Читать книгу Barenaked Jane - Deanna Lee - Страница 7

I opened my car door and tossed my purse inside. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” He glanced around the garage and then shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat. “I guess I don’t need to tell you that this isn’t the safest place to park.”

“No, I’m aware of it. I’ve complained a few times.” I shrugged. “The city won’t care until someone important gets jacked up in here.”

“Politics aren’t pretty.”

“I know. I try to stay away from them as much as possible.” I crossed my arms over my breasts and looked down at my shoes. “I suppose that Mr. Brooks will be hiring your firm?”

“I’ll be allowed to submit a bid,” he admitted ruefully. “I didn’t expect anything different, honestly. I know enough about James Brooks to know that even when he’s pushed into a situation he’ll make a careful and considered decision.”

I laughed. “Well, he’s also a very frugal man when it comes to the Holman Foundation.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

He reached out and touched my face with the tips of his fingers. I wanted to back away from his hand but found myself leaning into him. Craving a man’s touch was foreign to me, and for a few seconds I considered letting it continue. I shivered at the thought and moved away from his hand. “Summer was too short.”

“Yes.” Mathias nodded. “There is something about you.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, something that has had me all twisted up inside. I’ve been this way since I saw you for the first time.” He shrugged and looked away from me. “It would help if you weren’t so damn beautiful.”

“I should wish myself ugly solely for your comfort?” I asked, amused by his tone.

“It wouldn’t be for just me. I can’t be the only man you do this to.” He lifted his hand as if to touch me again and then dropped it. “I honestly didn’t know you were still in the building.”

“I know.” I flushed a little; the memory of us struggling on the floor burst forward, and desire slid into my body like an old friend. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d been turned on by the mere presence of a man.

Mathias Montgomery was a stranger, yet in a lot of ways he wasn’t. Because of his brother, Shamus, I knew a lot about him and what he wanted for his life. I knew how much time he’d spent in the military and how much he’d changed when he’d finally come home. But hearing about the man and having him stand right in front of me was an entirely different situation.

The idea of him had been attractive. A strong, ambitious man with long-range plans for his life and a deep love for his family. But the idea paled in comparison to the living, breathing man. I wanted this man despite myself and every rule I strived to live by. I didn’t need a complication like Mathias Montgomery. Didn’t need it one bit, but I knew it wouldn’t stop me from indulging in things I had no business getting involved in.

He moved then, closer, and I braced myself. “You’ve already been on top of me once this evening, Mr. Montgomery.”

“And?”

“I’m just saying…” I gasped against his mouth and melted against him.

His tongue pushed against my lips and into my mouth in a rush of sensation that had me grasping his shoulders and pulling him tight to me. He tasted amazing, and each stroke of his tongue against mine sent a river of lust rushing through me. I moaned against his mouth as his hands slid down my back to cup my ass. Even through several layers of clothes, the bite of his fingers excited me.

I hooked one leg around his and snuggled into his body as close as possible. He responded immediately, pressing me against the car and lifting me upward slightly so he could press his cock against me. I shuddered at the contact of that hard flesh, even through all of our clothes, and when he lifted me farther, I wrapped both of my legs around his waist.

I jerked my mouth from his and let my head fall back as his lips drifted down my neck. For a few seconds, I let myself get lost in those soft, amazing kisses. Then I forced myself to release him.

He gave me room to put my feet on the ground and sighed. “If I’m going to manhandle a woman, that’s the kind I prefer.”

I laughed and sucked in a deep breath. “I agree. But you realize that it was a mistake.”

Mathias laughed softly and backed away from me. “Then I plan on making some really horrible decisions about you.”

“Oh yeah?” I watched him take another few steps back. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means, Ms. Tilwell, that the next time I’m on top of you I’ll be doing a hell of a lot more than trying to please you.”

Silence has never been my friend, but I retreated behind it as he laughed and then strolled away. I was in way over my head. He’d flipped on my hot switch without even really touching me and then he just walked away. Not that I’d really expected him to whip it out and fuck me up against the car.

But, really, a man ought to know when he’s created a situation that requires further attention, and I suppose he did. I really could hardly wait for the next time he found himself on top of me.

Sliding behind the wheel of my car, I started lecturing myself. Getting involved with a man like him was against my only rule. Never fuck a man I’ll be required to see outside of the bedroom. Violating this rule caused all kinds of problems, and I was old enough to know better.

Yet I also knew that I was going to fuck him the first chance I got. Hard, mean, and truly as deviant as I could muster fucking was exactly what Mathias Montgomery had to look forward to.

I woke with a start, my shoulder stinging like the wound was fresh instead of the neatly healed scar it was. I sat up carefully as the pain drifted away. The dreams were always the same, always painful.

Shoving the covers back, I pulled my damp T-shirt over my head. I hadn’t dreamed about the night I’d been shot in nearly five years. I dropped my hand from my shoulder, aware that I’d been rubbing it, and left my bedroom. My apartment was small but neat and minimal.

Clutter has been my mortal enemy since grade school. Neat and orderly represented control, and that’s something that every woman needs. My childhood had been full to the brim with clutter, mostly my mother’s. She’d kept everything, and it took months of careful planning to remove most of the crap from the house after she was gone. At first, my father had been militant about keeping things just as she had left them. I guess he’d stopped caring when he’d finally realized that she wasn’t coming back.

It was then that I’d learned that my brothers had hated the junk as much as I did. I can hardly describe how relieving it had been to throw out years and years’ worth of magazines. As an adult, I knew that we dealt with our mother’s abandonment by cleansing the house of her. It was just too bad cleaning out our minds hadn’t been so easy. All three of us had abandonment issues, and none of us have ever come close to getting married. I had serious doubts that either of my brothers would ever marry.

I pulled a soda from the refrigerator, popped the tab, and drank half of it standing in my kitchen. Caffeine was a mistake, especially at three in the morning, but it tasted good. Of course, pouring a couple fingers of rum in it would’ve been nice too.

Clad only in my panties, I walked to the hallway and stopped in front of the floor-length mirror there. With a grimace, I turned on the light and stared at myself. My eyes immediately went to the puckered flesh of my scars. One on my shoulder, another on my hip, and then the last one on my thigh. Being shot in the line of duty had ended my career in law enforcement. It had also changed me in ways I’d never thought possible.

I glanced over my breasts and then the rest of my body. I worked out but ate like a pig. I’d never really been able to gain weight or grow tits. I was probably in line for more attitude when breasts were being given out in heaven. I turned out the hall light. Staring at myself in the mirror was the kind of activity that would lead to a mental disorder of some kind.

By the time I reached the bedroom, I’d concluded that my mood and my bad dream were all his fault. If he hadn’t gotten me all worked up I wouldn’t have dreamed about the shooting. Mathias Montgomery had to be removed from my mind, but it wasn’t my mind that he’d really infiltrated…it was my body. I’d been attracted to him before he said his name. When I’d thought he was a criminal. Me, the daughter of a cop, attracted to a criminal. My father would roll over in his grave.

But he was no criminal. I tipped up my soda and downed the rest. Thinking about him was not good for me…at the rate I was going I’d go back to bed and have obsessive sexual dreams about him.

Mathias “sex on a stick” Montgomery was going to be a permanent fixture in my life, and it was very important that I put him in the right place in my mind. Professionally, I couldn’t afford to lose focus. My position at Holman Gallery was new, too new to mess with. I had a finite amount of time to cement myself as the assistant director of the gallery. When Mercy Rothell had taken over the directorship of the gallery in August and slid me into her place, the opportunity took my breath away. I’d known it was coming for months, and when it happened it still knocked me off kilter a little.

Disgruntled, I went to my bedroom and pulled on workout clothes. If I wasn’t going to sleep, I might as well get some time in on the treadmill. My apartment building had one of the best in-house gyms in Boston. In fact, I’d chosen the building because of the gym.

My hip was sore from my tumble with Mathias, but since it was more my fault than his, I couldn’t hold it against him. I pulled off my sweat-damped T-shirt and dropped it on the floor beside my shorts. Four miles on the treadmill and I was still wound tight with emotion.

When I’d first moved to Boston, I’d hoped that the change of scenery would help clear my mind and push my past firmly behind me. It hadn’t. In fact, if anything, being so far from my two brothers had only intensified the desperate feeling that I’d carried around with me since I’d been shot. I could still feel the hot pavement underneath me when I thought about that day.

I don’t remember how long I lay there on that road. I do remember my brother, Stan, combing road tar from my hair in the hospital. The patient and thoughtful look on his face lingered with me even six years later. I’d been a cop in Savannah, Georgia, for less than two years when a traffic stop turned into my worst nightmare.

Wes, the middle child of our family, had told me repeatedly that I shouldn’t have been out on the street to begin with. That had only made me want it more. How many times in our lives had I strived so hard to prove him wrong? I’d proved that day that I could take care of myself; the price, however, had been a horrible one to pay.

My partner lay dead on the road because we’d both underestimated a seemingly mild-mannered history teacher. The altercation we’d had earlier in the day with the man hadn’t led us to believe he would be dangerous. To this day, I still had no clear reason why the man had come out of his car firing at us, and I never would. Because the same day I’d been shot in the line of duty, I took a life.

I briefly planted my hands flat against the wall under the showerhead before I reached down and turned the water on. Too hot, but it helped. I sighed softly when my muscles started to relax under the stinging spray. Having my day start before the sun even came up wasn’t the ideal Saturday; in fact, it wasn’t ideal for any day.

I left the shower and started to grab a towel to dry off, and my doorbell rang. Disgusted, I went into my bedroom, grabbed a T-shirt that would cover my ass, and pulled it over my head as I headed toward the door. The bell sounded again as I entered the small foyer of my apartment. The only thing worse than an ass-crack-of-dawn visitor was an impatient ass-crack-of-dawn visitor.

One peek out the peephole told me that the visitor was far more than just impatient. I jerked off the chain and undid all four of the bolt locks as quickly as I could. Throwing open the door, I glared at Mathias Montgomery.

“So, do you make a habit of skulking around in the night?” I leaned against the door and inspected him. He’d come to my door; I figured I could look at him like a fresh blueberry pastry if I wanted to.

“It’s at least six o’clock in the morning.” He glanced me over and swore under his breath. “Do you make a habit of answering your door practically naked?”

“I’m not naked.”

“No. You’re soaking wet in a T-shirt. Which in any man’s book is actually better than being naked.”

I took a step back as he moved forward and actually jumped when he shoved the door shut. “I didn’t invite you in, Mr. Montgomery.”

“Yeah, and it was rude of you.”

“Rude of me?”

“Yes. Rude. You stand naked in a doorway and then don’t have the decency to invite me in.” His gaze dropped down slowly until he reached my feet and then he focused on my face. “Don’t call me Mr. Montgomery.”

“I decide who I’m on a first-name basis with, not you.” I ran my fingers through my hair and motioned to him. “What was so important that you couldn’t wait until Monday? Some people might spend their weekends working, but me, I like to lounge about my apartment half naked and do nothing that resembles work.”

“I doubt that. I’ve seen how much time you put into your job. But that’s besides the point; I’m not here to discuss the gallery.” His gaze drifted downward briefly and then he focused on my face.

“Then why are you here?” I glared at him and crossed my arms over my breasts as he turned and twisted one of the bolt locks. “I normally lock people out, not in.”

“I’m going to be an exception,” he responded.

He was working on being several things, none of them pleasant. I didn’t want or need some arrogant alpha-male type dripping testosterone all over my apartment. But he was just too tempting to throw out. “Just who the hell do you think you are?”

“I’m a man who was up all damn night because of you.” He moved forward, every step predatory and calculated.

I couldn’t even remember the last time a man had actually excited me so much without even touching me. It was easy to think back on those few moments in the parking garage, his mouth on mine…staking claim and invading in one breathless instant.

“Because of me?” I gasped a little when my back met with the wall. The blasted man actually had me running. I don’t run. I never have. “How’s that my problem?”

“It’s my problem, and I’ve come over here to rectify it.”

“I don’t like or appreciate this kind of behavior. If I wanted a chest-beating Neanderthal in my life, I would have stayed in Georgia and married one of my brother’s friends.” I pushed my finger in the middle of his chest, and he backed up a few steps. “Some women might find this take-charge attitude of yours charming and attractive, but I don’t.”

“Is that so?” he asked, his voice taking on a silky quality that made me want to run for cover.

“Yeah. I ought to kick you out of my apartment.” I think we both knew that wasn’t going to happen. “How’d you get my address?” I raised one eyebrow and waited.

“My brother is very indiscreet at four in the morning.”

“I’m gonna kick his ass.”

“If you have any energy left when I’m finished with you, I’ll drive you over to his studio.”

“Finished with me?” I asked, and hoped that he didn’t hear the thrill of excitement that zipped through my voice. As it was, I could barely stand waiting on him to get started.

“Yeah.” He placed both hands above my head on the wall and met my gaze. “I have this theory about us.”

“And what would that be?”

“I think if we spend the next two days fucking ourselves silly, by Monday morning we’ll be over whatever this is between us.” He reached out and touched my face. His fingers trailed along my jaw. “What do you think?”

It was the most unbelievable thing I’d heard in my entire life. In fact, as his fingers moved down my throat and his gaze dropped down to my breasts, I realized that I had every intention of totally exploring his theory. Though a part of me knew that on Monday morning I’d be thoroughly fucked but nowhere near getting over whatever he was doing to me.

“I think you are very sure of yourself.”

“I am.”

“And blunt.”

“Yes.” His fingers moved from my neck and down between my breasts.

“I don’t like arrogant alpha males.” I gasped a little as his thumb brushed across one rigid nipple. “Most women don’t. We just like to read about them in romance novels.”

“So you said. Is that what you really think?”

“You’re arrogant.” Though he did have that smooth, tailored look of the average metrosexual male, there was something rough about him that didn’t jive with that, and that rough, unknown quality had me so very curious.

“No. I mean that you don’t find arrogant men attractive.” He cupped my breast and rubbed the nipple back and forth through the all-too-thin material of my T-shirt. “You want me.”

“You’re an attractive man, and I’m not immune to that.” My body was humming like my favorite vibrator, and I figured he knew it.

He smiled briefly and lifted his hand from my breast. “Tell me to leave.”

I wasn’t going to tell him to leave and he damn well knew it. I pressed my thighs together and held firm against the wall as I watched his face. He was amazing, and I wanted to wrap myself around him and not let go for days. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

He laughed softly, his dark brown eyes lit with amusement. “I’m thinking that my theory about this weekend could be slightly flawed.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, but I’m willing to take the risk.”

“Why?” I asked, though I wasn’t sure I wanted to know his answer. Especially since I was nowhere near figuring out why I was so willing to take the risk of getting sexually involved with a man I barely knew and would be required to interact with on a business level in the very near future.

“Because you’ve got me all twisted and confused.”

“And you think that fucking me would solve that?” Hell, I didn’t care what it solved. I wanted him, and everything else be damned.

“I think that fucking you repeatedly as often as I’m capable for the next two days would go a long way toward solving my problem.”

I was barely clothed and burning up. My nipples were tight and already aching as if he’d had his mouth on them. I pressed my lips together as I considered what I knew was coming. Sex is good. Sex, in fact, could be the best part of being alive. There had never been a time in my life when I’d denied myself, and I figured I was nowhere near starting such an atrocious habit.

“Invite me into your bed.” He leaned in and brushed his lips over mine. I leaned briefly into him, unwilling to end the soft and alluring contact of his mouth on mine. “I need you to say it.”

“Why?” I tilted my head and looked over his face, looking for anything that would make his motives more clear.

“Because I need to know I’m playing this game with a woman. You’re not a shy little virgin with a head full of candlelit rooms and sheets covered in rose petals.” He moved in closer. “Are you one of those women who needs that?”

“No. I’m not. I don’t need empty promises and lies.”

“I know.” He cupped my face with both hands and kissed me again. “Just looking at you makes me hard.”

Every woman has a breaking point, and that is mine. “It just so happens that I have a place designed to take care of that problem.”

“Tell me about it.”

I laughed and slipped underneath his arm. With a smile, I reached out and offered him my hand. His fingers slid against my palm, and I tugged gently. “It’s hot and wet and tight.”

“Tight?”

“Yeah.” We moved down the hall toward my bedroom. I glanced over my shoulder as I walked into my bedroom, and suddenly I felt like prey. His gaze was consuming me, and he looked like a tiger ready to pounce. “I do those exercises.”

“If you expect me to be even remotely gentle with you, you’ll shut up now,” he murmured through clenched teeth.

I let go of his hand, turned around, and pulled my T-shirt over my head. “What makes you think I want you to be gentle?”

I slid onto the bed and watched as he pulled his shirt over his head and pushed off his shoes at the same time. My mouth literally watered at the sight of him. He was beautifully cut and sculpted…like he spent ten hours a day working out. I watched him pull his belt away and then work his jeans around an impressive erection.

My thighs clamped together of their own volition when he finally freed his cock. He was probably close to nine inches long, but it was his width that gave me pause. I thought with some seriousness that I wouldn’t be able to wrap my hand completely around it. I absolutely couldn’t wait to try.

He pulled several condoms out of his jeans pocket, dropped them on the dresser, and rested one knee on the bed. “Last chance.”

I spread my legs and leaned back on my hands. “Come here.”

He moved completely onto the bed and then between my legs. I watched him pause as if he weren’t quite sure what he wanted to do, then he leaned down and placed the softest kiss I’ve ever known between my breasts. I gasped softly and let my head fall back as his mouth drifted to one breast.

I sucked in a breath and stiffened my arms to keep from falling completely back on the bed as he pulled my aching nipple into his mouth with firm, determined lips. His teeth brushed against me, and I arched upward. I needed more. Wanted more, and I really didn’t know how to say it. I wasn’t even sure what I wanted more of.

He released my nipple and covered my mouth with his in a rush of movement that left me breathless. I wrapped my arms around him as he lowered me to the bed. The warm heat of his body against mine felt perfect. Mathias pressed his cock against my labia and rocked gently against my wet flesh. The friction was delicious, just as amazing as his mouth on mine.

I slid my tongue between his lips, and he groaned against the intrusion. I loved the sound of it and wrapped my legs around his waist. He lifted his mouth from mine and met my gaze as he continued to rub his cock against my clit. The silky wet movement was just enough to be both soothing and frustrating at the same time.

My legs fell from his hips as he lifted away and then moved down. “Don’t tease.”

He laughed softly, spread my legs wider with firm hands, and lowered his head to my pussy. His tongue teased at my folds briefly before he brushed over my clit. I arched deeply up off the bed and fisted my hands into the blanket beneath me.

Helpless against the pressure of his tongue, I relaxed on the bed as much as I could and shuddered against each tantalizing stroke. He pressed his tongue against my entrance and then slid in. The shallow penetration forced me to lift my hips upward against his mouth.

“Mathias?”

He lifted his head and glanced me over before he turned his head and kissed the inside of my thigh. “Yes?”

“Your cock isn’t the only thing you’ve got going for you,” I explained weakly, suddenly at a loss for anything real to say.

Every graze of his skin against mine sent a rush of excitement over me. The feeling was addictive and so very seductive.

He sat back on his heels and reached for a condom. “Looking at you makes me hurt.”

I watched in silence as he freed a condom and rolled it into place. Restless, I moved my hands across my nipples and then downward over my rib cage. Since he was watching me intently, I spread my legs wider and slid one hand down to cover my pussy. My fingers slid over my clit just once before he grabbed my hand and lifted it away.

“Trust me. I won’t leave you hanging.” He brought my hand to his mouth and kissed the palm before he released it.

Laughing softly, I relaxed on the bed and let him have his way. He pushed the blunt tip of his cock against my entrance, and I lifted my hips against him. As wet as I was, my body still protested the penetration. One hand drifted down my leg to my knee, then he lifted my leg up against his hip.

“Easy.” He kissed my lips softly as he came to rest on top of me. “Relax.”

I nodded abruptly and tried to relax against the intrusion of his cock. “I want this.”

“Trust me. I won’t hurt you.”

I arched against him as he pushed deeper into me. “So said the man hung like a horse.”

He laughed, and the gentle sound of it was a relief. “Am I hurting you?”

“No.” I touched his face. “I guess I do need you to be gentle.”

“I want to be everything you need.”

How do men know what to say? My heart started to pound harder when he retreated and pushed into me again. I relaxed against him completely. I gasped as he slid deeply into me.

He stopped and rested his forehead against mine. “Perfect.”

It was indeed perfect. I wrapped my legs around his waist and threaded my fingers with his when his hands sought mine. “Yes.”

Mathias moaned against my mouth as we started to move. The thick push of his cock into my body was divine and better than I could’ve hoped for. My fingers tightened in his as our movement became frenzied. I dropped my legs from his waist and braced my feet against the mattress as his body slapped against mine.

“Damn.” He pressed his mouth against mine briefly and slowed his pace. “Slow down, Jane, I’m not ready for this to end.”

“I need it hard.” I strained against his body, physically demanding more. “Harder. Fuck me.”

He released my hands and placed his hands on either side of my head. I moaned against his lips and rubbed one hand over his head to pull him closer still. His tongue slid into my mouth, mimicking the action of his cock until the pleasure of having him inside me was overwhelming. Mathias slid his hand between us and pressed his thumb against my throbbing clit. The pressure of it was enough to rush orgasm to the surface. I stiffened beneath him and came so hard that my vision darkened briefly.

“Yes.” He kissed my mouth softly as I relaxed beneath him and slid deeply into me and arched against me as he found his own release.

I clenched my muscles around his cock again and again as he continued to move. Mathias shuddered and buried his face against the side of my neck. Abruptly, he lifted off of me and sat back on his heels. He was still for a few seconds, and then he slid from the bed and disappeared into the bathroom.

I rolled over onto my stomach and buried my face in the bed. The sun was bright in the window, there was a naked man in my bathroom, and I’d just been fucked nearly stupid. So maybe getting up at the ass-crack of dawn really isn’t such a bad thing.

A hand drifted up my leg, across my ass, and then upward to trace my spine. He hesitated and then his fingers drifted over the neatly healed scar on my shoulder. I turned my face to look at him as he laid down beside me. His gentle exploration stirred something inside me that I wasn’t really prepared to deal with.

“I was a cop.”

“I know.” He touched the scar again. “I looked you up on the Internet when I got home last night.”

“I’m on the Internet?” I frowned.

“Well, yeah. I expected to find you listed on the gallery’s Web site. Nice bio there, by the way. I also found some articles about a young patrol cop gunned down on a highway in Savannah.”

“Did you read the details?”

“The press painted you as a survivor. A woman too pretty to be a cop who witnessed the murder of her partner and took a bullet herself. One witness said that you pulled your gun and fired within seconds of being shot. You called for help and stayed conscious long enough on the scene to report to your commanding officer, a man who just happened to share your last name.”

“My brother. Both of my brothers are cops, and my father was also. None of them wanted me in patrol. They thought I’d ride a desk and be safe.”

“Did you leave police work because of them?”

“No. For a long time I wasn’t all that sure what had happened that day. It seemed to blur and change every time I thought about it. The nurses and the doctors in the hospital were so careful with me—everyone was careful. It made me crazy at first; I couldn’t figure out why they were all treating me like I was a hero.”

“Until you saw the news and realized that every news station in the state was running the footage from the camera of your patrol car.”

I grimaced. “You saw that too?”

“Yes. The Internet is surprisingly helpful these days.”

“The Internet is the single biggest threat to privacy in this country.” I cleared my throat. “I just couldn’t be a cop anymore. Not the kind of cop I wanted to be when I’d first joined the force.”

“I understand.” He touched my hair and sighed. “I think I might have a bit of a crush on you.”

“Wow.” I rolled over to my back and pursed my lips. “I don’t think that’s ever been said to me.”

“I don’t believe that.”

I turned and looked at him. “Why not?”

“You didn’t have a ton of little boys in junior high sending you notes telling you how pretty you were and to check yes if you liked them back?”

“No. I was too much of a tomboy in school to get those kinds of notes. My father raised me and my brothers basically on his own, so I didn’t have much of a female influence until I went to college.” Thinking about my father hurt, so after a few seconds I pushed all of that back and smiled. “After college, I dedicated myself to my career.”

“Why did you become a police officer?”

“I liked order and justice. I wanted to contribute to society in a meaningful way, and I thought a badge was the way to do it.” And giving up that badge had been extraordinarily hard. Talking about my past was unsettling, but I felt compelled to answer his questions honestly.

“You don’t like talking about this.”

“Why do you say that?” I looked at him and saw the shrewd amusement in his eyes. “Okay, fine, I don’t.”

He reached out for me and pulled me close with an easy strength that caused excitement and concern. In the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but remember the first time we’d touched—just hours before. His hands hard on my arms, pressing me into the floor. Those same hands that now trailed gently down my back as he shifted me completely on top of him.

“I scared you last night.” Mathias pushed his fingers into my hair and met my gaze without hesitation. “I regret that a lot.”

“You said you’d been watching the gallery for a week.”

“I got there late last night, long after closing, and your car wasn’t in the parking lot.”

I sat up and snuggled my ass against his groin. The rapidly hardening flesh I found there was not a disappointment. “You watched me all week.”

“You’re the last to leave.” He slid his hands up my legs to my waist and then upward over my rib cage. “So, yes, I watched you all week. Your routine was just as important as the guard’s. A body in the building can trip the alarm, which would throw off the results of my endeavor.”

I tried to think back if there had been days when I’d looked like crap but couldn’t remember. I normally have at least one day during the week when my hair won’t do what I say or I run my pantyhose before I even get in the building. It never failed.

“Were you really going to take something from the gallery?”

“I had permission from Mercy to remove a small painting from Level 1 in the north wing. I even brought a case for it so I’d be able to transport it safely.”

“Very forward thinking of you.”

“I’m a planner.” He sat up and pressed me against his chest. “I didn’t plan on you.”

“Then or now?” I asked softly as his hands trailed down my back. The soft fleeting touch on skin that I never knew could be so sensitive made my breath catch briefly.

“Either, both. To be truthful, I don’t think I could’ve planned enough for you.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck as he pulled me closer and tried to remember that it was just sex. Emotionless sex. That’s all it could be. I didn’t have room for more. But that was becoming very hard to keep in my mind. Being wrapped up in his arms, all of his warmth seeping into my body, had me practically stupid.

“You know, I don’t normally have sex with a man just because I find him attractive.”

“I know.” His hands cupped my ass and he moved me until his cock could slide between my labia. “I’m a lucky man.”

“Yes.” I let my head fall back as I moved against the silky skin of his cock. “I’m ready for more.”

“I know you are.”

My fingers tightened on his shoulders as he lowered his head and sucked my nipple into his mouth. It was odd how comfortable I was in his arms, with his mouth on me. I didn’t feel too skinny or boyish. I’ve never needed a man to feel like a woman, yet it was amazing to find a man who did make me feel female and soft. He rolled us with careful hands until I was flat on my back.

I sucked in a breath when he lifted his mouth and sought out my neglected breast without pausing, and I curled my hand against the back of his head and moved my legs against his. His cock was trapped between our bodies, pressed against my thigh, reminding me of how empty I was. I spread my legs and pressed my feet against the mattress. “Fuck me.”

“Don’t worry. I will.” His tongue darted out briefly and flicked my nipple as he lifted his head. “You’re mine until Monday morning.”

I watched him slide downward through half-closed eyes. “Is that what I agreed to?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t get with possessive crap like that.”

He laughed and dipped his tongue briefly into my belly button before moving down farther. Without any warning, he pushed his tongue into me again. I jerked against him briefly before forcing my body to still.

He used his thumb to separate my labia to find my clit. I shuddered against the calloused flesh and nearly swallowed my tongue when he started to rub my clit in tiny little circles. The man was turning me into an idiot with just his thumb. I rocked against the intense and centered pleasure of it briefly and then stilled as he pressed his tongue once more against my entrance. My flesh gave way to his invasion immediately.

My hands clamped onto my aching breasts as I moved to the tight rhythm he was creating with his tongue and thumb. I used my fingers to pinch my nipples until they hurt; the stimulation was overwhelming, but I was past caring. I felt it building, and I surrendered to orgasm as soon as it would let me.

He licked upward until he met my throbbing clit and grazed it gently with his teeth before he raised up, slid both hands under my ass to lift me, and pushed his cock into me slowly to the hilt. I was weak with pleasure and the need for more.

Mathias gently rested some of his weight on me and started to move inside me while I wrapped around him. It was so easy to give in to him and the hot, needy pleasure he created. What was it about this man?

He pulled from me abruptly. “Fuck.”

“Yeah, you were doing a great job.” I sat up and glared at him, disgruntled.

Laughing, he ran his hand down the side of my face. “You’re a challenge, that’s for certain.”

I watched him grab a condom from the nightstand. “Oh.”

He rolled the condom on with ease, and I reached out to him. Pulling him down with me, I spread my legs to cradle him as he slid into me. It felt so right, so perfect, having him pushing inside me, becoming a part of me. The man was taking me over and I reveled in it.