"The first time I saw you, you jogged past me on the greenbelt, and I thought you had the sweetest legs and ass this side of heaven. I thought you were about the best-looking woman I'd ever seen." He sat in a ladder-back chair and kissed the inside of one calf.

"You thought I was a felon."

"Didn't mean I was opposed to seeing you naked." He pressed his lips to the inside of her knee. "Didn't mean I wasn't looking forward to a strip search. Doesn't mean I don't know what a lucky son of a bitch I am."

Gabrielle's gaze took in his hair and the smile he brushed against her inner thigh. Passion smoldered in his dark eyes as the tip of his tongue touched the mole a few scant inches below the elastic leg band of her panties. Her breath caught in her throat and he held her there, suspended, turning her insides hotter, and making her wonder what he would do next. "Or taste you right here," he said and softly drew her skin into his warm mouth. Every pinpoint of desire in her body intensified and burned, making her jumpy at the same time as it held her frozen in place. His hand slipped up the inside of her thigh to the islet covering her crotch. His thumb brushed her through the thin material, and he lifted his head and looked up at her.

"How does that feel?"

"Good, Joe."

He scooted the chair as close to the table as possible. "This has driven me insane." He wrapped one arm around her waist, then he dipped his head and sucked her shallow navel just below her belly ring. His grip on her upper thigh tightened while his thumb continued to lightly stroke her through her moist panties. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, shutting out everything but the exquisite pleasure of his hand and his mouth kissing a wet path up her stomach to the inside slope of her right breast. He drew her sensitive skin into his mouth, then pushed aside one cup of her bra and took her nipple into his hot, wet mouth.

Gabrielle moaned and arched her back, lost to the erotic pull of his lips and the smooth texture of his tongue. He slipped two fingers beneath the elastic leg band of her panties and touched her slick flesh, caressing her exactly where she wanted it most, at the place where every sensation pooled and intensified. She tried to close her legs to hold the pleasure of it in, but he stood between her knees. Then cool air brushed across the tip of her moist breast, and she heard him whisper her name. Her eyes fluttered open, and his face was so close mat his nose brushed hers.

"Gabrielle," he said again, and then he kissed her, as soft and sweet as the first. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he stood with her in his embrace. Looking into his deep brown eyes, her heart swelled with so much emotion she couldn't hide from it anymore. She'd never been very good at hiding anyway.

The hooks of her bra released, and the thin scrap of material fell away. She pressed her naked breasts into his chest and slid one hand down his side and across his smooth back, over the dip in his spine and the hollow of his waist where he'd stuck a nicotine patch. She loved touching him, feeling his flesh beneath her hands. Her fingers slid around his woven leather belt, and she unbuckled and unbuttoned until his pants lay open. Then she pulled back and looked at him. She easily pushed his pants down his thighs and gazed at a pair of white boxers with the words joe boxer on the waistband. He kicked his shoes and trousers aside, then tore at his socks until his feet were bare. He took her hand, and this time they did make it to her bedroom.

Her feet sank in the thick white carpet as her gaze moved up his powerful calves to the scar marring his hard thigh. "I can massage it for you," she offered, her voice sounding thick to her own ears as she brushed the scar with the tips of her fingers.

He reached for her hand, moved it up a few inches, and blatantly pressed her palm to the thick ridge of his erection. "Massage this."

"Well, I am almost a professional," she said and slipped her hand beneath the waistband of his shorts and wrapped his hot, hot flesh in her palm. She closed her fist around him and lightly stroked from the base of his rock-hard penis all the way to the smooth, plump head. Her other hand pushed his boxers down his thighs, and she was free to look at him. For the first time to see his powerful body, to view him as an artist who had a deep appreciation for beauty, and as a woman who wanted to make love to the beautiful man who made her heart swell.

She took a step closer, and her nipples brushed his chest. The hot tip of his erection touched her belly, and within her grasp, she rubbed the length of him against her flat stomach and navel. A clear drop of semen smeared her skin as she kissed the hollow of his throat, his shoulder, and the side of his neck. She slid one hand up his chest and looked into his heavy-lidded eyes. "So, when do I get the really good part?"

He nuzzled the side of her throat and groaned, "As soon as you let go of it."

The second she released him, he picked her up beneath the armpits and tossed her on her bed. "Take off those panties," he ordered as he crawled across the duvet to join her in the middle. He helped her pull her underwear down her legs, pausing to kiss her hip, before he pitched her panties over his shoulder, then knelt between her knees. His gaze stared into hers, then lowered to between her thighs. His fingers caressed her belly, her hips, and her slick, sensitive flesh, bringing her close before he stopped and rested his weight on one forearm. "Are you sure you're ready for the really good part?" he asked and brought the broad head of his penis into place.

"Yes," she whispered, and he shoved the long, hard length of him into her. Her eyes widened, her breath caught in the top of her lungs, and she cried out. Then he withdrew and buried himself even deeper.

"Holy Mary mother of God," he groaned and cupped the sides of her face in his palms. He kissed her, his tongue plunging into her mouth as he thrust slowly into her body. She wrapped one leg around his waist, planted her other foot by his knee, and moved with him, matching the rhythm of his pumping hips. She dug her fingers into his shoulders and kissed him back, matching his greed and passion. With each thrust he propelled them closer to climax. And with each thrust, he stroked a place deep, deep inside until she could no longer breathe, and she tore her mouth from his and sucked air into her lungs. The pressure built, and her grasp on his shoulders tightened.

"Joe," she whispered, wanting to tell him how she felt, but there were no words. She wanted to tell him that she'd never felt anything so good and dizzy and hot. She looked up into his tense, strained features as he drove into her, and she wanted him to know she'd never felt so incredible, that he was incredible, and she loved him. That he was her yang, but then he reached beneath her bottom, tilted her pelvis up, and increased the sensation of each thrust, forcing her toward climax. Her heart pounded in her ears, and every ounce of her body, mind, and soul was focused on the slick parts of them where they were joined. She opened her mouth, but all she was capable of uttering was the word yes, followed by a long, satisfied moan.

"That's right, come for me," he whispered, and it was as if the sound of his voice triggered her long, hard fall. Her body tensed and arched as orgasm hit and took over completely. The power of it shook her and squeezed him within her tight body while he plunged harder and deeper. It went on and on, the sensations rolling through her until at last an anguished groan tore from his chest and his harsh breath whispered across her temple. He drove into her one last time, then stilled.

In the aftermath, the only sound was the catching of breath and a siren wailing off in the distance. Every place their skin touched, it stuck together, and a bead of sweat slid down Joe's temple.

A smile slowly curved the corners of his lips.

"That was amazing," she said.

"No," he corrected, pausing to plant a kiss on her mouth, "you are amazing."

Gabrielle unwrapped her leg from his waist.

He grasped her thigh as if he thought she planned to move away and he didn't want her to go. "Do you have someplace you need to be?"

"No."

"Then why don't you just stay where you are, and I'll just stay were I am?"

"Right here? Naked?"

"Uh-huh." He combed his fingers through her hair, and his hip slowly moved. He withdrew, then buried himself, and the sensation all coiled and built again. "I want more of the really good part. How about you?"

Yeah, she wanted more. She wanted a lot more of him, but beyond wanting Joe, she wasn't ready to face the world outside her house. Not yet. She hooked her leg over his waist again, and they started slow, with light, lingering touches, but things turned too hot too quick and somehow they ended up on the floor, rolling around on top of all those naughty pairs of underwear she'd thrown there the night before. She finally landed on top astride his hips.

"Put your hands behind your head," she ordered.

Suspicion shone in his eyes, but he did as she asked. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to blow your mind."

"That's a bold statement."

Gabrielle just smiled. She'd taken six months of belly dancing, just enough to know how to roll and undulate real good. She raised her hands high in the air and rotated her hips as she swayed. She closed her eyes and lost herself in the feeling of him touching her deep inside. "You like this?"

"God-d da-mn!"

Her smile grew, and with him buried deep inside, she blew his mind.

"Are you sure I don't smell like a girl?" Joe asked for the third time as he stood in her dining room and pulled his boxers to his waist.