“Please.” Her whispered plea broke his control and he began to thrust.

“Yes,” he groaned. All thought, all restraint fled as he pumped in and out of her body. He held her tight, wrapping one arm around her waist and bracing the other against the windowsill as he slammed his cock into her over and over. Her feet left the floor with each plunge. He wanted to get so far inside her that she’d never be free of him again.

His balls drew up tight as his cock throbbed. Blood pounded in his brain, pushing him harder, demanding he claim her. He was so damned close. Candy was crying and thrashing in his arms. They were almost there. She screamed his name as her orgasm took her. He could hear her cries and feel her body spasm as he plunged again and again.

At the very last second, sanity surfaced enough for him to pull out of her. He pushed his cock hard against her back, grinding his length against her as he came, emptying himself against her soft skin.

His knees buckled and he lowered them both to the floor. Burying his face in her shoulder, he gulped air into his lungs, desperately trying to breathe. He’d never felt anything like this in his life. A fine sheen of perspiration covered them both and the smell of sex permeated the air around them.

Lucas didn’t know how long they sat there on the floor when he realized Candy was shaking. Carefully, he lifted her, turning her in his arms. Brushing back her hair from her face, he froze. She was crying. Tears seeped out from the corners of her eyes, trailing down her cheeks. “Candy?” At the sound of her name, she burst into tears.

He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. Oh, God, what had he done? In his need to assuage his anger and hurt, he’d taken her in a frenzy, pounding out his frustration into her body. He was no better than a damned animal. His arms tightened around her and he forced himself to loosen his grip. He couldn’t hold on to something that wasn’t his to begin with.

She was right. He wasn’t good enough for her. What kind of a man would hurt the woman he loved? A man like his father, the voice in his head whispered.

And he did love her. Somehow, she’d snuck past his well-guarded heart and wrapped herself around it, claimed it as her own. And what had he done? He’d taken her without caring, like some animal in heat, pounding into her just to appease the demons within him. With the return of control came memory. He’d driven into her so hard that her feet had left the ground. He was so much larger and stronger than she was.

Burying his face in her hair, he inhaled her unique scent as he rocked her in his arms. Because he loved her, he knew he had to let her go. There was too much of his father in him and he would not risk her safety any longer. Rising to his feet, he carried her back to the sofa and sat. He reached out and snagged the towel from where it had landed on the floor and used it to wipe the sticky residue of his cum from her back before swiping it over his arm and belly.

He tilted back her head and dried her tears with his thumb, absorbing every sensation, knowing this was probably the last time he’d touch her precious face. She stared up at him, her eyes luminous and slightly swollen. She opened her mouth to speak, but he placed his hand gently over it, stopping her.

“I’m sorry, Candy.” He plucked her blouse off the floor and helped her put it on, buttoning it carefully. “We both know that this was only a temporary thing, and I think, after all that’s happened today, it’s time for it to end.”

She froze in his embrace, but he stood with her still in his arms. Reluctantly, he let her feet slide to the floor, making sure she was steady before he grabbed her skirt and helped her back into it. “Lucas.” She laid her hand on his arm and he flinched away. He didn’t deserve her compassion after what he’d just done.

Picking up her bra and panties, he thrust them into her hand as he ushered her to the doorway. He wrapped her in her coat, zipping it tight. She looked absolutely shattered standing there in the dim light. And no wonder. She’d come to talk and he’d taken her crudely and without consideration. He figured that the only reason she hadn’t run screaming was that she was still in shock.

“I’m going to call you a cab to take you home.” He wiped all emotion from his face and his voice. He had to get her out of here quick before he did something stupid, like falling on his knees and begging her not to ever leave him. He had to be strong, for her, but he knew he couldn’t hold out much longer.

“We need to talk, Lucas.” Her voice shook, but it was filled with determination as she shoved her underwear into her purse.

The sound of footsteps outside the door was like a light in the darkness. He recognized the heavy tread of boots. Yanking open the door, he put his hand on the small of Candy’s back and all but pushed her out into the hallway. T. S. froze in place, his eyes going from Lucas to Candy and back to Lucas again.

“Take her home for me. Please.” He slammed the door shut and locked it, knowing that T. S. would make sure that she made it home okay.

The murmur of voices drifted through the door and then the sound of footsteps moving down the hallway, gradually fading away. Lucas stood there naked, aching in a way that he hadn’t done since he was kid. His chest actually hurt and he rubbed his hand over it. Swearing, he whirled around and slammed his fist into the wall. Plaster cracked and crumbled. He jerked it back and just stared at his closed fist, ignoring the pain.

Going to his knees, he buried his face in his hands and cursed the man who’d fathered him, a man who had shared his blood and genes with him. A lone tear slipped down his cheek as he slowly stood and stumbled down the hall toward his workout room.

Candy stood in the glaring light of the hallway, not quite sure how she’d gotten here. She felt shell-shocked. What had just happened? One moment she been having the most erotic experience of her life with the man she loved, and the next he was apologizing and all but throwing her out of his home.

The finality of the lock being engaged from inside the apartment was like a smack in the face. Just like that, they were finished. Their affair was over even as aftershocks of her last orgasm still lingered.

“Hey, you okay?”

She jumped at the sound of the male voice, so close to her. What was his name again? She remembered meeting him on the opening day of Coffee Breaks. She nodded, not sure she could even speak if she wanted to. Right now she needed to get home. Locking her shaky knees, she walked down the hallway toward the stairs.

“Hey.” She pulled away when his hand touched her arm, practically bouncing off the wall in her haste to get away from him. He held up his hands in mock surrender. “I’m not going to hurt you, but Lucas wants me to take you home.”

“I don’t care what Lucas wants.” Her voice was rough, her throat raw from the unshed tears she swallowed back.

“Your kind never does.”

His easy dismissal of her fired her already frayed temper. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

T. S. sneered at her. “Couldn’t wait to be rid of him when you found out he’d been in prison, could you? You didn’t even want to know the facts.”

“No,” she replied honestly. “I didn’t, not at first. But I came to talk with him and now he’s the one throwing me out.” She turned away and brushed at the tears that slipped down her cheeks. Why was she even bothering to try to justify her actions to someone she didn’t even know? Turning, she started to walk away again, weaving slightly as the physical and emotional turmoil of the day took a toll on her.

T. S. MacNamara, that was his name, she thought as she valiantly headed toward the stairs. She sensed him watching her. Then he swore and she heard the sound of heavy work boots hurrying after her. Practically running now, she started down the stairs. In her haste, she missed one and started to plunge forward. She screamed and held out her hands as a strong arm wrapped itself around her upper body, plucking her to safety.

“What the hell are you trying to do, kill yourself?” His voice was gruff, but he was gentle as he stood her back on the stairs.

“I just want to go home.” The tears were coming faster now and she swiped them away, despising herself for shedding them. I don’t usually cry and definitely not in front of a complete stranger.

“I’m sure you don’t.” She hadn’t realized she’d said the words out loud until he commented on them. “Look.” He swiped a hand through his hair, his agitation plain. “I don’t know what just went on between you two, but I know that you hurt Lucas. Even with that, he wants me to see you home safely. You can either go by yourself and I’ll follow you or you can let me take you. It’s your choice. But either way, I’m seeing you home.”

“Do you want to know what just went on?” Candy was a woman who’d been pushed to the limits of her emotional and physical well-being and lashed out to protect herself against further hurt. “I just had the most amazing sexual experience of my life with the man I love and then he threw me out. So if I hurt him today, then we can call it even.”

Reaching out blindly for support, she grabbed the railing and stumbled down the stairs. Once again, a powerful male arm stopped her. Candy was getting sick and tired of being manhandled by large men. “Let me go!”

“Not until you talk to me.”

“There is nothing to say.” She pulled out of his grasp and kept on going down the stairs, but he was hot on her heels.

“You said you loved him.” His voice was insistent.

She refused to answer him. Her only goal was getting to the door and hailing a cab to take her home.