A curl of need unfurled in her belly.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

“I like everything you do to me.” Amery pressed her palms against his pectorals and rubbed the heels of her hands against his nipples. “But that brings up a point I wanted to talk to you about.”

He said nothing. Some of the warmth bled from his eyes.

“Thursday night was amazing.” She raised her chin a notch. “You’ve been stingy on giving me equal time in touching you. So if you’re staying with me tonight? I demand full access to your body. I expect you’ll let me touch and kiss and play with it as much as I want.”

Ronin placed his hand on the side of her face, letting his thumb trace the lower curve of her lip. “Demanding something that intimate from me when you’ve got a pretty red blush heating your cheeks is enough to make a man lose his head entirely.”

“But not you.”

“Don’t get me wrong. I want your hands on me.” His gaze dropped to her lips. “I’ve imagined my cock buried in your mouth many times. Dreamed of your hair teasing my skin as you’re jacking me off. So, beautiful, you can drag me to your bed right now and do what you will with me.”

“Really?”

“With one exception.”

His thumb made those gentle sweeps on the inside of her lip, and her blood heated as she remembered him stroking her pussy the exact same way.

“I direct how you use this mouth when you blow me.”

Amery didn’t bristle. In fact, his demand for control took the pressure off her. She wouldn’t have to worry if she was doing a good job, because truth was, her experience in that area was pretty slim. “Okay.”

“You humble me.” Ronin kissed her. “Is everything locked downstairs? Because once we’re in your bed we’re not leaving until morning.”

“All locked, including the door between my office and my loft to keep Chaz out.”

“Good.” He let his mouth drift over her ear and whispered, “Take me to your bed, Amery.”

She threaded their fingers together and led him to her bedroom. No nerves, she sternly told herself. No holding back either. She’d touch and taste to her heart’s content.

Normally she’d only leave on one lamp for softer light, but tonight she flipped on the overhead track lighting. She wanted to see every inch of him.

Before she could command him to start stripping, he said, “You look gorgeous in this dress. I believe it’s my privilege to take it off.” He tugged at the sash tied in the back; then he unzipped her. The sound seemed so loud in the expectant silence between them. The material slipped down her arms, clearing her breasts and hips before the dress pooled on the floor.

His fingertip followed the waistband of her poppy-colored panties. Goose bumps broke out across her skin when he traced the back band of her bra. “Pretty.”

“I like my bra and panties to match.”

His breath teased her ear. “I was talking about your skin.”

“Oh.” Amery stepped out of the full skirt at her feet and bent over to pick it up. She draped the dress over the ladder-back chair and faced him.

When she started to remove her bra, he shook his head. “Leave your sexy lingerie on for a bit.” He swept the back of his knuckles down the swell of her scant cleavage. “It’ll serve as a barrier to keep me from fucking you blind.” That intense black gaze locked on hers. “For a little while anyway.”

She gestured to his dark brown polo. “Off.”

Ronin yanked it over his head and threw it on the floor.

“Pants.”

He pushed the tan-and-brown-flecked linen trousers down his legs and draped them over the back of the chair.

A pair of light tan boxer briefs was the last barrier. She didn’t even have to say off; he did it automatically.

What an absolute feast this man’s body was. Hard, sinewy muscles covered with tawny skin. He wasn’t bulky, which didn’t mean he wasn’t completely ripped. His pectorals? Incredible. His six-pack abs were completely lickable. As was his cock, jutting up from a closely trimmed thatch of black hair. She motioned for him to turn around.

Ronin raised both eyebrows but followed her instructions.

The rear side was just as yummy. Powerful shoulders and defined back musculature that tapered into slim hips. Oh. And then there was that perfectly round butt. The hair on his thighs and calves was much lighter than on his head—not that he had an abundance of it on his legs.

Her heart thundered as she approached him. She placed a kiss between his shoulder blades and snaked her arms around his chest. Amery wanted to wax poetic about his physique, but that sort of fawning seemed to put him on edge, so she said, “On the bed and get comfy because I intend to take my time.”

“You are going to milk this for all it’s worth, aren’t you?”

Amery slid her hands down, cupping his balls with one hand and squeezing his shaft with the other. “I’ll be milking something all right.”

He hissed in a breath.

“On the bed.” She lightly slapped his ass.

“Baby, whatever you do to me I’ll do right back to you, understand?”

“Nope.”

She thought maybe he’d crawl across her bed with his animal grace and give her the molten look that made her pussy weep with want. But Ronin sat on the bed, scooted into the middle, and stretched out as if waiting for a medical exam.

That stung a little. Okay, more than a little. Wasn’t he looking forward to this?

Ignore his attitude.

No, call him on it.

“How about if we just skip this? You can put your clothes on and go home.”

Ronin jackknifed. “What are you talking about?”

“You could act somewhat enthusiastic at the idea of me touching you. Right now you’re acting like I’m about to give you a prostate exam.” She turned away, intending to leave the bedroom.

Before she made it two steps, Ronin was on her. Banding his arms over her chest, immobilizing her completely. “I’m very enthusiastic, Amery. It’s just I’m used to being in control and I don’t know how to act if I’m not.” He kissed the side of her neck. “So the fact that I’m willing to give up that control to you? Says a lot, don’t you think?”

“Maybe.” She turned and twined her arms around him, plastering her lips to his. Kissing him as though she wanted to swallow him whole. As she controlled the kiss—only because he let her—she herded him back toward the bed.

Ronin lowered them to the mattress, ending up flat on his back with her on top.

Amery kissed him for a good long while. The man was such a good kisser that kissing him was an erotic experience in itself. She gradually slowed the kisses from deep to soft. Fleeting. Flirty. “You have the most sensual mouth,” she murmured against his lips.

Then she pushed his arms out to the side and began kissing his throat.

“Can I have my hand in your hair?”

“As long as you don’t use it to direct me.”

“I won’t.” He paused and added, “This time.”

Ignoring his warning, she nuzzled his neck and her mouth moved along the top of his shoulder. He was so strong here. The muscles had hardly any give. Her tongue traced the ridge of his collarbone. When she hit a bump, she stopped and eased back to look at the scar. “What happened?”

“You’ll find a lot of marks and bumps like that. Martial arts training leaves its mark. My fighting years were hell on my body too.”

Amery looked up at him. “Is that why you didn’t want me to—”

“Inspect every inch of my naked body? Partially.” He kept smoothing her hair with his hand.

“Partially?”

“The other reason is I don’t like to be out of control, and your touch does that to me.”

She leaned in to softly kiss him. “I’ll be gentle. I promise.”

His scars didn’t matter. Didn’t change anything except for the fact that she knew a couple of them had to have hurt. She kissed each one and moved on, losing herself in touching this strong man so intimately.

His lower abdomen trembled beneath her stroking fingers. His nipples—probably the most perfect set of male nipples she’d ever seen—were a dark brown and flat. Until she licked them. Kissed them. Sucked on them. Bit them. Ronin’s whole body quaked and he hissed in a breath with every flick of her tongue.

So . . . sensitive nipples. Check.

Amery mapped the muscles in his arms with her fingertips and followed that same path with her tongue. As much as she drooled over his biceps and triceps, his forearms captured her attention. She’d never seen forearms muscled like that. She ran her tongue up the deep groove, pausing when she reached the crease in his elbow. And on the inside of each of his forearms were the only tattoos on his body.

She outlined the dark Japanese symbols on his left forearm with her thumb. “Does this have special meaning for you?”

“It means remember the tenets of jujitsu and embody them every day.”

“Japanese in written form is so pretty.”

“It’s a bitch to learn to write. And speak.”

“You do both fluently?”

“Yes.”

She turned his right arm over and traced those symbols. “And this one?”

Ronin pointed to the top symbol. “This means birth.” He pointed to the symbol closest to the crease of his elbow. “This means death.” Then his finger swept over the blank space between the symbols. “It’s a reminder to make the time between birth and death count.”

Amery kissed all the marks. “That is so lovely. So Zen, Master Black.”

“I don’t know about Zen, but both are daily reminders to live my life as I wish.” His hand was back in her hair. “Are you finished with your explorations?”