“Let me tell you how I imagined you that day,” he purred, circling my clit with the tip of his tongue, his hands holding me down when I would’ve bucked into the caress. “Spread beneath me on black satin sheets, your hair fanned all around you, your eyes wild and hot from the feel of my cock pounding into your tight, silky cunt.”

“God. Gideon,” I moaned, seduced by the sight of him savoring me so intimately. It was a fantasy come true—the dark and dangerous sex god in the breathtaking suit, servicing me with that sculpted mouth made for driving women wild.

“I imagined your wrists pinned down by my hands,” he went on roughly, “me forcing you to take it over and over. Your hard little nipples swollen from my mouth. Your lips red and wet from sucking my cock. The room filled with those sexy sounds you make … those helpless whimpers when you can’t stop coming.”

I whimpered then, biting my lip as he fluttered over my clit with the wicked lash of his tongue. I hooked one leg over his bare shoulder, the heat of his skin scorching the sensitive flesh at the back of my knee. “I want what you want.”

His grin flashed. “I know.”

He sucked me, drawing on the tight bundle of nerves. I climaxed with a breathless cry, my legs shaking with the rush of release.

I was still quivering with pleasure when he urged me back lengthwise on the couch, his big body looming over me, his cock thrusting upward from where he’d shoved his briefs down just enough to free it. I reached for him, wanting to feel him in my hands, but he caught my wrists and pinned my arms.

“I like you like this,” he said darkly. “Held prisoner for my lust.”

Gideon’s eyes were intent on my face, his lips glistening from my climax, his chest heaving. I was mesmerized by the difference between the virile male about to take me like an animal and the civilized businessman who’d inspired my searing lust to begin with.

“I love you,” I told him, panting as the broad head of his cock slid heavily through my swollen cleft. He pushed against me, parting the slick opening.

“Angel.” With a groan, he buried his face in my throat and surged inside me, the thick length of his rigid penis tunneling deep. Gasping my name, he ground his hips against me, trying to get deeper, shoving and circling, screwing. “Christ, I need you.”

The desperation in his voice took me by surprise. I wanted to touch him, but he held me down, his hips working restlessly. The feel of him inside me, so hot, the wide crest rubbing and massaging, was driving me out of my mind. I screwed him back, unable to stop, the two of us straining together.

His lips brushed against my temple. “When I saw you standing in the lobby just now, in your pretty yellow dress, you looked so bright and beautiful. So perfect.”

My throat tightened. “Gideon.”

“The sun was shining behind you, and I thought you couldn’t possibly be real.”

I struggled to get my hands free. “Let me touch you.”

“I came after you because I couldn’t stay away and when I found you, you wanted me.” He held both my wrists in one hand and cupped my butt in the other, lifting me as he pulled out, then thrust deep.

I moaned, rippling around him, my sex sucking ravenously at his thickness. “Oh God, it’s so good. You feel so good …”

“I want to come all over you, come inside you. I want you on your knees and on your back. And you want me this way.”

“I need you this way.”

“I push inside you and I can’t take it.” His mouth lowered to mine, sucking erotically. “I need you so much.”

“Gideon. Let me touch you.”

“I’ve captured an angel.” His kiss was wild and wet, passionate. His lips slanted over mine, his tongue fucking deep and fast. “And I put my greedy hands all over you. I defile you. And you love it.”

“I love you.”

He stroked into me and I writhed, my thighs grasping his pumping hips. “Fuck me. Oh, Gideon. Fuck me hard.”

Digging his knees in, he gave me what I begged for, powering into me. His cock plunged into me over and over, his groans and fevered words of lust gusting against my ear.

My core tightened, my clit throbbing with every impact of his pelvis against mine. His heavy sac smacked against the curve of my buttocks and the couch thumped against the bare concrete, inching forward as Gideon pounded into me, every muscle in his body flexing on his downstrokes.

The obscene sounds of furious sex drowned out the awareness of the workers only yards away. The race to climax drove us both, our bodies the outlet for the violence of our emotions.

“I’m going to come in your mouth,” he growled, sweat sliding down his temple.

Just the thought of him finishing that way set me off. My sex spasmed in climax, clutching and grabbing at his driving cock, the endless pulses of orgasm radiating outward to my fingers and toes. And still he didn’t stop, his hips circling and lunging, expertly pleasuring me until I sagged limp beneath him.

“Eva. Now.” He reared back and I followed, scrambling to my knees and sliding my mouth down his glistening erection.

At the first hint of suction, he was coming, spilling over my tongue in powerful bursts. I swallowed repeatedly, drinking him down, relishing the gruff sounds of satisfaction that rumbled from his chest.

His hands were in my hair, his head bowed over me, sweat glistening on his abs. My mouth slid up and down his cock, my cheeks hollowing on drawing pulls.

“Stop,” he gasped, pulling me off. “You’ll make me hard again.”

He was still hard, but I didn’t point that out.

Gideon cupped my face in his hands and kissed me, our flavors mingling. “Thank you.”

“What are you thanking me for? You did all the work.”

“There’s no work involved in fucking you, angel.” His slow smile was pure satiated male. “I’m grateful for the privilege.”

I sank back onto my heels. “You’re killing me. You can’t be that gorgeous and sexy and say stuff like that. It’s overload. It fries my brain. Sends me into a meltdown.”

His smile widened and he kissed me again. “I know the feeling.”

13

MAYBE IT WAS because I’d just gotten laid myself that I saw the signs on Megumi. Or maybe my sex radar, as Cary called it, wasn’t on the fritz anymore. Whatever the reason, I knew my friend had slept with the guy she’d been planning on breaking up with and I could tell she wasn’t happy about it.

“Is it on or off?” I asked leaning on the reception counter.

“Oh, I broke it off,” she said glumly. “After I hit it with him again first. I figured it’d be liberating. Plus who knows how long my next dry spell will last.”

“Are you second-guessing your decision to end it?”

“Not really. He just acted all hurt about it, like I’d used him for sex. Which I guess I did, but he’s a no-strings-attached guy. I figured he wouldn’t have a problem with a no-strings-attached nooner.”

“So now your head’s all fucked up.” I gave her a sympathetic smile. “Remember, this is the guy who hadn’t called you since Friday. He got lunch with a beautiful girl and an orgasm, not a bad deal.”

Her head canted to the side. “Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

Her mood visibly lifted. “Are you working out tonight, Eva?”

“I should, but my dad’s in town and I’m playing it on his schedule. If we go, you’re welcome to tag along, but I won’t know until after work.”

“I don’t want to intrude.”

“Is that an excuse I hear?”

Her grin was sheepish. “Maybe a little one.”

“If you want, you can come home with me after work and meet him. If he wants to work out, you can borrow something of mine to wear. If not, we can come up with something else to do.”

“I’d like that.”

“Okay, then we’re set.” It would be good for both of us. It would give my dad another look at the normalcy in my life and it would keep Megumi from torturing herself over Michael. “We’ll head out at five.”

“YOU live here?” Megumi tipped her head back to look at my apartment building. “Nice.”

Like the others on the tree-lined street, it had history and showed it off with the kinds of architectural detailing contemporary builders didn’t use anymore. The building had been updated and now sheltered residents with a modern glass overhang above the entrance. The addition meshed surprisingly well with the fa?ade.

“Come on,” I said to her, smiling at Paul as he opened the door for us.

When we exited the elevator on my floor, I forced myself not to glance at Gideon’s door. What would it be like to take a friend home to a place I shared with Gideon?

I wanted that. Wanted to build that with him.

I unlocked my apartment and took Megumi’s purse when we stepped inside. “Make yourself at home. I’m just going to let my dad know we’re here.”

She stared wide-eyed at the open floor plan of the living room and kitchen. “This place is huge.”

“We don’t need all this room, really.”

She grinned. “But who’s going to complain?”

“Right.”

I was turning toward the hallway leading to the guest room when my mom emerged from the hall leading to my bedroom and Cary’s, which was on the opposite side of the living area. I came to a halt, startled to see her wearing my skirt and blouse. “Mom? What are you doing here?”

Her reddened eyes locked on a point somewhere around my waist, her skin pale enough to make her makeup look overdone. That was when I realized she was wearing my cosmetics, too. Although we’d been mistaken for sisters on occasion, my gray eyes and soft olive skin tone came from my dad and necessitated a different color palette than the pastels my mom used.

Queasiness spread through my stomach. “Mom?”

“I have to go.” She wouldn’t meet my gaze. “I hadn’t realized it was so late.”