Burned Deep (15 page)

He asked, “You're kind of young to be this jaded, don't you think?”

“I'm twenty-six.”

“I know.”

Of course he did.

“I don't really consider it being jaded,” I told him. “I consider it being smart.”

He ground his teeth. Then he said, “Come here.”

I stared at him.

He grabbed his jacket and dropped it on the floor between his parted legs. Then he crooked his finger at me. “Come. Here.”

Apprehension moved through me. I took a few deep breaths. Then I did as he'd asked. Demanded. Whatever.

I knelt before him. He dragged one end of his tie down his shirt, slipping it off. “Hands behind your back.”

My stomach flipped with excitement. Yet tumbling from my lips were the words, “Not a chance in hell.”

His gaze didn't falter. “Do it.”

Against my better judgment, I did. He reached around and deftly secured my wrists. I gasped.

“What are you doing?”

“Teaching you a lesson about control.”

“Dane,” I said, my panic bouncing off the walls of the car.

“Don't worry,” he told me, a hint of edginess in his tone. “I won't do anything you don't want me to do.”

“Then why tie me up?”

“You'll see.”

The challenge in his eyes was enough to make my heart skip several beats.

One of his beautifully sculpted hands slid along my cheek and cupped the side of my face, his fingers burrowing in my hair. His thumb swept over my bare lips. I'd not applied more lip gloss after drinking champagne.

His other hand rested at the dip of my waist, where my skirt was still gathered. It didn't faze me to be half dressed the way it unnerved me to have found myself in the compromising position I'd been concerned about when he'd said we'd ride back together in the limo.

The thumb stopped sweeping. His head dipped and his soft lips grazed my temple, then my cheekbone. The throbbing in my pussy returned full force. He tugged gently at the corner of my mouth with his lips. I started. He was going to kiss me.

“Dane,” I said in protest. A measly one. It was only vaguely audible.

“That's not the word I wanted to hear,” he murmured. “I want you to beg, remember?”

Oh, God.
My eyes squeezed shut. My insides rioted.

He nipped at the other side of my mouth as his hand at my waist held me steady, although the road to Sedona was fairly smooth. It was Dane who made me vibrate from head to toe.

He smelled sinfully delicious. So masculine. So enticing. And being this close to him … it did the craziest things to me. My palms itched to splay over his bare chest. My heart pounded. My core tightened and my inner walls contracted, once again in search of something elusive.

Need burned through me. Not just the need to touch him but the need for him to possess me. To take what he wanted from me.

“Please,” I whispered before I could stop myself.

“Better.” Then he kissed me. Sexy, tongueless kisses that did exactly what I knew he intended—tease me. Seduce me. Bring me over to his dark side.

I leaned into him, melding to him as best as I could. He let out a low, strangled sound that sparked more carnal cravings. I wanted him desperately. It was terrifying yet too thrilling to stop.

My eyelids fluttered closed as his lips twisted and tangled with mine, our breaths becoming one.

The hand in my hair shifted and slid down my body to my slightly parted legs. He yanked the strand of my thong down one side, then the other, so the panties rested mid-thigh, further restraining me. His fingers glanced lightly over my slick folds. A small cry escaped me as his touch sent lightning bolts through my body.

He continued to engage me in his sensuous kisses as he stroked leisurely, tauntingly.

“You're so wet,” he said against my lips. “I want you wetter.”

He massaged my clit, picking up the pace.

I gasped and he used that opportunity to slip his tongue inside, toying with mine at first. Then he deepened the kiss. And moved his other hand to my backside, his fingers gliding along the cleft of my ass. He eased one into my pussy, penetrating from behind. My hips bucked.

Dragging his mouth from mine, he said, “You're tight. My cock will be a snug fit.”

Fiery sensations sprang to life.

He wedged a second finger inside and pumped vigorously as he continued to rub the sensitive bud between my legs, with a bit more pressure and speed.

A moan leapt from my throat. My heavy panting filled the cabin of the limo.

“You're close,” he said. As usual, cataloging everything about me.

“Yes.”

He worked me a bit faster and I felt the threads unravel.

“Dane.” I had no other thoughts in my head. Sensation consumed me. The blaze brightened and then, when his teeth pulled on my lower lip, I lost it completely. “Oh, God!” I cried out as I shattered at his mercy. “Dane!”

I came even harder this time. Every fiber of my being lit, every feeling to the depths of my soul centered wholly on him and the intense pleasure he gave me.

His fingers continued to massage and stroke as the orgasm went on and on. My inner thighs quivered again. My stomach tightened.

A strong, erratic pulse echoed in my ears. Irrational, raw urges clawed at me. I
had
to touch him. I had to press my body to his. I had to have him.
Now.

“Dane,” I said, my voice a mere wisp of air. “Untie me. Please.”

He didn't. Rather, he lifted the hand at the apex of my legs and swiped the tip of his finger over my lips. Then his tongue smoothed over it, tasting me, before he kissed me. Deeply. Passionately. As though he couldn't get enough.

His fingers were still buried in my pussy and I came again, a powerful ripple that echoed through every inch of me.

He captured my whimper with his kiss, not breaking the contact.

Oh, fuck.
I was so out of my element, so lost in him.

So very, very screwed. Because I needed him more than I needed my next breath.

When he pulled away, disappointment flashed through me—likely across my face, too.

“See?” he said in a darkly triumphant tone. Not exactly a gloat, but more of a silent
I just proved an invaluable point.
“You can't have it both ways, baby. Either you want me to kiss you … or you don't. Either you want me to touch you—and you want to touch me in turn—or you don't.”

“You win again. Untie my hands.”

The desire raging within was like nothing I'd ever imagined, nothing I'd ever believed I could feel.

Dane pulled the knot loose, freeing my wrists. This time, I kissed him. And shoved him back toward the seat. He clasped me by the waist and hauled me up and against him, shredding one side of my thong so that I could more easily straddle his lap. I pressed my chest to his.

It wasn't enough.

Breaking the kiss, I sat back and ran my hands over his cut abs, up to his well-defined pectoral ledge, to his wide shoulders. Then back down. Over and over, I absorbed the feeling of him beneath my fingertips, my palms.

His muscles flexed. His breathing turned ragged. His eyes smoldered with lust and longing.

He wanted me. Bad.

I felt his erection along my sex. I writhed against the hard length of him.

“Glad to see you couldn't resist for long,” he said in a strained voice.

“I know better than to do this,” I confessed. I knew better than to let myself get caught up in him. Yet here I was, completely entranced, enthralled.

His. All his.

Anxiety lingered on the periphery, but I chose to ignore it. I knew what I wanted. What I couldn't go a second more without.

I slipped between his legs again, kneeling on the floor of the limo. I worked the fastening of his belt. Too slowly, apparently. Dane joined in, undoing it quickly along with the top button while I worked the zipper. He shoved his pants and briefs down just enough to free his cock. I gaped.

Not that I hadn't expected everything about him to be magnificent—perfection personified, really. But … Good Lord. He was wide and thick. Beautifully hard. Amazingly tempting.

I wrapped my fingers around his base. His body jerked at my intimate touch. One of those primal growls that elicited my extreme excitement met my ears. He definitely wasn't immune to me.

I bent my head to him and licked my way up his shaft, teasing the underside of the head with my tongue, then licking some more.

“Fuck,” he ground out. His hands plowed through my hair, lifting strands away from my face and off my shoulders. “I've thought about you doing this since we met. Jesus, you make me hot.”

Spurred by his enthusiasm, I whisked my tongue over the indentation at the tip of his cock and then closed my lips around his head.

His hips rose and he said, “Take all of me.” He let out a frustrated sound. “As much as you can.”

I sheathed his erection with my mouth, down to where I still held him.

“Yes,” he said in his strained voice. “Suck me hard.”

I did. His hips bucked. “Damn, Ari…” He held my head in place as he pistoned into me, fucking my mouth. “Shit.” His breath came in heavier pulls.

I took him deep once more.

“Oh, yeah. Just like that. Do it again.”

My head bobbed as my lips slid up and down his shaft, pulling him in, sucking him harder.

“God, Ari…” A coarse sound slipped from low in his throat. His hips lifted again. I kept at it. “Swallow me down, baby.” He came hard, his heat and salty taste flooding my mouth, sliding easily.

His release set me on fire again. I looked up at him, watching me. Desire and yearning raced through me.

“Dane.”

He must have heard the need in my voice. His large hands gripped my biceps and he brought me up and onto him once more, my legs spreading to straddle his lap. Then his hand skimmed my ass and suddenly two fingers pressed into me from behind. He stroked quickly, confidently. I'd never needed this so much. I'd never greedily sought these powerful releases.

His mouth sealed to mine, adding to the pleasure, pushing me closer and closer to the edge. He kissed me as though he knew the frenzy raging inside, like he had every intention of making me burn brighter.

He worked a third finger in and pumped steadily. The sensations were too sinful not to give in to them. I cried his name as I came.

Wave after sizzling wave crashed over me. My fingers curled into his shoulders and I collapsed against him, sprawled across his chest.

“Oh, my God,” was all I could say.
Finally,
some of the sexual tension had eased.

While I tried to calm my rapid breathing, Dane smoothed a hand over my hair. He withdrew his fingers and wrapped his arm around my waist. I pressed my ear to his heart and listened to the strong, steady beats. They were a bit faster than I thought was normal and I smiled.

“Well, this is fortunate,” he murmured.

“Hmm?” I was too spent to really speak.

“No way for you to make one of your hasty retreats when we're in a moving vehicle.”

I supposed it wouldn't kill me to admit, “I kind of like this spot.”

His low chuckle rumbled in his chest. “I'm sorry about your thong.”

“No, you're not.”

Another soft laugh. “No. I'm not.”

We fell silent for several minutes. I stared out the window as we turned off I-17 and headed toward Sedona. I hadn't even realized it'd started to rain.

I gave a half snort.
Figures.

“What's so funny?”

“Nothing. It's not really funny at all. It's just … We're driving through another shower and I didn't even notice until now.” Even though the rain
ping
ed against the roof.

A hint of anxiety encroached on my tingly afterglow. I slipped from Dane's loose embrace and returned to my seat, pulling down my skirt and whipping off my semi-shredded thong. I stuffed it into my small purse as he zipped up, though his shirt still hung open. The sight of all that smooth skin over rigid muscles was too tempting by far. My hands burned to touch him again.

He scowled, apparently not liking the distance I'd just put between us. “We're still twenty minutes away from your townhome.”

“You know where I live?”

“Résumé,” he simply said.

“Right.”

“So, what's the problem?”

In other words, why couldn't I handle more than a few minutes of cuddling? I sighed. “Everything ceases to exist sometimes when I'm with you. It's like people, the rain, it all melts away and there's just … you.”

His brow crooked. “And that's a bad thing?”

“It's dangerous,” I reminded him.

The brow dropped and the disconcertion deepened.

“If you're worried about what sort of impact this has on your job, believe me when I say I can separate the two.”

“Of course I don't want to lose my job. But it's more than that. I don't want to get all tangled up in…”
You.

Yet …

Even as he sat there brooding, I wanted him. Even though his features were darkened and there was a hard glint in his emerald eyes, I wanted him. Even though I knew this had the potential to end horrifically for me, I wanted him.

“Maybe we should set the record straight,” he said. “I'm not interested in just one night in the back of a limo with you. I'm not interested in your type of fast fuck in a hotel room before you bolt for the door.”

My breathing turned shallow. His eyes locked with mine and I felt his intensity to the depths of my soul.

“This isn't something casual, Ari. It isn't something fleeting. I already know it. However long it takes for you to realize it, fine.” He tried to cut me slack, but I could see the impatience rimming his eyes. A certain restlessness to his entire demeanor that was now quite familiar. I felt it, too.