She stepped inside with him and turned toward the closing door. “What’s downstairs?”

He pressed a blue button on the very bottom of the panel. “Something even you don’t know about.”

Although her curiosity was piqued, her stomach was churning—a time-tested indicator of trouble. “I’m sure it’s fascinating down there.” In the jail cell or dungeon you want to lock me in. “But I’ll take a rain check.”

“You heard Jake—it’s my job to keep you occupied until Jeremy solves this. I know just how we could pass the time until then.” He hit the stop button and pulled her into his arms. His mouth was hot and demanding on hers. All fight melted out of her, and she wound her arms around his neck. His tongue teased her with a quick flick, then thrust into her mouth, claiming it as his.

Desire doesn’t care if it’s unwelcome.

It doesn’t wait for a situation that makes sense.

It whips in, crushes all rational argument for why it shouldn’t be there, and sweeps a person away.

Alethea opened herself to him, moaning with pleasure when he pushed her up against the wall and ran his hands over her as if he had every right to. She was clutching him just as eagerly. She slid her hands beneath the back of his suit jacket and dug her fingers into the rippling muscles of his back, rubbing against him, wantonly seeking to deepen their connection.

As their tongues teased and explored each other in an intimate dance, Alethea imagined other places she would welcome his wet invasion. Would he thrust that tongue between her lower folds with as much relentless skill? No hesitation, just plundering and demanding a response that she was helpless to stop herself from delivering. To feel those teasing flicks on her clit, that hot breath on her thighs, those strong hands of his spreading her wider for his pleasure.

Oh, God, take me. Here. Now.

She was drenched and ready for him. He broke off their kiss and caressed her neck hungrily. She threw her head back and gasped when one of his hands slid boldly up her inner thigh and pushed aside the soaked satin of her thong panties. His middle finger thrust deeply inside her wetness and began to roll inside her, while his thumb found her eager clit and flicked it lightly. In a hot circular fashion, his thick finger filled her and sought what others had often missed, the one spot that sent her over the edge. Sensing his triumph, he used his thumb to circle her nub while he kneaded without mercy at her most sensitive inner spot.

His other hand came up and pulled aside the strap of her dress and her bra, revealing her left breast to his hungry mouth. All she could do as he suckled her, nipped her, and plunged a second finger into her, was close her eyes and bite her lip to stop from calling out.

“Come for me,” he said hotly against her neck. “Now.”

She pushed her hands on his chest as her head thrashed from side to side. She didn’t want to give him this power over her. She wanted to resist the pull of the orgasm that threatened to wash over her. “No,” she whispered hotly.

“Yes,” he said, taking her chin in one hand and forcing her to looking into his eyes. His thumb moved faster on her nub and his fingers pulled out and thrust deeper, harder than before, a combination of pleasure and pain that was impossible to resist. When the heat began to spread through her, robbing her of her ability to breathe, her eyes began to close from the intensity of it, but he shook her chin lightly in reprimand. “Share it with me.”

Her whole body shook, and she clenched his fingers deeply inside her as she came with a cry. For a moment, just a moment, she was his. The feeling was terrifyingly good.

But it didn’t last.

Almost instantly she felt vulnerable and exposed. She used her hands, hands that a moment ago had been clinging to the front of his shirt, to push him back from her. His pleased expression angered her and brought a defensive coolness to her voice, even as her body hummed with desire for his continued touch. “If we’re on the bottom floor, why isn’t the door opening?”

“Patience, Alethea. We’re not there yet,” he said softly, watching her expression closely. “Prepare to be amazed.”

Seriously? She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Pretty confident about your abilities, aren’t you?”

He backed her up against the wall of the elevator again. With one hand on the wall beside her head, he closed a hand over the breast she’d forgotten was uncovered and leaned down to growl in her ear. “I was going to wait until we were somewhere more comfortable for our first time, but if you push me to prove myself now—I’m ready.” He took one of her hands in his and brought it down to rest it on his straining bulge. “More than ready.”

Looking up into those intense blue eyes, Alethea panicked and pulled her hand free. Jake had told Marc to keep her occupied. That’s all this is. Allowing herself to feel anything would only lead to hurt. A man like him probably looks that way at anything female. Since the beginning of time, women have confused lust with emotion. He doesn’t care about me. He sees me as a potential, convenient fuck. Don’t forget that. “Then it’s a shame that I’m done. Sorry to get mine and run, but I’m really not interested in going any further with you.”

A line creased his forehead, then disappeared, and he smiled. “Let me see if I can change your mind.” He inserted what looked like a pen into a small hole beneath the elevator panel. A section of the metal panel slid aside, revealing a control pad. He typed in a code. A small camera popped out above the elevator buttons. Marc positioned his eye in front of it until a green light blinked and the elevator began to descend again. “I used a gaze-password authentication system instead of the mainstream retinal scan. It required individual calibration and an estimation algorithm from the computer nerds upstairs, but the result is a password that cannot be used by an imposter thanks to logged variations in gaze parameters.”

Alethea sagged against the wall of the elevator as his foreplay entered an entirely new dimension, one that she was unprepared to fend off. “Does the algorithm include any biometric features?”

“Of course,” he said cockily. “The Waltons are working on a genetic password system, but for now we had to settle for the technology available.”

“What are you safeguarding?” she asked just above a whisper, unable to hide her curiosity.

A fact that he openly enjoyed. “Something Dominic didn’t think he was into, but he changed his mind quickly enough once he saw the place. Intrigued?”

Utterly, and on more than one level. When the elevator finally stopped, it opened onto a hallway that looked like any other, except that it lacked windows. They both stepped out and the door closed behind them.

“Is this some kind of safe room?” It made sense. Many wealthy people had them in their homes and in their workplaces. It’s a dangerous world.

“Something like that,” he said, and guided her firmly down the hallway to a door. “Designing these is a passion of mine now. A secret and surprisingly lucrative one.” Marc reached for the door, but stopped when Alethea tensed and pulled back. He looked down at her in concern. “What’s the matter?”

Her head swam with images of what might lay behind the door. She’d read enough women’s fiction to come up with seriously kinky options when she paired the words secret and passion together with a location. “I’m not into . . . I don’t like . . .”

“Are you claustrophobic?” he asked, assessing the size of the underground hallway before meeting her eyes again. “No, that can’t be it, but I’ve never seen you worried. What do you think is on the other side of the door?”

Her cheeks flushed bright red.

He cocked his head to one side, then burst into a deep laugh. “I like where your mind is going.” He shook his head, a huge grin on his face. “Unfortunately, the reality is much tamer than what is flying through that pretty little head of yours.” He pulled her to him, resting her hips against his arousal. “I’m sure we can think of something equally exciting, unless you’re really into that sort of stuff.”

“I’m not. I just said I’m not,” Alethea huffed, placing her hands on his shoulders to push him back, but her own body betrayed her when his lips grazed her ear. Her hands fisted the material of his jacket and she shuddered against him. She was used to being in charge with a man, not whimpering for more each time they touched. Even though he wanted her, he didn’t stumble over himself trying to please her, and that was even more of a turn-on.

“It’d be a shame if we never made it past this hallway since there is so much to see inside.”

He leaned down and kissed her lips, even though they pursed with irritation. “Come on, let me show you what I do in my spare time.”

He opened the outer door, typed in another security code, and swung open a thick metal door that looked like it was constructed to keep out a nuclear war. He closed it behind them and typed in another code. They stepped into a tinted glass octagonal room with multiple doors. Alethea forgot her concern as her curiosity soared.

More than just a hot body.

More than a hero.

He secretly believed in covert preparation.

She let out a dreamy sigh. When he looked down at her quickly, she gave herself a mental shake. She followed him through the glass doorway and exclaimed, “Holy shit.”

Marc puffed with pride and closed the door behind him. The domed area they entered was lined by building façades, giving the illusion of being outside even though they were underground. The cement paths were lined with grass, and the ceiling was an LCD screen showing clouds and sun. A waterfall, and what looked like a lazy river, comprised one entire wall.

“I based the indoor garden on Japanese technology but with a few modifications. The lighting changes throughout the day and simulates the benefits of sunlight. I also flash ultraviolet light at night to increase vitamin D in some of the plants. No bees here, so for now I have installed a pollen duster, but I’m still working on improving that system. This pod is self-contained and a bit like an underground terrarium. It can, but doesn’t need to, connect to the five other pods that branch off from the room where we entered. Technically, someone could live down here for decades.”

Eyes wide, Alethea walked ahead of him and studied the mix of technology and nature. “You did all this?”

He smiled, took her by the arm, and led her through the center toward the façade of a house that belonged in the suburbs, with its porch and picket fence. “I drew up the plans, but Dominic’s geek squad made it a reality. Welcome to my home for the zombie apocalypse.”

Alethea looked at him doubtfully. “Seriously?”

“Or asteroid collision, chemical or nuclear war, alien invasion . . . whatever.”

She searched his face. “I can’t tell if you’re joking or not.”

He opened the door to the house. “Good.” He led her through the living room to another door, that in a normal home, would have led to the basement. Behind the door was a thick metal hatch designed to keep water out. “I’m particularly proud of the next room.”