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  No. This couldn’t be happening. Her body was hers to control, not his to toy with at will. Unfortunately, her body didn’t exactly agree with her logic. And if she wasn’t careful, she feared her heart would yell “timber” and fall.

  Her breasts plumped for his touch, the sensitive areolas bunched up around nipples so needy that when he bent his head to take one of the hard beads in his mouth, she gasped. And arched to him.

  He accepted her offering, and a warm burst of emotion broke free in her chest. She couldn’t wrap her arms around him, so she hugged him with her legs, keeping him close.

  Violently aware of the head of his cock barely tucked inside her sex and the throb of her desire pounding at her, Lauren raised her hips to entice this stranger to bury himself deep inside her again.

  She didn’t just want the man. She needed him.

  The pleasure of his hot lips over her, the deft curl of his tongue against her, had her moaning. The soft, insistent pull of his mouth at her nipple quickly reduced her to a whimper. She could feel her sex clenching, silently begging. Lauren struggled against the cuffs again. She wanted to put her hands on him, sink her fingers into his hair, then move lower to feel the muscles of his back work as he thrust into her. The idea of grabbing him and pulling him back inside her so he could fill her again amplified her need.

  She had this wonderful, terrible feeling that with him buried deep within her, she’d feel complete.

  Already, the peak of desire rose dangerously. Her breathing shallowed. Of their own volition, her thighs parted wider and she raised her hips. Still, he held himself away, kept her on a torture rack as she waited, panting with unfulfilled desire. He switched his attention to her other nipple, plucking it with his lips, nipping gently with his teeth while his hands drifted down her body to clench around her hips.

  Without warning, he buried his face in her neck and eased into her. Slowly. So damn slowly, Lauren was sure she was going to lose her mind. When he had an inch inside her, her heartbeat pounded in her ears, roaring out all thoughts. In two inches, and she grabbed the headboard and moaned. In halfway now. Something soft and dangerous expanded in her chest. Damn, he was killing her with his slow pleasure. Hyping up nerves that hadn’t seen action seemingly in forever and shutting down normal logic. In six inches, and he was still moving forward in that relentlessly unhurried pace. She thrashed her head from side to side as the desire racing through her blood turned from hot to scalding and the need to feel him everywhere overcame her. Finally, he was in those last few inches, pressing against her cervix, bumping her clit—and somehow breaking down barriers to her emotions.

  She screamed, then started gasping for breath.

  “I’m going to love you like this every chance I get,” he muttered roughly in her ear.

  Before she could say no—or say anything—her body rejoiced.

  He repeated the whole process of agonizing withdrawal, followed by an endless, tormenting advance inside her. And all the while, his fingers and mouth toyed with nipples that stood so straight, he had to know they were saluting a job well done.

  The friction alone set her on fire, but when he added a little bump and grind at the end, her clit throbbed, pulsed, swelled. She placed an open-mouthed kiss on his bare shoulder, tasting hot male, sweat, and desire on her tongue. Her pulse careened out of control. Emotions were a cacophony of words and needs all bouncing within her, dying to burst free. Perspiration broke out across her skin as he repeated his slow-motion stroke a third time, then a fourth.

  God help her, she probably wouldn’t last a fifth.

  Lauren bit her lip and tried to direct her mind elsewhere. Hockey games, Emma needing stitches after falling on a sprinkler head, really boring meetings.

  During which she usually sat across from Noah and found ways to stare at him while pretending not to. She imagined Noah tunneling into her right now, those stunning eyes of his hot with passion as he gripped her hips, held her still for his invading cock. He sent her careening toward insanity—toward ecstasy—as he whispered that he wanted to love her every chance he got.

  Lauren’s pleasure ramped up in a millisecond. Now beyond her control, her arousal soared higher, twisting in her belly. On another downward stroke of his slow, insistent cock, she exploded in a new and dazzling climax, squeezing down on his erection so hard, he couldn’t move inside her. Then he pulsed and spilled his hot seed. His tormented groan ripped through the night, joining her sharp cry.

  Tears singed the backs of her eyes as he wrapped his arms around her and held her against his body, as if he’d never touched anything more important. As if nothing would ever be more important than what they shared.

  An illusion, a mirage. Not true. Means nothing. She chanted it all in her mind as the pleasure he’d given her slowly ebbed. She wasn’t sure she believed it. Sex with someone who refused to tell her even his name couldn’t actually mean anything, right?

  In a normal world, yes. Lauren got the feeling she wasn’t in Kansas anymore, at least where this man was concerned.

  The silence overcame the room quickly, punctuated only by his harsh breaths and her shuddering cries as she tried to keep her tears at bay. She didn’t succeed.

  Mr. Mysterious had completely taken control of her body in a slow, thorough imitation of real lovemaking. But if what they’d just shared had been a fantasy, how the hell had he torn a gaping hole in her defenses so quickly? Worse, thoughts of Noah hadn’t just aroused her or sent her over the edge, they’d ripped her emotions wide open.

  She didn’t understand. The horrified knowledge of the melting ice around her heart scared her to death. She felt open and raw and vulnerable in a way she didn’t think she’d ever been.

  “Get out,” she rasped.

  “What?” His arms tightened around her. “Lauren—”

  “Go.”

  Tears seeped down her cheeks, and he wiped them away with a tender caress of his thumbs. “Are you hurt?”

  “Don’t act like you care. This was sex. Just sex. You’ve had it. Now get the hell out!”

  “Just sex?” he growled, his voice finally rising above a whisper.

  Something familiar about his voice tugged at her, but she was discombobulated and strung out on a flood of feelings she’d been holding in since long before he’d sneaked into her house.

  “Yes,” she hurled back at him defiantly.

  “Why are you crying?”

  “Because I let a total stranger fuck me. Twice.”

  He went taut above her. Anxiety shot through her. She’d pissed him off. His body language shouted his anger. What would he do? Lauren didn’t think he’d harm her. He wasn’t crazy or violent. If nothing else, she’d felt his essence, harsh when necessary, giving when he could be, while he was deep inside her.

  But she hated the thought that she’d hurt his feelings.

  Damn, why the hell did she care about how he felt? Unless she cared, too…

  Not a good development.

  “I made love to you, and you know it. For a minute there, you made love back to me.”

  “No,” she choked.

  “Yes, and you’ll do it again.”

  “Never.”

  He withdrew and eased off the bed. From the sounds of his rustling clothes, he dressed quickly. Suddenly he secured her wrists to the headboard loosely with something else, something soft and pliable. Velvet ropes? He unhooked the cuffs.

  “By the time you work these ties free and remove the blindfold, I’ll be gone. But I’ll be back.” He pressed a quick kiss to her mouth, and she breathed in a lungful of hot male and sex-scented air. “And when I return, I’m going to make you eat those words.”

  Chapter Four

  Monday started bright and early with an eight a.m. meeting Lauren had been anticipating for weeks. The restaurant chain’s expansion into the affluent areas north and west of Dallas was one of her projects. Noah had given her a lot of latitude in choosing sites and tweaking the menu to suit the locations. Today,
she’d present her recommendations to Noah and the rest of the committee and, with approval, they’d get started on focus groups that would assist them in making the suburban offering just right.

  Today, she struggled to dredge up her normal enthusiasm.

  Staring into a cup of black sludge the mini-mart around the corner from her house passed off as coffee, Lauren sloughed off the thought that she needed to be gathering her papers and making her way to the conference room. Instead, her stubborn mind was still fixated on Friday night.

  Every time she thought back on that magical, frightening encounter, she flushed and heated. The man had known her body. How to control it. How to please her. Better, even, than she’d known. He’d understood exactly how to take her higher, precisely how to cast her over the edge. He’d done it with ruthless skill.

  He’d also stolen past her defenses and made love to her.

  How?

  Despite her brave words to Noah last Friday afternoon, she wasn’t a casual sex sort of girl. Oh, the idea had appeal. All the pleasure, none of the strings that eventually brought pain when the relationship died and someone left… But deep down, she was the kind of girl whose body followed her heart. Her Friday night stranger had given her a fabulous handful of orgasms, true—but she couldn’t escape her good-girl roots. She’d allowed—oh, let’s be honest—begged a man whose name she didn’t even know to invade her sex…and he’d slipped into her soul. She’d responded with abandon. Lauren had never given herself that completely to any man, not even her husband of nearly ten years.

  Why?

  It could only be because she’d been thinking of Noah. Somehow, that man had gotten under her skin and chiseled his way into her heart.

  But even before the naughty fantasies of her boss, she’d been responding to Mr. Mysterious with complete abandon, and the realization left her with part thrill…part shame. Had she changed? Did her body recognize the stranger as her ultimate sexual mate? Or had she surrendered so completely because something about him tugged at her, reminding her enough of Noah to make her respond?

  And to top it all off, rather than being glad she’d verbally chased him out of her bed after “the deed,” she was sulky. He said he’d be back. Two whole days at home with the phone constantly near as she’d laid bathroom tile. Nada. Her girls had called. Tim had phoned to arrange a drop-off for the kids. Her mother had called to ask if she planned to come to Aunt Frannie’s birthday party in two weeks.

  She’d listened to every sound in the house, thinking he might sneak back in. Other than the postman delivering some clothes she’d bought the girls out of a catalog, no one else had come knocking.

  Damn.

  Mr. Mysterious had disappeared as completely and thoroughly as he had pleasured her.

  To make matters worse, she tried to figure out who he was—and only got a headache for her efforts. Someone she knew, he’d said. She’d love for him to be Noah…but she knew better. He wasn’t Gary in accounting. Gary wasn’t tall enough to be her stranger. Not Tim. She’d know her ex anywhere. Besides, she’d never responded to Tim like that, and he wasn’t nearly as imaginative as Mr. Mysterious in bed. Who, then? A neighbor she hadn’t noticed? Someone who worked in this building? None of those men knew her well. Certainly not well enough to know she was on the pill. Nothing added up.

  “Good morning,” a dark male voice rasped behind her, right in her ear.

  She shivered. Noah. Had to be. But his voice with that husky note… It reminded her of her stranger.

  You wish.

  Lauren shot a sharp gaze up to him. Mistake. Big mistake. Pale blue eyes sparked with energy and something she couldn’t define. A five-o’clock shadow, despite the early hour, dark hair slightly mussed and spiked, and a killer suit that hugged his body every bit as tightly as she wanted to.

  Pathetic. She really had to stop mooning over her boss. Over Tim’s pal. God, if he knew the thoughts running through her head, he’d most likely laugh. If Noah knew how she’d responded to a stranger just by fantasizing about him, he would run for the hills.

  Giving herself a mental shake, Lauren tried to clear her head. Noah sneaking into her house, cuffing her, stripping her naked, and rocking her world? In her dreams. But since she lived in reality, she knew better. If Noah was interested—big if—he’d simply ask her out on a nice, polite date. Dinner and a movie. A trip to an art gallery. The symphony. He wouldn’t play Conan the Seducer. She’d seen him with enough women over the years to know it wasn’t his style.

  Through sheer appeal, he’d simply leave her breathless and wanting and saying yes. She liked him—too much. And it had to stop. Even if he started a fling with her, he’d leave her, as he left every other woman. It would hurt like hell. Not to mention the fact her rapport with a longtime friend and her boss would be strained, to say the least.

  More’s the pity. She adored everything about him…including the smile he was flashing her way now.

  “Morning,” she answered.

  “You ready?”

  “Ready?” For you to notice I’m female? Yeah, right...

  “For this morning’s meeting.”

  Of course. Business. Stay focused, girl.

  She nodded. “As I’ll ever be. Your assistance with the prep last week made the presentation stronger. You really are the master strategist. Thanks for your help.”

  “I think your plan is a solid one. Now it’s up to you to convince the others. Speaking of which, shouldn’t we be on our way to the room to set up?”

  Lauren glanced at her watch—and nearly flinched. “Ten ‘til eight? Oh, wow. Yeah.”

  Grabbing a stack of papers, she reached for the laptop with her presentation all loaded on the hard drive. Noah already had it in the grip of his large hand.

  “I can get that.”

  He shrugged. “I know, but this frees you up to pour us fresh cups of coffee and take them to the meeting.”

  “True.” She laughed. “You’re always planning ahead.”

  “Always.”

  The firm emphasis on the word, coupled with a pointed glance, earned him a puzzled frown. What the heck was he up to?

  “I need the caffeine desperately,” he added. “Kind of a sleepless weekend. How about you?”

  His answer put images in her head of Noah and Misty together, playing with her pom-poms…among other things. A bolt of something dark and painful pierced her gut. Lauren looked away, pretending to glance around to make sure she had everything. Once she was positive she had her act together and her expression under control, she hustled away from her desk. Noah fell into step beside her.

  “I got the bathroom tile finished. Now I just have to seal the grout, but the girls can help me. They came home on Sunday night. Yesterday afternoon, Tim decided to take them miniature golfing. Cassie loved it; Emma hated it. Typical.”

  “Emma doesn’t like many activities that don’t involve a book.”

  “Yep. And Cass only likes playing if she can get sweaty. They’re very different.”

  “They’re great girls, and I know you’re proud.”

  “I am.”

  They reached the coffee bar, and Lauren poured them each a tall cup into waiting Styrofoam.

  “Black, right?” she turned to Noah.

  He jerked his gaze up to her face quickly then looked away, nodding. Had he been staring at her breasts? No. Not possible. But then…what had he been looking at?

  Brushing the question off and scolding herself that she needed to get over this crazy infatuation, she added some artificial sweetener and creamer to her coffee and headed down the hall. Noah followed.

  “What else did you do this weekend?” he asked. “Did Mr. Mysterious show up and make good on his promises?”

  She was not answering him, even though she felt his ardent gaze glued to her profile. She was not going to tell Noah that a total stranger had snuck into her house and she had been waiting for him in red lace. She refused to admit aloud that he’d cuffed her to her bed a
nd mastered her body in stunning ways she couldn’t begin to describe. She would not say a word about the fact he’d used his tongue on every part of her body. Or the mind-melting kisses. Forget blabbing about the way he’d teased her clit until she’d exploded. She was not going to mention his huge erection filling every bit of her sex or confess he’d known the perfect stroke for maximum friction and killer orgasms. She’d never divulge how totally she’d given herself and how hard she’d cried afterward. Nope. Not a word. No way, no how.

  “I’m guessing from the blush on your face the answer is yes.” His grin widened to something mischievous and suggestive. “And I’ll go out on a limb and guess that you liked it.”

  This was when she hated being fair skinned. Hard to keep secrets when a blush she couldn’t control told pretty much the whole story.

  “Who do I need to watch out for this morning? Who is going to push back the most during this meeting?” Maybe he’d take the old bait and switch. She hoped.

  Noah just laughed. “You enjoyed it, didn’t you? Whatever he did, it did the trick. You look surprisingly…relaxed this morning.”

  Silence. Lauren would rather cut out her tongue and eat it than admit to the man she had a major crush on that she’d surrendered her body to another man, a total stranger, while thinking of him.

  But her confirmation or denial wouldn’t change facts. Noah knew, at the minimum, that she’d given in and liked it. Apparently, the thought of another man in her bed didn’t bother him in the least.

  Didn’t that speak volumes about how much he didn’t think about her sexually? Of how much he didn’t want her? And why should he when he had Misty, who could no doubt cheer at the top of her lungs while doing the splits over his cock?

  Her gut clenched. Her mood dropped lower than her knees.

  “Not talking, huh?”

  His cat-ate-the-canary grin crawled on her last nerve and squashed it. Hell, could he get any more obvious about the fact he was glad someone had screwed her? Not by much. Clearly it hadn’t crossed his mind to wish he’d been the one doing the screwing.