“Later.” She tugged his head down to hers. Her voice was a breathy whisper. “Whatever it is. Much later.” And she took over.

Oh man, Kent thought weakly, how she took over.

Sinking her fingers into his hair, she angled his head for her kiss, arching her body into his so that he could feel every inch of her.

A stab of pure heat tightened his belly, and logic warred with heat-he had to get enough air to his brain, to make sure she understood he wasn’t just using her, that he truly felt something for her, something deep and scary and almost flu-like-but then she nibbled at him. First one corner of his mouth, then the other, and lust began to win.

With everything he had, Kent willed his hands to remain at her waist, but they weren’t listening. Every part of his body responded to the heavy-lidded sensual gaze in her eyes, some parts more than others.

He had her sandwiched between his hard body and the even harder wood. But this was Becca! She deserved better, deserved more than what he could give her shoved up against the door. “Becca-”

She went up on tiptoe to breathe in his ear, and the sensation that caused made him smack his head hard on the wood. “Ouch!” Pain and desire exploded in his head and all thoughts vanished.

“Stay with me.” She pulled him back to her. “I want to be out of control. I want to be wild. Hot.” She clutched him, rubbing her body to his in an eager hug that nearly undid him. “Please, Kent. I want to let loose, I want my feet to leave the earth. I want to see stars. I want to explode, for once in my life! Is that so much to ask?” She blinked at him, frustration swimming in her gaze.

“No,” he said softly. “It’s not too much to ask.”

“Then help me.”

Oh yeah, he could help her. As if he could refuse her anything, especially this. “Come here then,” he said hoarsely, dragging her close for a slow, wet, deep kiss that left them both breathless, and painfully ready. She gripped him trustingly and a heavy ache settled in his heart. When he scooped her up in his arms, she laid her head against his chest and the ache deepened.

She gave him a sexy, wicked smile and delicately bit his lower lip. Tempted to devour her right there, he kissed her again. Don’t take her against the door, he reminded himself. Think. As if he could. “Your bed,” he rasped out.

“Yes.” She ran her fingers over his chest, and he stumbled in his haste, nearly killing both of them.

Her breathless laughter goaded him, and he licked his suddenly dry lips. Staring at the motion, she slid her fingers into his hair, looked him in the eye and asked with a heart-stopping mix of anticipation and awe, “Are you going to…” She blushed furiously.

“What?”

“Are you going to…use your tongue? You know, on my body?” Her teeth dragged over her lower lip. “I’ve always wanted to know what that felt like,” she admitted.

They were only in the hallway, but he stopped to press her against the wall, his body poised and dying for her. Need pulsed inside him, biting, sharp need. With his arms planted on either side of her head, he cupped her face and tilted it up. Her lips were still wet from his mouth and he traced her lips lightly with his thumb. “I’m most definitely going to use my tongue,” he said. “On every single inch of you.”

“Oh my.” She sounded a bit pressed for air. “Kent?”

He was walking again, and staring down at the drumming pulse at the base of her throat, at her hardened nipples. “Yeah?” he croaked.

“I want to taste you, too.”

He swallowed his groan and struggled not to crash into a wall. By the time he dropped her to the mattress, they were grappling to touch everywhere at once, completely beyond finesse.

She wore some sort of flimsy robe that simply begged to be opened past her long, trim legs. As promised, he kissed every inch of her calves, knees and thighs. By the time he dipped and kissed her inner thigh, she was halfway to that explosion she’d wanted.

He slid his hands beneath her, to her curved bottom, and he pulled her closer, opening her legs to make room for his shoulders. The robe had parted now, and her sunshine yellow silk panties were hardly more than a wisp of material. They were wet, clinging to her flesh, and he stared down at her, so unbearably aroused he could hardly think.

Becca couldn’t think, either, she was far beyond that. All she knew was a deep, piercing, relentless ache, centered in the core of her. She managed to gasp his name, though she didn’t know if she was pleading or demanding. Both, she decided, and he reared up above her, looking down at her with so much heat and need she nearly cried.

“Becca.” That was it, just her name. Then he pulled off his shirt and her mouth went dry. Wow, was all she could think. And then he unzipped his pants, revealing white cotton and the bulge of the most impressive erection she’d ever seen. Her mind blanked, her body sizzled.

His hands came up to the arms of her robe and he slowly pushed the material aside, looked down at her matching silk bra, at the curves spilling out of it and let out a low sigh. “Becca, you’re so beautiful.”

She reached for him, eyes closed.

He touched her face and whispered, “Becca, did you hear me?”

“I… No,” she admitted, unable to hear anything past the roar of blood in her ears.

His hands settled on her quivering stomach and slowly, so slowly, his fingers slid up until they covered her breasts. “I said you’re beautiful,” he repeated. “You, Becca. Not some glossy image you made up, but the real Becca.”

She couldn’t stop her surprised, indrawn breath nor the delighted shock that reverberated through her system when his thumbs rasped over her nipples.

“Did you hear me this time?” His hot, intense gaze held hers. “You’re the most incredible woman I know. Inside and out.” His fingers continued to stroke her. “Tell me you believe that, Becca.”

“I… Kent,” she breathed, arching into his touch. “More.”

In the next shattering moment, her bra came unfastened and he ran his warm hands over her taut curves, over the hard, aching points of her breasts, which were thrust out, dying for attention. The sensations were so incredible, so intense, she cried out.

“Tell me,” he demanded.

She could do nothing but toss her head back and let out a shockingly dark, needy sound.

“Open your eyes, Becca.”

At his erotically rough voice, she obeyed, and with his gaze he let her see everything he was feeling. He tugged her robe and bra down to her elbows so that her arms lay trapped at her side. “Do you know you’re my every fantasy lying there like that?” he whispered, bending over her, his dark hair falling across his forehead, his eyes full of heat and desire. “Your bedroom eyes, your creamy skin-” A fingertip skimmed over a nipple and she gripped fistfuls of the bedding beneath her, biting her lips to keep from shamelessly crying out. “You want me, don’t you?” His fingers continued to touch her. “Not just an orgasm, not just fun and adventure, but me?”

“Yes!” she gasped.

“Then tell me,” he murmured, dipping his head to drag his tongue over her quivering skin. “Tell me you believe I find every part of you beautiful. Inside and out.”

She wanted him now, right now. It took little effort for her to wrap her legs around his hips, to rock the neediest part of her over the neediest part of him.

He went completely still, letting out a low groan at her touch. “Becca.” Now he made the rocking motion, sliding his huge erection over her wet, throbbing flesh. “Dammit, tell me now or this is no good.”

He meant it, she could see the agony in his eyes, swirling there amid the hunger and passion. His muscles were tense and trembling, he was hot and hard and dying with need, but still, he would leave if she didn’t acknowledge his words.

He thought she was beautiful.

She so wanted to believe that, but the small doubt couldn’t be erased. She’d practically forced him into this.

And yet, for this moment, for right now, she wanted so badly to suspend reality and tell him what he wanted to hear. Struggling free of her shirt, she slid her arms around his neck. “I believe you,” she whispered.

Above her he was shaking with the effort to hold back, but at her words, he kissed her.

His fingers slid beneath her panties. He stroked her until she was shuddering before he tugged them down and off. Again he kissed her breasts, each of them, slowly, thoroughly, while his fingers traced their way back up her thighs and between. When he sank a finger inside her, she arched off the bed and whimpered his name before he slid his body down, dragging his mouth over her belly, to her hip. With his fingers playing over her, she could do nothing but toss her head on the pillow as he stroked, pressed and caressed, dragging out her tension until she was poised, trembling, dying… Then he shifted and his mouth was hovering over her, hovering, hovering.

“Oh, please,” she whispered. “Kent, please.”

He said her name once before running his tongue over her hot center. She exploded instantly. Shattered. Shuddered. And slowly came back to herself, and him.

“You okay?” he asked softly.

She’d never been so okay in her life. “I think…that’s a fairly safe assessment.”

He reared up on his knees and smiled wickedly. “Let’s make sure.” He slid off her robe, then watched her with a hot, fierce expression as he retrieved a foil packet from his pocket.

She gasped at the sight of him, silky smooth and throbbing, and he let out a groaning laugh, his fingers fumbling as he protected them both.

“Now,” she demanded, pulling him close.

“Yes, now.” Dragging her hips to meet his, he thrust into her, letting out a hoarse groan. He felt it, too, she realized dimly, this incredible connection. She could see it in the strain of his beautiful face as he concentrated so intently on her.