Daniel’s long fingers dug into the flesh of her ass, squeezing, kneading her without a hint of gentleness. “Push your hot ass up against me and take it deeper.” She arched her back to comply, whimpering when she felt herself stretching to accommodate his size. “What’s the matter, Story? Don’t you want me as deep as I can go?”

“Yes!”

“Say it, then, baby. Say ‘Daniel, please f**k me deep.’”

“Daniel…” She trailed off on a moan, wanting to say the words, but hesitating. She’d never spoken like that before. It would be wrong. It would be wonderful.

“Oh no. You wanted to be turned around and f**ked like a bad girl. Now you’ll say the bad words that go along with it. Tell me what you want.”

“Fuck me deep,” she cried.

He drove into her with deeply satisfied growl. “Very good. Now you get more.”

His hand reached around to massage her swollen clitoris with perfect accuracy, building the pressure so quickly her mind could barely keep up with her body. Then he did something that made her mind drop out of the race completely. Gently, with the flat of all four fingers, he patted Story between her thighs, right over the bundle of nerves begging for satisfaction. It turned into a pattern. Thrust, pat, thrust, pat until her hips pumped wildly on his erection, racing toward release.

“You wouldn’t have fallen asleep if you knew what I had in store for you. Isn’t that right?”

Her answer ended in a whimper when he abruptly quit the pattern, circling his hips instead and holding the heel of his hand against her firmly, so that each thrust bombarded her from two sides. Her thighs began to shake as the orgasm closed in on her, turning her limbs into liquid. One arm she’d been using to support her body gave way beneath the force of Daniel driving into her.

He yanked her hips back up without pausing in his assault. “Hold on to the headboard if you can’t take it.”

His arrogant demand did nothing to decrease her need; it might have even wrenched it higher. Wrapping her fingers around the wrought iron bars, she pushed back against him, finding the right angle and keeping it, until finally the climax rolled through her, sending her body into concentrated spasms of pleasure.

“Christ, this is all there is. This is everything,” he grated before thrusting one final time into her. His teeth bit into her shoulder with a growl as he came.

It took a moment for her to recover, eventually returning to reality when his arms circled her, pulling her upright and back against his chest. Softly, he kissed her shoulder where his teeth had been moments before and pulled her closer. He exhaled on a shaky breath and reached over to turn off the lamp, then lay them down together side by side.

A multitude of thoughts raced through her mind, but she didn’t give voice to a single one of them. She wouldn’t have the faintest idea how to begin even if she wanted to. Tonight, she’d gone home with someone she thought was an expert player, but she’d woken up next to someone else entirely. Someone she hadn’t been anticipating. The connection she’d felt, the response he’d wrung from her…she hadn’t been prepared for the depth of it.

Comforted by Daniel’s surrounding heat, she’d already started drifting toward sleep when she heard him whisper against her damp neck.

“Belong to me, Story. Even if it’s just for a little while.”

Chapter Eleven

In a flash of panic, Story looked down to ascertain whether or not she’d remembered to dress herself this morning. Jean shorts, check. T-shirt, check. Ignoring the curious look sent her way from the nurse’s station, she turned down the hallway toward Jack’s room.

After walking the entire twelve blocks to Lenox Hill Hospital only to realize she didn’t remember one single detail about it, she counted herself lucky that she hadn’t been struck by a speeding cab or fallen down a manhole. She held a now-cold cup of coffee, of which she’d forgotten to take even one sip.

Scenes from the night before consumed her every thought, beginning with Daniel’s nightmare and ending with his whispered words in the darkness. And in between, a whole lot of “not safe for work” material that made her blush, even as a main participant. His mouth on her br**sts, the forcefulness of his words, the panty ripping.

She knew that taking last night and filing it away, only to be thought of late at night, alone in a bubble bath, would be the smartest route to take. Maybe even confide in Hayden about her night with Daniel over a good bottle of wine. She should not, should not, want to do it again tonight and tomorrow and okay, now!

Somehow she’d ended up in bed with the man mothers warn their daughters to stay away from. The kind of man fathers go after with a shotgun, their sobbing daughters trailing behind them in a wedding dress. She should have stayed away, because now that she knew what all the fuss was about, she would never be satisfied with anything less. He’d blindsided her, ruined her, and addicted her in one single evening.

Unfortunately, after drawing her in with seductive touches and blunt promises, he’d revealed a completely different man underneath. One she couldn’t categorize quite so easily. Someone harboring secrets. Pain. But she needed to view her connection to Daniel for what it was. A healthy sexual attraction being indulged in by two consenting adults. She couldn’t mistake sexual attraction, albeit a powerful one, for anything beyond a physical craving.

Pausing in the hallway before she reached Jack’s door, Story pressed her hands to her cheeks, certain that thoughts of Daniel had stained them bright red. It didn’t help matters that every step she took reminded her where he’d been, where he’d touched. The jean shorts and T-shirt she’d apparently chosen to wear today felt too tight against her sensitized skin. Getting hold of her rampant thoughts needed to happen immediately, before she walked into her father’s hospital room and blurted, “I had the most mind-blowing sex of my life—of everyone’s life—with your protégé last night. Three cheers for me! Oh, and how are you feeling?”

So not the best way to greet your heart-attack-victim father.

This morning, she’d rolled over to find Daniel’s half of the bed empty, but full-blown panic mode was quickly averted when she’d looked on the bedside table to find a paper bag containing a box of condoms and a sleeve of peanut butter crackers, turning her insecure panic to laughter. Then, discovering a voice mail from him on her phone, she’d listened to it twice before even getting out of bed, his gravelly voice conjuring a delicious tug in her belly. And okay, maybe she’d listened to it three times instead of two.

Hey baby, I just left your place. I didn’t want to wake you up. You looked too pretty lying there… We have a training exercise all day in Jersey or else I’d still be in bed with you, gorgeous. You know that, right? I wouldn’t disappear like that without a reason. Not with you. I’ll talk to you soon… And the next time you fall asleep on me, you’ll wake up to find me licking those tan lines. That’s a promise, Story.

Despite the shiver of pleasure she got from Daniel’s gruff message, she’d felt a flicker of alarm over his words. He was already planning on a next time. God knows she wanted that, too, but where did it lead? Only days since her breakup, she’d barely gotten her head back on straight. For all she knew, her overwhelming craving for Daniel stemmed from the need for closure after Fisher kicked her to the curb.