She grabbed his wrists, and with her last shred of sanity said, "We can't do this here. I have to go back to work."

He kissed the side of her neck. "What are you wearing?"

She tilted her head to one side. Okay, one more minute. "A skirt."

"No." His fingers brushed the edge of her panties. "Here. It feels like lace."

"It is."

"What color?" What color? At the moment she couldn't recall. "White." Maybe?

He groaned deep in his throat and pulled back far enough to look into her face. "Show me."

"Right now?"

"Yes."

"Someone might come in."

"No one's coming in."

"The last time I was here, two little boys walked in."

He moved his hands up the outsides of her thighs and pressed his thumbs into the lace covering her crotch. "Your panties are wet."

"I have to go help Stanley," she said on an intake of breath. "The store gets busy around five."

He smiled. "We have over an hour then."

"Someone could walk in here," she protested once again, but she didn't remove his hand.

He slid a thumb beneath her underwear and touched her there. "Do you care?"

Did she? He stroked her slick flesh and she couldn't remember the question. Oh yeah. "Someone could walk in."

"Pull up your skirt so I can chew off your panties."

Could she let a man she'd only had sex with once in a dark store chew off her underwear? Right now? She looked into his heavy eyes, filled with lust and the promise of great sex. She slid her hands down his shoulder and arms and pulled her skirt above her waist.

He smiled and lowered his gaze down the front of her shirt to her thighs. "I've wanted to do this for a long time now." He kissed her mouth and the side of her neck, then he knelt in front of her. He raised his gaze to hers, and his smile was filled with the promise of dark, delicious sin. "Put your feet on my shoulders," he said as he pulled her bottom to the edge of the counter.

Kate planted her hands behind her as he kissed the inside of her knee and worked his way down. He didn't waste time on foreplay. He just got busy. He pulled her panties aside, then he drew her to his mouth. The immediate, hot suction of his warm mouth stole her breath, and her head fell back.

He kissed between her thighs the way he kissed her mouth, with overwhelming passion, drawing mindless sounds of pleasure from her throat and from his. She closed her eyes as desire pulsed and beat just below her skin, out of control and curling her toes inside her shoes.

He caressed her with his tongue, pressing into her slick flesh and drawing her into his mouth for a luscious kiss that nearly sent her over the edge. Repeatedly, he coaxed her to the point of orgasm only to back off and nibble on the inside of her thigh and touch her with his fingers. Each time he took her higher, farther, until a deep, shattering orgasm took her apart. It started in the pit of her abdomen and worked its way outward, rushing across her skin like liquid fire. Her fingers and the backs of her knees tingled, and she heard herself call out his name. It seemed to go on forever and then he was above her, kissing her and touching her breasts through her clothes.

Like always, desire surrounded him, hot and vital. Kate felt the relentless force of it as she wrapped her arms around his neck. She kissed his throat and he reached for his wallet. He removed a condom from inside and she took it from him. He unbuttoned his pants and pushed them and his white briefs down his thighs.

Kate took his thick penis in her hand and rolled the thin latex over the head and down the long shaft to the base. Rob looked at her, fire and need and greed burning in his eyes as she positioned him. His mouth lowered to hers and his tongue thrust into her mouth as he entered her body, plunging so fully, so deep, that if she hadn't been so ready, he would have hurt her.

She wrapped her legs around his waist as he drove into her, again and again, hard and deep. She clung to him, welcoming each thrust of his pumping hips and feeling each stroke push her toward orgasm once more.

Rob tore his mouth from hers and crushed her against his chest. His fingers tangled in her hair as he plunged into her one last time. He held her that way, tight against his chest, until their breathing returned to normal. "That was…" He spoke into the top of her head. "… I'm not quite sure, but I believe that was the best… I don't think I've ever come like that." He lowered his hands and rubbed the tops of her bare thighs. "Thank you, Kate."

She pulled back and looked into his face. "You're welcome, but you did all the work."

"Yeah." A crooked smile twisted his lips. "But it's the kind of work I don't mind doing." He pulled out of her and reached for his briefs. He zipped up his pants, then helped her off the counter. Her underwear was twisted to one side, and she moved quickly to the bathroom at the rear of the store and slipped inside.

She took care of business, then turned on the water to wash her hands. She looked into the mirror above the sink and at the reflection staring back at her. Her hair was messed up, her cheeks were flushed, and her bottom lips looked chapped from Rob's soul patch. She looked like a woman who'd just had sex.

The water ran over her hands as she stared at herself. She'd just had sex on the front counter and anyone in town could have walked in. "Oh my God," she whispered. Her face got hot and her ears started to buzz. She couldn't believe she'd just done that.

"Kate." Rob rapped on the door. "If you're finished, I need to get in there."

She turned off the water and dried her hands. She opened the door but couldn't quite look into his face. She slid past him, and he grabbed her arm.

"Stay right here." He let go of her and unzipped his pants. He pushed down his briefs, and she turned her back to him.

"Geez, close the door. Isn't that kind of personal?"

"Honey, we just moved beyond personal." He dropped the condom in the toilet and flushed. She heard him zip his pants, then turn on the faucets. "It doesn't get much more personal than me going down on you on my checkout counter," he said as he dried his hands with paper towels.

"I can't believe I just did that." She put her palms on her cheeks. "Someone could have walked in the door and seen… you… your face…"

He turned her around and threw the paper towel away. "The door was locked."

"What?"

He grasped her wrists and looked into her face.

"No one could get in. I locked the door when I let out the guy looking at mountain bikes." He gave her a quick kiss, then took her hand in his and led her from the back room. "Two fantasies down. Nine hundred and ninety-eight to go."

"You locked the door?"

"Yep. Couldn't have anyone walking in on us."

Her feet slowed. "You were that sure I'd have sex with you?"

"Hell no." He turned and looked at her. "Where you're concerned, I never know what to expect. I just like to be prepared. I'm like a Boy Scout."

She laughed, and they continued toward the door.

"Come home with me."

"I have to work until six."

"I'll pick you up afterward. We can have some dinner and then you can show me your tattoo." He raised her hand and kissed the back of her knuckles. "I'll just drive across the parking lot at six."

"No, I'll drive out to your house." She wanted her car, just in case there was a problem. Not that she was going to look for one. She was going to be optimistic if it killed her.

He slid his lips to the inside of her wrist, then dropped her hand. "If you're not at my house by six-thirty," he said as he unlocked the big double doors, "I'm going to come looking for you."

"Are you afraid I won't show?"

"I told you I never know what to expect out of you."

"I'll be there," she said as she walked away. She moved to the curb and glanced back to see if he was watching her.

He was.

He stood with his arms folded across his chest, his weight resting on one leg, and his head tilted to one side.

Rob Sutter was a heartbreak just waiting to happen, but not unless a girl was foolish enough to fall in love with him. His past proved he was bad at relationships, but if a girl didn't want that from him, it wasn't an issue.

Kate moved between two parked cars next to a light pole. If all a girl wanted or expected was a real good time, remorseless lust, then Rob Sutter was definitely her guy. Two fantasies down. Nine hundred and ninety-eight to go, he'd said. If all a girl wanted was a fantasy man, Rob Sutter would be perfect in that capacity.

Seventeen

Nine hundred and ninety-seven to go. span

Kate lay in a tangle of sheets and legs, Rob's moist mouth in the small of her back and his hands on her behind.

"Your tattoo turns me on."

A lot of things turned him on. Her walking in his front door had had him jumping on her like a duck on a bug. At least they'd made it to his bed this time.

She turned, and his mouth found her navel. Her stomach growled, although at the moment she wasn't sure if she was more hungry for him or for food.

He rose and sat back on his heels. "Want something to eat?"

Golden sunlight from the window spread across Rob's bed, filtering through dark, fine hair covering the thick definition of his chest muscles and flat ridges of his stomach. A dark, happy trail circled his navel, leading straight down his lower belly to his pubic hair and his erection. A long, angry scar ran from his sternum to his navel, marring the perfection of his body.