She held up a hand to ward him off. “Don’t come any closer.”
“Bullshit.” He kept advancing toward her. “I’m sick of this shit. I’m sick of walking on goddamn eggshells around you. You’re not going to give it up until I force you into it.”
“Give it up?” she shrieked as she put the table between them. “Force me into it?”
“Yeah, give it up. The concept is pretty fucking simple, babe. You. Me. Naked. A bed is optional. And trust me, you want me so goddamn bad that force won’t come into play. You think I don’t know you’re wet for me already? You think I don’t know that you’re having to fight yourself more than you’re fighting me?”
Sarah was getting angrier by the second. But she knew most of that anger was directed at herself. How could this be happening to her? How could she have fallen for such a hard-assed, hard-nosed, rude, stubborn bastard? Was he sexy? Hell, yes. Was he hot? Incredibly so. Did he make her want to rip his clothes off and taste him from his feet to his head and everywhere in between? God, yes.
But why now? How could she have gone from such a laid-back fiancé who never pushed her for sex and never even noticed when another man spoke to her to this? Her leash would be short? Jesus Christ.
As she stood across from him now, with only the table separating them, she felt the arousal rise up from within her and fight for dominance with the anger she was feeling. Her nostrils flared as she began hyperventilating. “Stay away from me.” He stalled in his tracks for a couple of seconds and then rapidly rounded the table until he was in front of her, towering over her. His hand reached out and she backed away from him, only narrowly making her escape. But it didn’t last for long. His hand snaked out and she was halted from flight by his grip on her wrist.
He pulled her up against him with a sharp move and their chests clashed violently. She began twisting and pulling, trying to get away from him. He executed a quick maneuver, and in an instant, he had her arm twisted behind her back in a grasp that ruthlessly contained her and put an end to her struggles. A spiral of heat immediately hit her low in her pelvis. She wasn’t scared, he wasn’t hurting her as long as she stayed completely still, but when she attempted to struggle again, his hold tightened and she finally gave up all together. Her eyes flared as she realized her body was subdued completely. She stared up at his face and read the feral, atavistic heat in his eyes. Their verbal duel had suddenly turned into a contest of sexual domination. And going by the harsh, assertive expression he wore and the aggressive hold he had on her, not to mention the river of delight rushing through her bloodstream, she knew it wouldn’t take much to tip them both over the edge.
Why she felt the need to continue fighting him, when all she really wanted was his hard body over hers, she didn’t know. Possibly it was simply because he was so damn arrogant and she knew what was about to happen, but she didn’t want to make it easy for him. She didn’t want to be easy. He had succeeded in controlling her body, but she still had her tongue to fight him with, and she used it against him now. “What are you going to do now, rape me?”
He let out a rough laugh. “Rape, shit. I’ll have you begging me inside of twenty seconds.”
Sarah didn’t doubt for one second that he was right. Oh, she knew where this was going, all right. She knew where she desperately wanted it to go. As she looked up at him, their faces only millimeters apart, she noted his set features, his clamped mouth and his eyes narrowed into slits of heated lust.
Another tremor of heat touched her and his mouth tightened even more, as if he felt the vibrations running through her. A circle of ice wrapped around his mouth as he all but snarled, “Are you on birth control?”
Sarah didn’t think he could shock her anymore than he already had, but she was wrong. His question pulsed between them and she felt as if she was hanging over a cliff’s edge. “That’s not your business.”
His face set in lines of disapproval, even as his mouth reached down for hers. “I’m about to personally introduce you to why it’s my business.” The kiss he gave her was brutal, full of menace, threat, and a fire so hot she was scorched all the way through. His tongue invaded her mouth, and his hand continued to hold her arm pinned behind her back as he proceeded to give her a lesson in male dominance.
He began walking forward as he kissed her, and the force of the movement propelled her backwards until her back landed against the wall, her arm still encapsulated by his and now pinned against the rough sheetrock. He pressed one strong leg between hers, and lifted it until her legs were forked over his thigh. Her crotch was pressed against him, and she had no control over his movements. As he ruthlessly kissed her, she had only a moment to doubt her sanity, shock hitting her as she realized how completely turned on she was by the force he was using. Not one of her admittedly few lovers had ever pitted their strength against hers. They’d been completely gentle, even going so far as to lie back and let her take the lead in lovemaking. The difference in John’s method was indescribably exciting. And she was a willing participant.
His hold on her was uncompromising, and as she flexed her arm and tested the strength he was using, a hot wave of compulsion hit her breastbone and slid down to land in a wet pool of heat between her thighs. She wriggled against the corded muscles of his thigh as she tried to find a modicum of relief. He twisted her chin until he had her face at an angle that allowed a more intimate connection between them as they kissed. At the same time, he pushed his leg up hard, moving his muscular thigh against her softer flesh. The twin assault was more than she could stand, and a small moan escaped her lips.
He must have heard it and it set him off, a groan coming from low in his diaphragm as he began sucking, biting, licking her lips and taking everything he could from her.
It was enough to send her arousal off the Richter scale. She began wildly kissing him back as he was kissing her, giving back as good as she was getting, in a conflagration that fueled the fire between them.
The hold he had on her was captivating, hot, thrilling, but she wanted to touch him. She began mewling in her throat and trying to free the hand he had captured behind her back. She reached up with her free hand and grabbed the side of his head, forcing her fingers through the strands of his hair and then she began pulling his hair. She pushed and pulled and finally he let go of her arm.
When he did, the action between them went ballistic. She wrapped her free hand around his waist, and he sank his hand around her middle and gripped her to him in a clasp that left no room between them. It wasn’t enough for him, and he moved his hand underneath her shirt, until she felt his hot touch on her bare skin.
John thought his brain was going to split in two. She was exactly where he wanted her, exactly as hot as he wanted her, and she was responding to him with a wild madness that had him completely enthralled. God, yes. He’d wanted her for so long. So very fucking long he’d had to wait for her. And nobody else would do. He never even thought about trying to find relief with someone else. Since the first time he’d kissed her, it had to be her. And now the waiting was over.
The skin of her back was silky and smooth, but soon it wasn’t enough and he shifted his hand until it enclosed a firm, lace-enclosed breast. The heat in his groin intensified as he swelled to his fullest, and he growled deep in his throat as he pushed the cup of her bra down and freed the sweet mound of her breast into his palm. He couldn’t control himself enough to stop and go slow and feel its weight, he held it tight and pinched her nipple between his thumb and finger, rolled it until it peaked and then pulled and tweaked it until she began undulating against his leg in a rhythm that made sweat drip down his face.
He felt the wet heat of her, and he almost came in his pants then. He ruthlessly pulled himself back from losing it, and tried to regain his control.
He took his hands from her only briefly, just long enough to lift her in his arms and swing her up off her feet. He began heading in the direction he believed her bedroom was, and pushed down a hallway that contain
ed several rooms. “Which one?”
She was panting hard and didn’t answer him and he didn’t really give a damn anyway. He chose a bedroom and pushed through and walked with her over to the bed. He dropped her onto its edge, and she scrambled up until she was sitting upright.
He didn’t give her a chance to begin thinking again, he wanted to keep her hot and wet, so he reached down and with one fluid movement, pulled her shirt over her head.
Her bra was skewed, and a soft white breast peaked out over the top of one cup. He dropped to his knees in front of her and lowered his head to its tip and began sucking as if his life depended on it.
And maybe it did.
Chapter Six
The heat that was scorching Sarah’s body was also frying her mind. She couldn’t think straight, she couldn’t begin to analyze what was happening, all she could do was feel. Her body became an instrument of pleasure, and she became a puppet under John’s control.
She couldn’t even contemplate fighting the attraction anymore. She was past all that.
His mouth was hot on her nipple, sucking her flesh between his lips and moving the tip against the roof of his mouth as he drank from her. It felt as if there was a live wire that connected his mouth to her breast, and the exquisite suction was radiating down to the vee between her thighs in a pool of heat.
Just the deep fusion of his mouth on her breast was almost enough to make her come. She squirmed on the bed, and then she felt his hands on the enclosure of her shorts as he unsnapped the button and pulled down her zipper. His mouth left hers and their eyes connected as he wrapped one arm around her waist and lifted her off the bed as he pulled her shorts and panties off her body in one smooth motion.
She sat in front of him, completely naked except for her twisted bra, as her legs dangled off the side of the bed. His eyes were hot on hers as one strong hand gripped her by the waist and he ran his other hand unerringly down her side, over her leg and then pushed her thighs apart. He slipped his fingers through her folds and opened her to him. She sucked in a shocked, startled breath as his finger landed briefly on her clit before sinking inside of her in a sudden force of movement that had her gasping as lightning seared through her in waves of hot, sexual need.
Her eyes slipped closed as he moved that blunt finger, adjusted his hold on her, and sank deeply into her depths and gripped her in a clasp of possession that excited her beyond all reason. Her heart slammed out of control, she struggled to get enough oxygen, and she felt herself get more firmly entrenched in his web of attraction as she began sliding down the slippery path toward orgasm.
He swirled that big, thick finger inside of her and with her eyes closed, she felt his other hand leave her waist. She heard rustling of clothing, and in a haze, she knew he was unfastening his jeans and pushing them off his hips.
He stroked her harder with his finger, and touched a place deep inside that induced such intense arousal that her legs fell open wider and her hands went to his shoulders and she clung to him.
“Are you on birth control?” He was as out of breath as she was, and his voice was a low rasp that demanded an answer.
“Use a condom.” She had enough presence of mind to insist as she panted for air.
He growled low in his throat and pulled her butt to the very edge of the bed. “That’s not a goddamn answer. I want an answer. Are you on birth control or not?”
“Yes, but you have to use a condom.” She made the insistence as strong as she could, but the lack of oxygen in her lungs made her voice sound little more than a heated whisper.
“Why?”
The one syllable question was menacing but Sarah fought against it as an unbidden image of him kissing the redhead in the bar came to the front of her brain. She began pushing against him as the wave of heat was diluted by the upsetting, graphic image. “Because I’m not sleeping with every woman you’ve ever had sex with!” she yelled.
His face contorted with threatening anger but he wasted not a second arguing with her. He slipped his finger from her body and in a lightning quick motion, pulled a condom from his pocket, ripped the package open and sheathed himself with it. He didn’t bother to undress completely; his t-shirt still molded his chest.
He rose over her, pushed his torso between hers, hooked her legs around his waist and surged inside of her with a stroke that impaled her completely. His arms were on either side of her face, but he slid his hand under one of her knees and forced her leg up until it hung over his arm. It was a move that opened her completely to him, and denied her the ability to have any control. She knew he did it in retaliation for making him use a condom when she was already on birth control. It didn’t lessen the sexual heat she was feeling.
She clutched his biceps through the material of his shirt and tried to breathe as her heartbeat raced out of cadence and she attempted to adjust to his size and intrusion. She felt completely stretched, and she hung on a balance as he took a stroke, pulled out of her and pushed back in with enough force to make her eyes fly open.
When her gaze came into focus, he was staring into her face, watching her intently, and he stilled inside of her, filling her and dominating her completely. She couldn’t move her torso, couldn’t physically react at all, and her heart was beating so hard she thought it might come out of her chest.
He lifted one hand from beside her head and clamped his fingers around her jaw. “Game over, Sarah,” he said in a darkly controlled voice. He took another stroke and slammed back into her, only to still again. “I win. Understand me?”
Incendiary heat was pulsing through her veins and she attempted to grind her pelvis against his, silently asking for more. He answered her with another controlled, deep thrust. She moaned as a new wave of wetness poured from her body.
He shuddered and his eyes drooped for only a second before he squeezed her chin again. “I don’t want to hear anymore shit. Don’t tell me again that I don’t have the right. I’m claiming the damn right. I’m claiming you. And you’re not getting away from me, so don’t even try.”
All she felt was relief that he was taking control. Relief that she could give in to him now, she wanted this so desperately. She wanted to give in to him. Maybe she was taking the easy way out, but she didn’t care. His personality was larger than life, he was the kind of man who could have whoever he wanted; she still felt a little dumbstruck that she had captivated his attention.
She didn’t answer him verbally, but she tightened her grip on his shoulders and pushed her hips up to his in response.
He answered her immediately with a stroke so strong that she gasped. “That’s right, baby.”
His fingers left her chin, unhooked the bra that was twisted around her waist and tossed it away. He sank his hand into her hair and held her steady as his lips lowered to hers. The kiss they shared was deep, their tongues swirled together as he steadily pumped into her. Sarah fought for oxygen and ripped her mouth from his.
His mouth fell to her ear and he grazed his teeth over her lobe. His whispered words were hot in her ear, almost tender as he breathed against her, “You’re perfect. Like silk. Don’t get pissed at me later.” His hands dropped and pushed under her butt, lifting her up and taking deeper thrusts. His mouth stayed hot at her ear. “Jesus, Sarah. I knew it would be this way with you.”
Sarah felt his whispered words against her ear and her lids closed over her eyes as an emotion that was too new to name tried to consumer her whole. She had known it would be like this, too. But the vulnerability she heard in his voice only added to her distress. She was getting lost already in the way he looked at her, the things he whispered to her, and in the way he stroked her steadily toward a release that had her shivering in anticipation.
He lifted his head from the pillow and his mouth moved over hers again, asking for something that she desperately wanted to give him. His tongue slid into the recesses of her mouth and when she felt his powerful body begin to shake and his mouth begin to tremble against hers, she began t
o tremble too.
It was the last thing she remembered before her mind exploded in a multitude of colors and a heated ecstasy unlike anything else she had ever felt before. His long, deep groan coalesced with her moan and she knew they were coming together.
****
John pressed his head into the pillow and tried to calm his raging heartbeat as he pulled her into his side and held her clamped against him. His breathing was still wildly out of control, pulling and pushing air from his lungs as if he’d just run a marathon. Satisfaction, pure and simple, ran down his spine. The sex had been amazing, his climax off the fucking charts. His hand tightened on her possessively in a movement that he had no control over. The memory of his orgasm was pulsing through his system in a relentless beat to do it again.
And he planned on it. Soon. Oh, yeah, it had been as good as he expected.
But why in the hell had he not wanted to use a condom? He always used a condom. He never trusted a woman when she claimed to be on birth control, and he never trusted a woman with his health. Ever.
So why had it been different with Sarah? Not only had he believed her when she admitted she was protected from pregnancy, but for whatever goddamn reason, some shining light over her beautiful, silky hair maybe, he had instinctively trusted her to be clean, as well.
It was an anomaly that he couldn’t explain. His mind slid down a dark tunnel to the past as he thought of all the women he’d screwed. There had been a lot of them. But he was always careful. Careful not to spread his seed around, careful not to catch anything that wouldn’t wash off.
He’d been supremely careful ever since he’d caught his wife cheating on him. She’d been the golden girl in their small town, everyone thought she was angelic and beautiful. It had been a huge shock to find out she hadn’t been a virgin, as she’d forced his hand by making him wait, and not only that, but that her sexual proclivities ran to things he wasn’t interested in. She’d become bored with their sex lives within months of the marriage, and had started complaining for new and better ways to spice it up. He remembered his naive assumption that she might want fuzzy pink handcuffs or edible panties. What a dumb fuck he’d been. No, her idea of spice was adding another man in the equation, and that had been so fucking ridiculous to John that he’d laughed in her face, even though he hadn’t thought it a bit funny.