“I know.” He stroked the back of one finger over a bruise visible on her ribs. “I’d like to kill them all over again. But they’re already gone, honey.”

“It’s not that. I just…they look awful.”

He slipped the blouse off her shoulders and let it drop to the floor. “Nothing about you is awful.” Bending, he kissed the angriest bruise left on her right shoulder. “And I won’t let anyone ever hurt you again.” To get her back where she needed to be, Dare kissed his way along her upper body, over her shoulders, her collarbone, her throat. Every so often, he gave her a gentle love bite and then soothed it with a soft openmouthed kiss and the stroke of his tongue.

Holding on to his forearms, Molly tipped her head back. His hands easily spanned the width of her narrow back. Holding her like that, he arched her up and closed his mouth over her left nipple through her bra.

Her vibrating groan tested his resolve, but he held on. Barely. While he teased her, he teased himself, too, by grinding his erection against her soft body.

She sucked in a breath. “Dare?” Her right hand left his forearm and went to his abdomen, then down along the fly of his jeans.

Through the denim she found and stroked him, making him nuts.

“That…” He went still, his stomach clenching. “That might not be a great idea.” But God, he didn’t stop her.

Calculating as only a woman could be, Molly whispered with pleasure, “You’re even bigger than I imagined.”

Fuck patience. “Tease.” Dare opened her bra and pushed the cups down to expose her. Her heavy br**sts, now freed of restraint, swayed with her every movement. Her ni**les were soft pink in color, pulled tight.

Growling with impatience, Dare pried her hand off his dick so that he could remove the bra completely, and he could have sworn that he heard her laugh.

It didn’t matter. She wouldn’t be amused for long.

Going to his knees, he opened the snap on her jeans, slid down the zipper and tugged both the jeans and her panties to her knees.

“Dare.” Sounding strangled, she braced her hands on his shoulders. “What are you—?”

Holding her backside in both hands, he pulled her close and pressed his face against her. He inhaled her scent and growled again. “I can’t wait.”

As he came back to his feet, she said something, but he wasn’t sure what. Lifting her up and onto the bed, Dare stripped the clothes from her body.

Even though his gaze wanted to linger on her br**sts and puckered ni**les, her smooth belly and that neat triangle of dark pubic hair, he still saw the bruises. In stark contrast to her pale, soft skin, they were impossible to miss. They just didn’t matter, not to how he felt about her, how much he wanted her.

As the marks healed, they turned muddied shades of yellow and green. But they were healing. Molly would be okay.

He didn’t find the injuries ugly, as she did. If anything, they only served to remind him that when he’d carried her out of that place, he’d taken responsibility for her. She relied on him now.

She was his.

With one hand he touched the sleek silky skin of her upper thigh, while with the other he opened his jeans and eased the zipper down over his hard-on. He had to step back to get his shoes and socks off, and then he stripped off his shirt and tossed it aside.

Knees together in a modest—and enticing—pose, Molly rose up to her elbows to watch him.

He shucked off the jeans and straightened in front of her. If she enjoyed looking at him half as much as he liked seeing her, he had no problem with that.

But the longer she looked, the more he wanted her. And she was taking her time, studying every inch of him.

“You’ve seen men before, Molly.”

Slowly shaking her head to deny that, she whispered, “I’ve never seen a man like you.”

What the hell did that mean? Given the way she held her bottom lip in her teeth, and how her gaze went all soft and heated, it wasn’t a complaint. “I don’t want to rush you, honey, but how long should I stand here?”

“It just occurred to me,” she said, her gaze still on his cock. “I don’t have anything. I mean, for protection.”

That was her holdup? He didn’t think so. “I’ll take care of it.”

Did she think, even for a second, that he wouldn’t do the responsible thing? Or was she hesitating out of nervousness?

He retrieved a lone condom from his wallet; for now, it would do. But after that, he’d get the box from his duffel bag. To be sure, he asked her, “Anything else?”

Her gaze lifted to his, and she licked her lips. “Just…hurry up.”

Smiling, Dare said, “Right.” He should have known that she wasn’t the type to hide her feelings. If she had second thoughts, she’d have told him so.

As he took precautions, she watched him with so much fascination that maintaining control wasn’t easy. He wanted no secrets between them, no modesty or shyness. The light on her desk was enough, and he was relieved that she didn’t ask him to turn it off.

Dare stretched out over her, and as her legs parted he settled against her with a feeling of rightness. He’d had sex; this was more.

While he again explored her lush br**sts and taut ni**les, he kissed her. She accepted his tongue, even sucked on it, making him nuts with lust. Her hands were all over him, from his back to his ass and thighs, and back up to his shoulders. She seemed every bit as urgent as him.