He smiled against her belly b.u.t.ton as he grazed his hands down her silk-encased legs. She wanted control, but he wasn't giving it up just yet. "It would be over quickly."

"Exactly."

He lowered the zipper on the side of her skirt and pushed the fabric down her legs. Nibbling at the satiny skin above her lace panties, his tongue skimmed over a slight pucker of skin, long and slim, just over her hip bone. He tilted his head and explored the skin more thoroughly. "How'd you get the scar?"

"I fell off of a roof when I was ten."

So she'd always been a bit adventurous. Interesting. "Why were you on the roof?"

"Long story."

She shifted a leg, b.u.mping his shoulder. The move was just enough to create the subtlest of breezes that had a fresh wave of her essence wafting toward him. His mouth watered. His skin tingled. His c.o.c.k jerked.

He reached for the sides of her panties to slide them down. His fingers swept up and over garters and then tangled in thin strings. For the first time in longer than he could remember, he wished he could see. "Sweet h.e.l.l. Panties that tie. And who knew women still wore garters."

"They're practical. If I snag my hose, I only have to change one stocking."

He traced the top of a stocking with his tongue. Dipped inside the edge as he reached the inside of her thigh. "I like practical."

She gasped. Her leg fell farther to the side. "They're less constricting and breathe better than full hose."

He'd swear his eyes rolled back in his head. His throat closed up, making him struggle for a breath. "You're going to kill me."

"If you don't hurry up, I might." She squirmed again, spreading her legs even more.

She was tempting. So tempting. He bit hard into his lower lip. Then he angled his head and pulled one of the tie strings of her panties into his mouth. Tugging gently, the lace fell loose.

Yeah, her underwear was practical.

For s.e.x.

Widening his stance, he released the strings at her other hip. She stood before him, leaning her upper body against his kitchen wall with her legs spread. Only a garter belt, stockings and high heels remained.

Her long hair was mussed from his hands. Her skin was warmed, likely flushed, with s.e.xual excitement. The musky scent of arousal flooded his senses.

Screw sight. A man didn't have to see to appreciate the picture she presented. Her smell, her heat and the tiny moans escaping her lips were more erotic than any vision.

She rolled her hips. Her crotch hovered just in front of his face-a beacon welcoming him home. Her heart raced in time with his.

"Ian, please." Her plea rushed out on a strangled breath.

He traced the edges of her garter belt. His fingers trembled as his desire to hurry battled with his need to go slow. To draw out her pleasure. To push her senses, and his, to new limits. To savor every sensation and new erotic discovery waiting to be awakened.

Another b.u.mpy patch of skin brushed his hand. "What's this scar?"

"Car crash in college. Lana was nearly killed."

They had faced a lot together. Ian hoped they could survive this too.

He flattened his hands on her stomach and slid his palms down. His thumbs brushed her bikini line and extended out to glide over her perfectly smooth skin, free of hair. Waxed or lasered? Not shaven or there would be small b.u.mps.

Tremors quaked through his entire body. He licked his lips as he used his hands to spread her shaking legs. Her hands flexed on his shoulders. He rubbed his nose against her, inches away from his ultimate goal.

Her knees buckled.

He slid his hands around, cupped her a.s.s, and tilted her pelvis forward. He moved in closer. "Lift a leg over my shoulder."

She did as he said. The sweet scent of her desire a.s.saulted him. A rumble rose in his throat. He flicked his tongue out and swiped it over her c.l.i.t.

She bucked forward. Warm moisture teased his tongue. They gasped.

Her s.e.x was swollen and hard against his tongue. The driving beat of her heart spiked his blood pressure. The intensity of Kieralyn's arousal, her lack of inhibitions and her almost volatile reactions amplified his desire.

He blew a warm breath. Grinning at the idea of undermining her control so thoroughly, he gripped her tighter and held her still. Inhaling, he moved deeper into her s.p.a.ce. He slowly licked his way along the length of her wet, swollen lips. Easing his way back up, he blew another warm breath over her.

She grabbed the sides of his head. An instant later, her hands curled into quivering fists on his-thankfully-shaved head. She'd have ripped any hair he had out.

She jerked forward. He flicked his tongue over her c.l.i.t again and again in a rapid succession. She sank down on the wall, positioning herself more intimately against his face.

He opened his mouth and nipped her gently before easing the sting with a kiss.

"Iaaan."

"Kieralyn," he whispered against her weeping s.e.x. He would always remember the thrilling memory of her cradled against his mouth, dripping honey-thick nectar and begging him for completion.

"I...you...pleeease." She teetered on the ledge. d.a.m.n if he wasn't going to enjoy pushing her over it.

Embracing the control she'd handed over to him, he gripped her thighs and rhythmically squeezed the toned muscles while he a.s.saulted her s.e.x with his mouth. Impaling her with his tongue, he showed her exactly what he wanted to do once he got her to the bed.

She pulsed against him. Her inner walls squeezing and releasing as an o.r.g.a.s.m rocked through her. His heart raced with hers. Heat swept across them. He spread his legs wider to ease the still-building pressure on his c.o.c.k.

As her body relaxed, melting languidly so her weight was supported by the wall and his shoulder, still beneath her leg, he licked and sucked at her.

He drained every last drop of her essence into himself.

He wasn't sure he could let her go.

Chapter Five.

Kieralyn braced herself against the wall and looked down at Ian on his knees before her. He raised his head, his eyes locked with hers as if he could see her. As if he could read the secrets imprinted on her soul. As if he alone would save her from the darkness lurking in her mind.

She swallowed. A tear slid past the corner of her eye. What have I done?

"Kieralyn?" He lifted her leg from his shoulder and set her foot on the floor. Sliding his hands up her legs, he stood and looked down at her. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." She shook her head and swiped away the tear. She never cried. She'd be d.a.m.ned if she did it in front of him. Suffusing her voice with suggestion, she ran her fingers down the middle of his dress shirt. "How could I not be after that?"

Ian tilted his head. His gaze darkened and his nostrils flared. "Kieralyn."

"Ian, don't tell me that you're not going to finish what you started?" The woman hiding inside of her craving to be valued and seen as s.e.xy by a man had awoken beneath Ian's touch.

"You aren't finished?"

"No, Ian." Whatever the cost, she was going to know more of the pleasure he had to offer. Looking into his eyes, curious if they would reflect his emotions like a seeing person's, she worked loose the belt buckle at his waist. "I am not finished."

His throat bobbed in a swallow. The brandy coloring of his eyes intensified and resembled the sky just before the final rays of the sun slid over the horizon. The seduction of secrets lurked in the darkness.

"Good." He grabbed her waist and hoisted her up. "You're in for a ride."

"Bring it on." As she locked her ankles behind his back, pressed her body close to him and buried her face at his neck she realized she was ready for anything he tossed her way. His warmth and strength seeped into her as he carried her from the kitchen. "But this time, I get to undress you."

He eased his hold slightly. She slid down his body so that his erection brushed her s.e.x with each step. The satiation she'd felt after her last o.r.g.a.s.m faded. Hunger gnawed at her gut, but it was a hunger for Ian.

"We'll see how things turn out."

She wiggled her hips and smiled to herself. She traced the scar along his jaw with the tip of her tongue. She lightly bit his earlobe and blew a warm, open-mouthed breath over his ear. "I like things hard."

"I think I can oblige."

"So I feel," she whispered against his ear. "But I'm thinking I may need to test just how hard for myself."

"Ha." He trembled beneath her and kicked a door open. "How do you propose to do that?"

She swiped her tongue along the rim of his ear. "With my mouth."

He stumbled, but tightened his grip. "Tempting, but not this time."

She sighed and continued nibbling on his neck. Enjoying the way his d.i.c.k jerked against her with each bite. She'd work on him. He'd tasted her. She deserved her shot. "Can we at least turn on the lights? I like to see you."

"Really?" He stiffened beneath her-coiled as if waiting for an attack.

"Yeah." She leaned back a bit and studied him. "Do you think you're unattractive, Ian?"

"I really wouldn't know."

"Turn on the lights." She would dispel his suspicions before the night was through.

"Fine." He moved back to the door and reached out to flip on the light.

Dim lighting from a wall sconce in each corner revealed a warm, tidy room decorated in varying shades of brown, and a wall dominated by windows gave the room an open airiness she hadn't expected. Vibrant blue sheets with a satiny sheen to them peeked out at the top of the comforter. Fluffy pillows with matching cases called to her.

She'd carefully chosen the colors in her apartment so that each room struck a different mood within her. Had Ian partic.i.p.ated in the decor of his home so that he would somehow feel on an intrinsic level a certain mood? Or had he turned all choices over to a decorator? "I like your room. It suits you."

"It's a place to sleep." He kicked the door closed and turned toward the bed.

"And have your way with willing women."

"Only you."

He couldn't mean that she was the first woman to be in his room. His bed. His prowess at undressing her, at touching her, proved that he had plenty of practice with women. The evidence of his arousal pressing insistently against her crotch...well, a woman would be insane to not want a piece of him. "Why don't you get on with it?"

As if proving to her again that he didn't like to hurry, he slid her down his body until her feet touched the floor. "You have someplace to be?"

She tugged his shirt from the waist of his pants and quickly worked the b.u.t.tons free. Slipping her hands inside the open shirt and flattening her palms against the hard ridges of his pecs, she sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and reveled at the touch of him. Maybe there was something to be said for taking things slowly. "Not anymore."

"I see." He opened the b.u.t.tons at his wrists before reaching out and sliding a finger from the hollow of her throat down between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

Her heart lurched when he circled her left nipple. Determined to repay him for every moment of torment, however pleasurable it had been, she tugged his shirt over his shoulders and down his arms. Like she'd molded clay as a child in school, she slid her hands over his torso. Her thumbs dipped into the swells and valleys of ridged muscles that he'd hidden beneath his shirt.

"How do you stay in this kind of shape?" She'd known he was built. He couldn't hide his width. But d.a.m.n. Spreading her hands over him and up to his shoulders, she memorized the image of her arms extended up so her hands were level with her ears and spread almost twice the width of her own shoulders.

"Weights and a treadmill in the next room." He circled her nipples with his thumbs. "Or run on the beach."

"I like to swim." Leaning into him, she rubbed her nose along an invisible line connecting his nipples.

"A good choice."

"I know this private spot where I can be completely alone." The redolence of his cologne, sweet and tangy, seeped into her. Her eyes drifted closed as she exhaled slowly.

"You'll have to take me there. We could...swim...together."

"I'd like that. I like your eyes when the light strikes them." Kieralyn rolled her head and pressed a kiss to his chest. The evocative spice of Ian reached deep into her soul. Tantalized her with promises of security. Safety. The peace to be herself with him. She eased back and shook her head to banish the overemotional sentiments invading her.

She released the buckle of his belt and whipped the strip of leather from the loops. The end flicked her hip a moment before she dropped the belt to the floor. The sting of pain reminded her of the boundaries she'd always insisted on. And that they were more important than ever with Ian.

She'd done casual s.e.x before. Raw, basic s.e.x was her preference. This should be no different. This would be no different.

She opened his pants and shoved them over his narrow hips. He toed off his shoes and socks and stepped free of his pants, kicking them all aside. The sight of him in nothing but tight-fitting, gray striped boxer briefs with the head of his erection poking over the top of the waistband was a punch to the gut.

"You're absolutely stunning, Ian."

Opening and closing her mouth, not certain what else to say, she splayed her hands across his stomach. Every man she'd ever been with, regardless of how in shape they were, had always had a pouch of fat hidden somewhere. Not Ian. Every inch of him was sculpted to perfection and aside from the narrow trail of dark hair leading into his waistband, his skin was completely smooth.

Kieralyn stepped closer and slid her hands into the waistband of his underwear. As badly as she wanted to go fast, she wanted more to enjoy the feel of the man before her and she would take full advantage of being quite a bit shorter than he was. She eased her hands around him and cupped his a.s.s. Curling her fingers so her nails brushed the backside of his b.a.l.l.s, she ran her nails up to his lower back.

He flinched and gasped, but didn't try to rush or stop her. Her p.u.s.s.y clenched and swelled in antic.i.p.ation.

As if he were a pole and a s.e.xy track of music played in her head, Kieralyn moved closer and straddled him. Bending her knees, she eased her body down his, rubbing her b.r.e.a.s.t.s over his smooth skin. She ground against his c.o.c.k and slid a hand around to cup him. He jerked against her. She swiped his exposed tip with the pad of her thumb.

Moisture dripped down her thigh. His pre-come slickened her fingers.

"d.a.m.n, woman. You're going to kill me." He pushed his underwear off, bent at the waist, and lifted her in his arms.