Glorious.
She gasped.
Her womb spasmed, squeezing him tight as her muscles clenched around his exploring thumb.
“You like that?”
“More,” she pleaded. “More.”
“My pleasure.”
Amidst the sultry haze, inside the warmth of her own skin, Katie closed her eyes and breathed in the power of the moment, experiencing everything-the distinct contrast between the soft velvet of her dress, the hard metal of the car and the friction of Liam’s skin.
This was a memory she planned to treasure forever. She memorized the deep bass thud of her heart; experienced the taste of her desire, sharp and sweet as strawberries; savored the thick ebb and flow of blood rolling through her arms and legs. And, she accepted the uncertain sureness of fear breathing into her ear. Don’t enjoy this too much. It’s only temporary. It’s nothing but a dare.
He drove into her one more time and she was gone.
Katie felt weighted in a deliciously lazy way, as if she were floating, hanging, flying high. Her thoughts retreated. Her mind emptied as her body filled up, dragging away her ability to form full sentences. Words slipping through her head like beads on a pearl necklace.
She. He. The Lamborghini. The luxurious night.
Heat. Flesh. Bodies. Thumbs.
Adventure. Excitement. Lust. Love.
Love?
No, no, not love.
Maybe not love, but sincere like and lots and lots and lots of lust.
There was no escaping the power of their lust for each other. He’d captured her, made her his prisoner, and taken her free will. She was nothing but his sex slave and she loved her sentence.
It took her down.
The orgasm. Splendid and brilliant as a shooting star.
The power took her down. Down, down, down. Into a place she’d never before explored.
She heard Liam cry out. Moments later, he was pulling her up, turning her around and tugging her into the crook of his arm. They clung to each other, their bodies glued with perspiration and honeyed sex.
His fingers stroked her hair, pushing it out of her eyes. She looked at him, searched his face for any signs that what he’d felt was just as monumental as what she’d experienced. Afraid to see the answer, terrified equally of either yes or no.
He smiled softly, dipped his head, captured her lips and kissed away her doubt. He’d taken this as she’d intended. Living in the moment, enjoying himself.
Katie breathed in the scent of him, along with a sigh of relief, but she couldn’t figure out why she suddenly felt so impossibly sad.
DREAMILY, Katie gazed out her office window, her mind on Liam. No matter how hard she tried to focus on the art graphics design for his ad campaign, she couldn’t stop thinking about him.
Or the rather wanton way she’d acted.
Katie cringed. What was the matter with her? Why did she possess this constant need to outdo herself by finding ways to shock and surprise him? The sex had been mindblowing, but she couldn’t help feeling bittersweet about it. Their relationship was based on nothing more than a silly dare.
And speaking of dares, the latest one had arrived in her mailbox that morning. She’d stuffed it in her purse on her way to work, and there it sat, unopened.
Mocking her.
She glanced under her desk at her purse. She could see the corner of pink linen paper peeking out at her. Part of her couldn’t wait to rip it open and discover what exciting Martini dare awaited inside that gilded envelope. But another part of her was scared of what the dare might say.
You don’t have to do it, you know. Just toss it in the trash, forget all about the Martini dare.
But Katie had never been one to walk away from a challenge. She pulled the envelope from her purse and leaned it against her coffee mug. Propping her elbows on the desk, she sank her chin into her upturned palms and glowered at the envelope.
It might sound like a romantic cliché, but she’d never met a man like Liam. When she thought of him, her heart grew full and achy and her stomach twisted up in knots.
She remembered the innocent things about him. The way his unexpected smile made her light up inside, the reassuring sound of his rich comforting voice, the spark of passion in his eyes when he looked at her.
And no man had ever responded to her sexual teasing in quite the same way that he did. Magically, he hardened at the slightest brush of her hand. Provocatively, he took the bait when she challenged him to expand his sexual horizons. Bravely, he followed where she led, and yet he made it seem as if he were the one doing the leading.
His sense of adventure matched hers-even if he was just now discovering it. The power of his life force was a thing of awe. He was secure in his masculinity and self-confident in business. And he made her feel like the sexiest woman on Earth.
She thought about the secret he’d told her-that he was the illegitimate son of Finn Delancy. She tried to imagine what that felt like-growing up without a father, never feeling that he was good enough, having to find his own way in the world.
It explained so much about him and made her love him all the more.
Love?
No, no, she didn’t mean love. She admired him, yes. But that was all. Love was much too strong of a word. Love required too much of her. Most definitely, this feeling wasn’t the budding bloom of love. Maybe it was time she cut the relationship short before things got too complicated.
She thought of how terrific sex was with him. How good she felt when they were together. How simply looking at him or thinking about him made her pulse quicken and palms grow damp.
Her gaze fell on the envelope.
Well, maybe one more date.
She reached for the dare, opened it and read.
You are hereby dared to have sex in an exotic place.
Exotic place? Hmm.
She thought of the bungalow her family owned in Fiji. How easy it was to think of her and Liam walking the white sand beaches, sipping festive umbrella drinks, feeling the balmy tropical breezes on their skin. Not to mention making love in a hammock under a bright starry sky.
Goose bumps scattered up her arm. Erotic and exotic.
But how to get Liam to go to Fiji?
Before she could formulate a plan of action, the sound of Tanisha dragging into the office twenty minutes late drew Katie’s attention to her coworker.
She took in Tanisha’s disheveled appearance, wrinkled clothes, her lovely braids coming undone, eyes red-rimmed. She’d never seen her confident, stylish friend looking so demolished.
Katie sprang to her side. “Omigosh, are you all right?”
“No,” Tanisha whimpered, and plopped down in her chair, knees pressed together, feet splayed apart.
Katie knelt beside her, wrapped her hand around Tanisha’s forearm. “What is it?”
“It’s Dwayne.”
“Has something happened to him?”
“He broke up with me.” Tanisha’s voice cracked, and a single tear slid down her caramel cheek.
That solitary heartbreaking tear startled Katie. She’d never seen her friend cry, much less shed a tear over some guy. She pulled a tissue from the box on the desk and pressed it into Tanisha’s hand. “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry. What happened?”
“He said he couldn’t trust me.” Tanisha pressed the tissue to her eye.
“Why would he say that?”
“Because,” Tanisha mumbled, “I sort of lied to him.”
“Sort of?”
“He wanted to be open and honest. He told me about his past, the women he’d known, and then he wanted to know how many men I’d been with.”
“What’d you tell him?”
“Two.” Tanisha cringed.
“Why did you lie?”
“Because he’d only been with two women. How could I tell him the truth? I was afraid he would think I was slutty or something.”
“So how’d he find out that you weren’t being honest with him?”
“He met Jerome.”
“Your brother ratted you out?”
Tanisha nodded, sniffled. “He said if I would lie to him about this kind of thing, how could he trust me when it came to the important stuff?”