Not that she needed any instructions. She knew very well what Paul wanted. It was what she wanted too: to feel him inside her, to feel him stretch her to capacity, to ride her so hard that she wouldn’t be able to walk tomorrow. Her womb clenched at the mere suggestion of what it would feel like to be taken by a man like him, to hand the reins over to him, to be seduced and not be the seductress the way she had to be with her clients.

Ex-clients, she corrected herself quickly. After all, she had given her notice tonight. She wasn’t an escort anymore. She was a free woman. Free to enjoy the attentions of a sexy single man who by the looks of it was not only drop-dead gorgeous, but appeared uninhibited as well. There would be no awkward fumbling in the dark. No rushed lovemaking. Paul struck her as the kind of man who liked to lavish attention on the women he was with, one who enjoyed pleasuring women. She hoped she was right, because what she needed tonight was a whole lot of pleasure. Just to take the edge off.

After all, lots of changes had taken place in her life only recently: her best friend Sabrina was now married and pregnant, and those two events alone would change their friendship as Sabrina’s priorities shifted to those of a wife and mother. Also, Holly was now unemployed, and the prospect of having to find some way to earn a living was frightening.

“You’re not getting cold feet, are you?” Paul’s voice said close to her right ear.

Holly whipped her head around and noticed only now that Paul had gotten out of the car and was holding the passenger door open for her, his hand extended as he leaned down to her.

She let a seductive smile play around her mouth. “I never get cold feet. And if I did, I’m sure you’d have something to warm them with, wouldn’t you?” For a brief moment, she met his gaze, then dropped it lower to where his pants tented.

She reached for his hand and allowed him to pull her from her seat. But the moment her feet found purchase on the cobblestone circular driveway, Paul lifted her up, making her feet dangle in the air. A moment later, she found herself sandwiched between the car and Paul’s body. And she wasn’t entirely sure that the car was the harder surface of the two. Well, particularly one part of Paul, the one that now pressed against her with singleminded determination.

“Warm you, huh? Is that what you want, Holly?” he murmured, dropping his lips to her neck, where his hot breath scorched her before he soothed the spot with a kiss.

“Yes.”

Holly slid her hands around him, placing one on his nape and allowing the other to travel to his backside. His very firm and toned backside, as she discovered a second later. It appeared that Paul not only looked good in a tuxedo, but the body that was hidden beneath it was also in good shape. She’d always liked a man who took care of his body.

Paul kissed her neck, while his hands worked themselves up her torso. When his fingers slid over her breasts, she sucked in a quick breath, startled by the thrill that charged through her. She was used to being touched by men, by strangers, and she’d learned to suppress her body’s involuntary reactions and instead always played her role, only showing what she knew the men wanted to see.

With Paul it was different. As though her body refused to play the same game any longer. Now that she’d quit, it stripped away the mask she’d worn for so long. Underneath it, her insecurities and her vulnerability were hidden. But now, as Paul peeled away layer after layer of her outer shell simply by his touch, she felt bare. As though she were naked.

And she might as well be, because the way Paul touched her breasts now, kneaded them in his palms, and rubbed his fingers over their hard peaks, she felt it so intensely he might as well be caressing her naked skin.

When he lifted his head from her neck, his eyes were dark. She could see the storm clouds that had gathered in them.

“Oh God,” Holly whispered when she realized what was going to happen. Paul would make her feel what it was like to be a real woman. And then, afterward? Would she be able to go back to her life and pretend she could live without such passion and desire in her life? Or was it better not to know what kind of passion was possible?

The decision was made for her when Paul captured her lips and kissed her. She couldn’t stop now. Already she could feel her arousal drench her panties. She needed this. She needed to feel. For so long she hadn’t allowed herself to feel anything.

With her hand on his butt she yanked him closer, rubbing herself against his ever-growing hard-on.

A loud moan was torn from his throat, and he ripped his mouth from her. “Fuck!” Paul glared at her, though somehow she knew he wasn’t angry. “You keep that up, Holly, and we’re not even gonna make it into the house, let alone the bed.”