“Nothing.” He started the bike and roared down the alley toward the street. “It was just a long twenty minutes waiting for you.”
“Seventeen.”
“Whatever.”
“It’s not as if I wasn’t efficient. I just needed to make sure there wasn’t anything that might trip me up when—”
“I know that.” He was silent. “I suppose I was counting on going with you. It would have kept me busy, and I wouldn’t have had time to think.”
“You mean worry? I thought you had it all planned. It’s not—”
“I mean think. Anticipate. Imagine. I leaned against that wall waiting for you with the darkness surrounding me.” He said jerkily, “Guess what I was anticipating, Catherine?”
She didn’t have to guess. Her heart was beating hard, and she felt the taut muscles of his back against her breasts. His words had come out of nowhere, but they were not really a surprise. Somewhere deep within her, she had been waiting for them.
“You’re not answering,” he said softly. “Do you want me to tell you?”
“Don’t play games.” Her voice was uneven, and she stopped to steady it. “You’ve already given me a glimpse before of how your mind works. It’s all about sex.”
“Not all, but when I’m anywhere near you, it comes close. I was very controlled on the ride here. That’s amazing. As I told you, I have no discipline where you’re concerned.” He paused. “And you were touching me.”
As she was touching him now. Her breasts pressed against the smoothness of the leather jacket, her arms holding tight around his taut, corded waist. Her upper legs curved under his and the center of her sex jammed against his buttocks. Only their thin layers of clothing separated warm skin.
Not warm. Hot. Her entire body was flushed, readying.
“I’ll tell you anyway.” His voice was hoarse. “I could smell you in the darkness, just a lingering hint of soap and shampoo. You were nowhere near me, but your scent was still there in the darkness. The same scent that drifted to me when you were behind me on the bike. The same scent I’m smelling now.” He gunned the bike.
Speed. Jarring contact against his body. Wind whipping her face.
“And I thought how I wanted that scent closer to me, how I wanted to drink it in and get drunk on it.” His words were soft as velvet, and yet she was aware of a subtle, erotic abrasion. “And I began to think how I could make that happen. I thought about this bike and that it was all wrong for you to be behind me. I wanted you to be in front, with your legs wrapped around my waist, so that I could bury my face in your hair.”
“Rather distracting,” she said unevenly. “And definitely unsafe.”
“It gets worse … or better. You’re naked, and I open my jacket so that I can feel your breasts rub against me. Your nipples are hard and taut, and I want my mouth on them. But I know it’s not going to be enough. So I make an adjustment, and I’m inside you. I can feel you. I start to move.”
“My God, Cameron.” Her voice was shaking. “Stop.”
“Because you’re feeling me inside you, too? That’s no reason. You like it, don’t you? You feel the jarring of the bike, the occasional sharp bump, but it’s all part of me and you and the rhythm. It’s driving you as crazy as it’s driving me.”
Crazy? Yes, and breathlessly erotic, with white-hot sexuality. She found herself clenching, fighting the emptiness. “Are you doing something to my head, Cameron?”
“Not this time. It’s only words.”
And visions brought to life by those words.
“Close your eyes,” he said. “Let it come to you. Let me come to you. You know it’s going to happen. Why are you fighting it?”
“Dammit, because I don’t fall into bed with every man I find sexually attractive. There has to be a reason, there has to be order to my life.”
“Then I’ll give you a reason,” he said roughly. “You want your son protected? I’ll see that he’s safe from Kadmus and everyone else. Not just now but for the foreseeable future. I’m probably the best-qualified and expensive Guardian he could ever have. Is that reason enough?”
“I didn’t say price. I said reason.”
“Then you’ll have to decide if what I bring to you is reason enough.” She could see his hands clench on the handlebars. “But decide soon, or I’ll start fighting dirty. I don’t want to do that with you.” He said curtly, “We’re halfway back to Celia’s place. You haven’t got much time.”
“I have as much time as I wish. I won’t be pressured, Cameron.”
“Pressured? I’m not pressuring you. It’s the last thing I want. I know that’s a one-way street.” He drew a deep breath. “I’ve just got to have you. You tell me how to do it.”
She didn’t answer. Her mind was in chaos. She put her cheek on his back again. Leather, jarring contact, his words, which were sending deep tremors throughout her body. Feelings and visions were splintering into glittering shards all around her.
Her thighs resting against Cameron’s. She wanted to move them, rub against him.
Her breasts were taut, swollen, full.
I wanted my mouth on them, Cameron had said.
Cameron’s imaginary scenario was suddenly her own.
Her body naked against him, her thighs parted to accept him into her body.
She could feel him.
She bit her lower lip to keep back a groan. She clenched hard, and he must have felt the movement ripple through her body. “Stop fighting,” he said thickly. “You won’t regret it. I’ll give you anything you want from me. Stack up a dozen reasons, and I’ll knock them out one by one. Are you afraid of me?”
“No.” She was more afraid of herself and this fever that seemed to be possessing her. She could feel the waves of pure lust jolting through her. She could feel the flush heating her cheeks. She was shaking, wanting to draw him closer, wanting to tear off her clothes and make that naked vision reality. “Of course not.”
“I can’t take this,” he said harshly. “Celia’s is just ahead. I’m parking a few houses down.” He drew the motorcycle to the curb and turned off the engine. “I’ve got to have my hands on you.” He pulled her off the bike. “Don’t argue. You want it, too.” He pulled her toward the walkway leading to Celia’s backyard. He’d gone only a scant four yards when he released her wrist and jammed her up against the brick wall of the house. “God, I hope you want it. I can’t cheat and find out.” His mouth was on hers, opening it, tonguing wildly. “Not this time. Not with you.” His body was arching, hips rubbing catlike, pushing her back against the rough bricks. “Tell me you want me, Catherine.”
Want him? She was dizzy with wanting him. She couldn’t breathe. She was on fire.
“Tell me,” he said roughly. “I have to know. I can’t find out any other way.”
“That must … be very frustrating for you.” She reached up and started quickly unbuttoning her blouse with hands that were shaking. “Hell, yes, I want you. And if you don’t do something about it, I’m going to drag you down right here. This is too much to—” His lips were covering hers again. Tongue to tongue. Teeth nibbling, biting, tasting, possessing.
“Not here.” He lifted his head. “Come on.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the back garden. “I got a text from Celia. There’s supposed to be a summerhouse…” He glanced at her. “Oh, shit. Bad timing?”
“No, she told me the same thing.” She was half running to keep up with him. “I don’t care if she thinks she can set up arrangements for you. This isn’t about her.”
It was about need and the most intense desire she’d ever experienced, she thought hazily. She had to have him, and nothing else mattered.
“That’s what I was trying to tell you.” He threw open the door of the summerhouse and pulled her inside. Darkness. Moonlight streaming through long, arched windows, couches, and chairs with some kind of print upholstery. “This is the only thing that’s important.” His fingers were flying over the buttons of her blouse. “I have to—”
He wasn’t being quick enough. “I’ll do it.” She kicked off her shoes and brushed his hands aside. “I don’t need you for this.”