“You can stay at my place, over the garage.” He started the motor and backed from the jail as he spoke. “There’s a good bed and a small kitchen up there. No one will bother you.”

But she didn’t want to be alone. She was sick of it. “Look, just take me back to my house. I’m sureRegi nald will be back soon.”

He snorted at that. “I don’t have time to bail you out of jail every morning, Roni. We’ll go get your things and move you in over the garage. You’ll be going back to school this fall…”

“I don’t have the money yet…”

“I’ll fucking pay for it,” he snarled, his gaze slicing over her, his fury almost tangible now. “Shut the hell up and listen to me for a change before that crazy father of yours gets you killed.”

His voice rose with each word. Roni looked over at him warily. She had never heard him raise his voice.

“I don’t need your charity.” She crossed her arms over her breasts, staring back out the windshield, her chest heavy with anger and pain. “I’m a grown woman, Taber. All I needed was the damned job.”

“You’re about to get something you’re going to regret and sure as hell don’t need right now.” Her head snapped around as the truck jerked to a stop behind the garage. He was losing his temper; she could feel it. Like electricity the tension between them began to crackle, stroking over her, almost taking her breath.

It was still early morning, hours before the garage was due to open. The back lot was deserted, enclosed by a high fence, leaving them sheltered, hidden from view. The intimacy of it hit her like a ton of bricks. She was suddenly breathless, achy, and much too aware of the man beside her. He was watching her with that look that never failed to arouse her. And it was arousal. Roni was a virgin, but she wasn’t stupid.

“Would I regret it?” The words passed her lips before she could halt them.

A blush burned her face as she turned quickly away from him, shaking her head, feeling just as immature and stupid as she knew she was being right now.

“Forget it.” She shook her head as she stared into the deserted lot. “I’m sure I didn’t mean that.”

But she did. She was honest enough with herself to know it.

“Roni.” His voice was softer now, resonating with a power, a heated emotion that had her heart tripling in speed.

“Look, I don’t need any sweet little speeches,” she said as she fought to hide her humiliation. Damn, when would she learn to keep her mouth shut? “Why don’t you just take me home and we’ll forget I ever said a word…”

“Do you think I wouldn’t love anything more than to take you to my bed? To give you what I know we both want?”

She stilled. She whimpered. Oh God, that pathetic little sound did not come from her throat. She turned back to look at him, feeling the desperation that she fought inside her welling to the surface. It was there on his face. Heavy lines of regret, the hunger she only glimpsed occasionally in his eyes.

“But you won’t,” she whispered, her heart breaking. “Will you?”

“Look at you,” he said gently, though his voice was rough. “So innocent and sweet and you have no idea the animal you’re trying to set loose here.”

“You wouldn’t hurt me.” She knew that. Knew that if she gave herself to him he might break her heart, but he would never hurt her physically.

“You can’t be sure of that, Roni.” He lifted his hand from the steering wheel, reaching out to touch her cheek.

The warmth of his calloused fingertips, the touch of his thumb at her lips had a sobbing breath of need escaping her throat. She had to touch him, to taste him. Her tongue peeked out, swiping over his flesh as they both groaned. The sounds were hot, hungry, filling the interior of the truck with a tension that tightened every cell in her body.

“You make me ache.” She couldn’t hold back the words or the need. “Sometimes I can’t stand it, Taber, I need you so bad. I love you.”

They had been friends for years. His cabin wasn’t far from hers and he had been a presence in her life for so long that she wondered if she could survive without him. He swallowed tightly. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

“I’ve loved you since I was eleven, Taber. Ever since you carried me out of the damned mountain and took me back to your mother’s house. Don’t you know you own me?” She hated that thought. Hated how much she needed him, how much she ached for him. “Am I so terrible, Taber, that even you don’t want me?” Were the upright, uptight prudes who judged her forReginald’s actions right? Was she somehow tainted? Unworthy of love? The thought of that pierced her soul.

Taber’s eyes flared with hunger, as though her words had set loose something inside him he could no longer contain. Hope surged within her. Arousal heated further, searing the already moist depths of her cunt.

“Not want you?” he almost snarled then. “Dammit, Roni, it would terrify you if you had any idea what I do want from you.”

There was nothing he could ask of her that she wouldn’t give him.

“Then it’s yours,” she whispered as his thumb stroked across her jaw, drawing slowly to her lips.

“Anything, Taber. I would die for you.”

“You’re still a baby,” he groaned, his thumb pressing against her lips until she enveloped it in the heat of her mouth. “God, Roni…” She bit down on it, holding him there as her tongue raked over the rough pad. Roni had always hated her lack of control, the hungry needs that often pushed her to hurt herself, to reveal her emotions in ways that allowed others to hurt her. She was hungry, starving for Taber in a way she never had for anyone else. She needed him now worse than she needed the air that sustained her.

“Let go,” he whispered as his other hand pulled her closer. “Let’s see if I can’t fill your mouth with something a hell of a lot more enjoyable.”

Before she knew what was happening he had pinned her to the seat, rising over her as he jerked the handle under the seat to slide it farther back and allow him more room. Roni whimpered, staring up at him in dazed disbelief as he moved between her thighs, the hard, hot heat of his denim-covered cock notching between her thighs perfectly.

“Taber…” Her womb convulsed then. Like a punch to her lower stomach it stole her breath, leaving her gasping.

“Feel me, Roni,” he ordered her hoarsely, grinding against her, his eyes darkening further as she felt the moisture spill between her thighs. Feel him? How could she do anything but feel him?

It was too intense. A broken cry escaped her throat as she arched to him, feeling her breasts throb, her clit swell. Her hands gripped his arms as he braced himself above her, his expression pulling into a painful grimace as he stared down at her.

“I bet you’re so fucking tight I won’t last minutes inside you.” His voice was grating, exciting her senses in ways she could have never imagined.

“Find out.” She could barely breathe, let alone speak, but she forced the words from her lips, needing him now with a ravaging hunger she couldn’t dispel.

One touch. That was all it had taken. Just one touch from him to destroy any self-control she might have had.

Her hands went to his waist, clawing at his shirt as she jerked it from his jeans, desperate to touch him, to taste him. She wanted to run her fingers down his chest, test the hard packed muscles of his abdomen, loosen his jeans and see if his cock was as thick and hard as it felt.

“Inside.” He lowered his head to her neck, his lips trailing down the side of it, his breath hot and heavy against her flesh. “I refuse to fuck you in the damned pickup like a kid.”

“I need to touch you.” Her hands flattened against his skin, her fingers curling against the heat of it, her senses overloading with the silken feel, the impression of small, downy hairs covering what she’d thought was a hairless chest.

He jerked against her, a pure primal growl issuing from his throat as her hands trailed down to his abdomen, then to the waistband of his jeans. Her fingers moved to the wide belt buckle, her gaze locking with his as she slid the leather of his belt through the metal loop.

“No. Not like this.” His hand covered hers, though his hips thrust fiercely against the mound of her pussy. “Not like this, Roni. Get your ass in that garage and think about this. Think about it hard and deep, baby, because I promise you, once I get inside you, that’s how I’ll fuck you. Hard and deep and without mercy. And I’ll be damned if I’ll let you ever walk away from me once I do it. So you better be real fucking sure it’s what you want.”

He jerked away from her, groaning at the effort she could tell it cost him. He wanted her. The thought rushed through her brain as pleasure heated her body. Roni stared up at him, amazed, a little frightened, but more than willing to give him whatever he needed from her.

“I have to get the hell out of here before I rape you.” He settled back into his seat, watching her carefully as she sat back up. “Open the garage up for me. I’ll be back later. And do as I said, Roni. Be sure. Because once I take you, there will be no escape. Remember that. This is your last chance, baby. I won’t have the control to give you another.”

“I don’t want to escape.” She promised herself she wouldn’t beg, but God knew she was within seconds of it.

He was breathing hard, heavy. His face flushed, his eyes glittered with stark, unabashed lust. “I’ll be back this evening. If this happens, I want it to happen right, baby. I want you to be sure.”

She turned to open the door, to stumble her way from the cab of the truck. Before she could do more than turn to leave he caught her around the waist, his mouth pressing against her neck.

“Taber.” Her entire body weakened, her eyes closing at the feel of him against her back, his arms going around her, his tongue stroking over her skin.

“I need to taste you.” She could hear the war being waged within him in his voice. His tongue was rough, rasping, almost like a cat’s, causing her to shudder with the sensual pleasure streaking through her body. It licked over her lower neck at the point where it met her shoulder. Then his teeth raked, tearing a strangled moan from her throat as he bit her a little roughly, the pleasure/pain overwhelming her, destroying her.

His hands flattened beneath her breasts, pulling her tighter against his chest as he suckled gently at her skin, then licked over it with a rough growl of pleasure.

“God, how good you taste,” he whispered at her ear. “Will you be this good, Roni, when I lick your soft pussy? Will your sweetness drive me insane for you?”

“Oh God.” Her head fell back against his shoulder as his lips and tongue continued to torment the sensitized skin.

“You’d better rest today,” he whispered as he slowly released her. “Rest well, Roni, because if you’re still here when I come back, it may be days before you sleep again.”

Roni fought for breath. Fought to find the strength to leave the truck. She didn’t want to let him go, didn’t want to take the chance that he would change his mind and leave her aching like this forever.

“I don’t have to think about it.” She didn’t look at him, terrified if she did, she would beg him to take her. “I want you now, Taber.”

“Then it won’t change in a few hours.” His voice was strangled, rough. “Go. Before I lose all control.”

She moved slowly from the truck before turning back to look at him.

“You’ll be back? For sure?”

“Oh, I’ll be back,” he said softly. “We may both regret it later, Roni, but I’ll be back.”

She closed the door, stepping back so he could leave, so she could think about and anticipate the coming night.