to his again just as the word resounded inside his brain.

"You're so beautiful, Ryan," she said, and then she laid her hands on the chest she'd bared, palms flat, fingers splayed.

He wanted to see her, too, needed to strip the s.e.xy dress from her gorgeous curves and find out if all of his fantasies about her naked body were, in fact, real. But then her eyes were closing again and she began to move her fingers over his skin.

Her fingernails sc.r.a.ped slowly through the dark hairs that curled over his pecs and he was powerless to control a rumbling groan at the sweetness of her touch. Another smile tipped her lips as she played with him some more.

"I love the way you're vibrating through my hands," she whispered as she moved her hands higher, up toward his shoulders.

He'd thought he wanted her hands lower, but the way she traced each line of muscle and sinew over his shoulders, then up onto his neck, was hands-down the s.e.xiest thing any woman had ever done to him.

If she wanted to just keep touching him like this, he would happily let her for as long as she wanted.

But then she moved her hands down from his neck, over his shoulders, to his upper arms. Shoving the fabric of his shirt down so that she could touch his skin, she wrapped her hands over his biceps and triceps, which were bulging from holding himself up over her, and gave a happy sigh.

Her eyes fluttered open, stunning him all over again with their beauty as she said, "You're so perfect. I love touching you."

He couldn't resist dropping his mouth to hers then and taking her lips in a kiss that told her he thought she was absolutely perfect, too. She gripped his arms as he deepened the kiss, her hips arching up into his. Her legs were pinned between his, and he took advantage of the position by pressing himself hard into her. This time she was the one groaning as pleasure took them both over.

Ryan hadn't lain on a couch fully clothed, grinding against a girl, since high school. It occurred to him through the fog of l.u.s.t in his brain that it was fitting they should be here like this, almost as if they were revisiting all those lost opportunities when they were teenagers.

If he had ever gotten her like this in high school, he would have lost his freaking mind, he'd wanted her so bad. All the years between then and now had only amped up that want and he had to fight not to just rip her clothes off and take her.

h.e.l.l, who was he kidding? That was exactly what he needed to do. A second later, he was shrugging off his shirt and reaching for one of the zippers on the front of her dress.

"I've wanted to do this all night long."

He finally unzipped her a couple of inches, baring perfect soft skin. He would have kept going all the way if surprise hadn't lit her eyes.

"You did?"

He'd thought she knew exactly what she was doing with the dress, that she'd intentionally created the ultimate fantasy for every single guy at the party of undoing each zipper one by one, from her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, her hips, and up each thigh.

"We all did."

Her eyes widened and she licked her lips as if concerned. "We?"

He adored Vicki, and trusted her in a way he didn't trust any other woman but the ones he was related to, but he had a hard time believing she was surprised by the way she'd looked tonight.

He lowered his mouth to the spot on her neck just below her ear and after giving it a sharp nip, then licking over the skin, he said, "You had to know what all those zippers would do to a bunch of h.o.r.n.y ballplayers."

"No," she swore even as shivers wracked her sweet, soft frame at the next touch of his teeth, then tongue on the other side of her neck. "My friend Anne is so talented that I had to wear her dress. And I didn't have anything else to wear."

Ryan lifted his head to gaze down at the surprisingly innocent beauty below him. She'd lived for over a decade with artists who, he guessed, partied harder than even the biggest sports stars, that probably slept in kinky groupings even a guy like him had no interest in at all.

How had she kept herself apart from all of it?

"Remind me to thank her next time I see her for the pleasure of unwrapping you like this." He pulled the zipper down again, all the way this time, so that her b.r.e.a.s.t.s spilled free.

Ryan froze as he looked down at her.

"Jesus, Vicki." He swallowed hard, tried to grab hold of what was left of his frayed control. "You aren't wearing a bra. And your b.r.e.a.s.t.s are-"

There weren't any words for them. Nothing that would even come close to doing them justice.

Against her creamy skin, her nipples were a dark, rosy flush. The tips hardened even further as he stared down at her in wonder.

Vicki was every fantasy he'd ever had come to life beneath him, her body made for s.e.x in its purest, sweetest form, with curves to fit his hands, his mouth, his- "Ryan?"

He could hear the panic just starting to bubble up in her voice at the crazy way he was acting, but he didn't have the lucidity anymore to deal with it. All he could do was reach for her with a trembling hand and cup the softest flesh he'd ever touched.

He throbbed so hard in his pants his arousal was almost pain, rather than pleasure, but trying to keep the reins on his desire for Vicki didn't matter anymore. Nothing mattered but touching her the way she'd touched him, discovering her with his hands on her skin, her sweet moans of need reverberating all the way through him.

When one hand wasn't nearly enough, he covered her with both, splaying his hands over her skin just as she had over him. He could feel the beating of her heart, so fast, so strong, through his palms, his fingertips.

Words he hadn't planned on saying, full of emotions he knew he wasn't supposed to feel for just a friend, hung on the edge of his tongue and the only way he could stop himself from saving them was to lower his lips to one beautiful peak and take her into his mouth. Vicki's hands threaded into his hair as she arched closer to him. He began by gently swirling his tongue over her, but then he had to taste her better with his teeth, his lips. She gasped as he nipped at her sensitive skin, then sucked harder, trying desperately to get his fill of her sweetness.

Suddenly, her hips went wild beneath him and he was about to move one hand down to her hips to hold her steady before she unwittingly pushed him over the edge, when she whispered, "Ryan," in a raw voice, his name falling from her lips again and again.

My G.o.d, he suddenly realized, she was about to shatter beneath him, from nothing more than his mouth at her breast.

He cupped her hips hard against him and ground against her the way he'd been wanting to all night. He didn't have time to worry about being gentle, or holding back for fear of shocking her. He never wanted her to forget her first climax in his arms...and didn't intend for a minute to let her escape from the fact that he was the one taking her over the edge of pleasure.

Her skin dampened beneath him as she moved closer and closer to release and it was pure instinct to lift his head from her chest, raise one hand to stroke her cheek as she writhed beneath him.

"Let go, Vicki. Let me see how beautiful you are."

Her eyes fluttered open just as her lips parted on a gasp. She arched into him and trembled hard in release just as he took her mouth in a kiss. Again and again he pushed his hips into hers as he held her against him, until finally he felt her go lax and soft again.

Ryan felt wild, like an animal finally released from capture as, with a soft nip at her bottom lip, he pulled back to stare down at the woman he needed more than anyone he'd ever known.

Her eyes were closed and she was still breathing hard as he ran the pad of his thumb over the lips he'd just been devouring. Slowly, her eyes opened and her cheeks flushed even more. Ryan didn't realize he was grinning down at her until she smiled back.

"You're amazing, Vicki."

She blinked once, twice, then turned her head a little to the side as if she was suddenly shy. "I didn't know that was going to happen. I'm not usually so-" She shook her head a little, staring at his bicep before saying, "-sensitive."

While he loved hearing that he'd made her feel things she didn't usually feel, he hated the way she seemed almost afraid to look at him. Cupping her jaw gently, he turned her face back to his.

"I may never be able to sit comfortably on this couch again," he teased her with a smile, even though the blood was pumping through his veins so hard he could barely form a sentence.

It was true, of course, that he'd be reliving those last fifteen minutes for a very long time. Every time he walked into the living room, he'd see Vicki lying beneath him, her beautiful b.r.e.a.s.t.s spilled into his hands and mouth, while she arched into him and found her pleasure.

She flushed again, but this time he wouldn't let her turn away from him.

"You're so beautiful when you come," he told her, forcing her to see exactly what she did to him. "Even more beautiful than I thought you'd be."

Again, that little look of confusion furrowed the skin between her eyebrows.

"You have no idea how many nights, how many hours I thought about you," he admitted to her in a low voice. After all, now that they were finally together for real, there was no reason to hold back his endless fantasies, was there? "I was dying to know how you touched yourself. What you liked. How you liked it. I couldn't stop wondering about the sounds you made when you were close...and when you finally went over."

She didn't say anything, just continued to stare up at him like she couldn't possibly believe what he was saying was true. Wanting her to believe, needing her to know just how much she meant to him-how much she'd always meant-he slid his hand from her hips back to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

Another gasp sounded from her pretty lips as he cupped her soft curves and ran his thumb over the taut, still-damp peak. "I also," he said in a voice made raw from pure need, "dreamed of seeing you naked one day."

"Ryan...please."

He didn't know if she was begging him to stop divulging his secret desires-or to hurry and make good on them. Not that there was any choice, of course. He couldn't possibly get this close to stripping her clothes from her and not make good on it.

He grinned down at her again, his friend who had just become so much more, thank G.o.d.

Benefits had never been this good, that was for sure.

"I always have liked the sound of a woman begging."

Her eyes rolled, then, and he was glad to see that her shyness finally seemed to have gone.

"So I've heard," she replied with a sa.s.sy lift of one eyebrow.

He had to lower his mouth to one breast and then the other again before asking, "What else did you hear?" When she didn't answer right away, he licked at her again. "Come on, I'm dying to know."

"I can't think when you do that."

His grin grew wider. "Good." Shifting over her on the couch, he sat back so that he could reach the zippers that started just above her knees and ran up the outer length of each thigh. "G.o.d, this is hot," he said as he slid the first slowly open, baring inch after inch of her gorgeous thighs.

He could feel her trembling slightly beneath his hand, but it was clearly from arousal, not fear, so he relished it, let the edges of his fingernails sc.r.a.pe softly across the top of her thigh so that she actually shuddered in his hands.

How could he have done anything else but lick his way up the leg he'd just uncovered? Open on one side now, the fabric of her dress was barely covering her s.e.x and he was a beat away from lifting it and pressing his mouth to her heat. Somehow, he managed to pull back to undo the zipper on the other side. He wasn't able to go as slow this time, could barely handle the thought that Vicki was almost naked on his couch.

With a quick yank, he grabbed the dress and slid it completely off her. When Vicki instinctively moved to cover herself, he caught her hands in his and held them over her head.

"You were completely naked under this thing." He was breathing so hard he could barely get the words out.

He was holding her hands up high enough on the couch that she had to arch a little, and in one quick move he reversed the position of their legs so that his were inside of hers and she was open to him, everywhere, all at once.

Ryan had never before seen anyone as beautiful as Vicki.

Not even close.

He knew he was staring at her like he was a teenage boy seeing his first naked girl, but in a way that's what it felt like. All the other women he'd been with fell away-the models, the movie stars, the baseball groupies-all reduced to utter insignificance.

"You should always be naked. You're perfect. Beyond perfect."

Her laughter caught him off guard. "You really do always know what to say to the girls, don't you?"

He loved it when she laughed, but not when it was at her own expense. Or his. "Are you calling me a liar?"

She gave him a look that few people ever had outside of his own family. The one that said she had no problem calling him on his c.r.a.p.

"We both know I'm not perfect. Not even close." She quickly added, "And I'm okay with it, with who I am. I thought you of all people should know you don't have to say things that aren't tr-"

He closed his mouth over hers before she could say anything else to p.i.s.s him off, but even lost in the heat of her, he couldn't forget the way she'd doubted what he'd said. What he believed.

What was true, d.a.m.n it.

He'd show her just how perfect she was...one caress, one kiss at a time.

And he'd keep at it until she believed.

Chapter Eighteen.

"Leave your hands above your head."

Vicki's eyes widened at Ryan's command, but he didn't stop to soothe her surprise or laugh like he was joking. Instead, he wrapped her fingers around the arm of the couch.