Then he shrugged it off, telling himself not to be an idiot. Hell, he was about to get lucky, and it had been an age since that had happened. So big surprise he felt happy about it.

"You look good on me," he said and ran his hands along Lily's soft-skinned shoulders and down her back, appreciating the tinyness of her waist before smoothing his palms onto the voluptuous curve of her lace-clad butt. Her breasts rested warm and heavy against his diaphragm and they were full, pale, and pink-tipped. He slid his hands back up to cup her elegant little jaw, tunneling his fingers into the soft hair at her nape. " Damn good." Thumbs softly pressing her flushed cheeks, he exerted pressure to bring her face down to his. Raising his head off the mattress to meet her halfway, he kissed her feverishly and all the heat that had been banked between them exploded back into full flame.

Usually he was big on prolonged foreplay, but he wanted inside her—and he wanted inside her now. Luckily for him, Lily seemed to feel the same, for when the head of his dick brushed up against her wet, lace-covered heat, she slowly rocked against it. When she lifted her head and stared down at him, her mouth looked debauched, her blue eyes hot and slumberous.

"I don't think I can wait," she said breathlessly. "You have any protection handy?" She squirmed atop him. "I need… Oh, man, Zach, I need—"

"Satisfaction," he agreed. "I know. Me, too." Clamping her to him, he tipped them toward the edge of the bed. "Can you reach the nightstand drawer?" He sucked in a harsh breath when her stretch for it rasped her nipples across his chest. Then she pulled the drawer open. "Excellent. Inside there's a—"

"Got it."

Her hand emerged from the drawer clutching the tin foil packet, and he immediately rolled them back to their former position. Hands on her narrow waist, he scooted her up until one of her beaded, pink nipples was directly above his mouth. Raising his head, he gently bit it.

She cried out and dropped the condom. While he enjoyed himself nursing away the small hurt he'd inflicted, she swept up the protection and ripped it open with her teeth. Reaching behind her, she patted around blindly until her hand suddenly brushed the head of his cock.

She immediately glommed onto it, and then it was he who rapped out a curse. His mouth went slack, Lily's nipple eased free, and she pushed up to sit astride his stomach. A second later, she climbed off as if dismounting a horse, and knelt by his side to roll the condom down his erect length. He hissed through his teeth not only at the feel of her small competent hands unfurling the rubber down his hard-on, but at the sight of them.

"Are you dead set on being on top?" he demanded, then gritted his teeth when she tightened her grip on him. He thrust up into her touch.

She seemed to have her work cut out dragging her gaze away from his erection as it pumped through her fist. "Hmm?" she asked vaguely. But then she blinked, gave her head a slight shake, and smiled up at him. "No."

"Good." And in a few efficient moves, he had her flat on her back beneath him. "Then let's satisfy my fantasy." He patted his shoulders. "Let's see those pretty shoes up here."

She laughed and started to comply, but before she could follow through he reached between them.

"Whoops—forgot to remove these," he said, and pulled her bikini panties off her hips and down her legs. Tossing them over his shoulder, he looked down at what he'd revealed and smiled. "And here I thought you were a natural blonde."

"I am," she replied dryly, then sucked in a breath when he eased his thumb into her silky-wet cleft and slid it up and down. "A natural L'Oreal number ten, Lightest Ultimate Blonde, blonde," she informed him breathlessly. Then her eyes lost focus. "Ohmigracious, Zachariah. Oh. My. Gracious ."

He tapped his shoulder again with his free hand and experienced a possessive sort of satisfaction when she immediately swung her feet up to prop her heels on them. Wrapping his hand around her slender ankle, he turned his head to press a kiss into her instep. Then reluctantly disengaging the hand that stroked between her thighs, he used it to grasp his hard-on and line up its broad head with her entrance. Leaning forward, he slowly pressed himself into her until he was buried to the hilt in her wet, furnace-hot, vise-grip depths. Pleasure shivered over his skin as he held himself still deep inside her. "Damn, you feel good."

"Oh, my gosh. Do I ever." She moved experimentally. "I. Feel. Full . So full. Which feels wonderful. Except—"

He eased his hips back, then pressed them forward. "Except?" Eased them back again, and pressed them forward.

"Well, except, you're too far away. I want to hold you."

He dropped forward, catching himself on his palms on either side of her shoulders. It drove him deeper into Lily, and she moaned as her legs slid down his arms until they hooked on the inside bend of his elbows. She reached up and locked her fingers behind his neck. "Oh, please," she murmured. "Zach, please."

And he began to withdraw and thrust back into her, withdraw and thrust, with increasing speed and force. Lily started making desperate noises deep in her throat and her Cuban-heeled pumps bounced in the air with every slam of his hips. Zach stared down at her, and she returned his look with an unfocused, lust-blinded gaze. "Christ," he muttered, and lowered his head to catch her mouth with his own. She kissed him back hungrily and sank her fingernails into his shoulders. Then her soft moans began to escalate and grow higher in pitch, and she strained to meet his pistoning hips. Suddenly she stiffened all over, her pelvis thrust high, and hard contractions deep inside of her clamped and released around his dick, milking its length furiously.

Ripping his mouth free, he threw back his head. Then, grinding out her name, he slammed his hips forward one last time and in scalding, bone-rattling pulsations, he began to come.

And come.

And felt her climaxing around him all the while as he continued to come.

Until, finally, totally boneless and feeling like a homeless stray suddenly in possession of his very own hearth, he collapsed atop her.

Chapter 15

Lily's arms slid away from Zach's neck and flopped onto the mattress. Her legs, released by his collapse, followed suit and splayed bonelessly upon the duvet. Holy petunia. So this is what really good sex feels like . She was perfectly content to lie crushed beneath the weight of Zach's inert body—until it occurred to her that she couldn't hear him breathing and was far from sure if that was his heartbeat she felt, or merely the thundering of her own. Summoning all her energy, she raised her right hand and petted his damp, muscular back. "You still alive?"

"Dunno," he muttered into her neck. But one of his hands lifted to stroke her from armpit to hip, then eased into a slow return caress back up her side. "I think I may have died and gone to heaven."

That's nothing. I think I may have gone and fallen in lov—

No. Shocked, her hand dropped back to her side. That's not true, so don't even think it . It was simply a case of having a sexual experience beyond anything she'd ever known. Don't confuse it for anything else, Lily .

But it was hard not to panic when Zach, obviously reacting to her growing tension, raised his head to look down at her. "You okay?"

"Yes. Sure. It's just… you're kind of heavy, and I, um, have to use the bathroom." Oh, jeez, you are such a liar. Not to mention a coward . But she was still relieved when Zach immediately lifted himself off her. She eased to the side of the bed. then sat up with her back to him while she took a couple of silent, restorative breaths. When he suddenly ran his fingertips down her bare spine, she just barely refrained from leaping straight into the air like a spooked cat. Instead, she flashed him a smile made vague by the fact that she didn't quite make eye contact when she glanced back over her shoulder.

"I'll be right back," she murmured to his hard jaw, and rose to her feet, tugging the top sheet free of the bed and winding it around her as she padded to the bathroom.

A moment later found her with the door firmly closed between them, and her hands braced on the vanity as she stared at the worried expression looking back at her from the mirror. "I'm not falling in love," she vowed in a low voice. "I am not falling in love!"

"Did you say something?" Zach called.

"No. That is, I'm just talking to myself."

She heard him laugh and looked back at her reflection. Dear God . She met her own horrified gaze. I'm falling in love .

This was awful. If she had to go fall for some guy, why him? He was the worst choice she could make— the complete and utter worst.

It was pure reflex that thrust her chin in the air. So, big deal, then. The answer to that is don't… Just don't fall in love . A little distance, a little perspective, and she'd get over it. Heck, it was probably nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction to really good sex anyhow.

Oh, Lily, please. She blew out her breath. Lie to Zach if you have to. But don't lie to yourself .

She'd had good sex before. Maybe not as earth-shattering as what she'd just shared with Zach, but pretty darn great. The point was, she hadn't immediately gone from thinking Dang, I feel good to I must be in love .

Of course, she'd never tried to convince herself she lacked feelings for the current man in her life, either. Until Zach, she'd always gone into her admittedly limited relationships believing they were going somewhere. And if that didn't tell her something right there, she didn't know what would.