Dangerous to Know (35 page)

“That's not love.”

But it was what she craved.

“It's pure intensity,” he bit back. “It's driving me insane. Shutting down my brain every time I see you. All I can do is think about touching you, driving you to the same edge you take me to when we're together. It's more than sex. I've had sex. With you, it's … intimate.”

His eyes were bright with need. Her rational mind wanted to argue. Wanted to find some reason why his words didn't hold water.

“Nothing about you ever makes sense, Mercer.”

He offered her a soft sound of amusement. “So stop thinking and feel.”

He captured her argument beneath his kiss. Honestly, she wasn't sure what she'd intended to say. It dissipated beneath the hard motions of his mouth. She moaned, jerked into the vortex his touch always spawned.

And then all she wanted was more.

Just more.

She arched, rubbing against his thigh, kissing him back as need went twisting through her.

Intensity?

Hell yes. That was exactly what they brought out in each other. He left off kissing her mouth, working his way across her jawline to her neck, and she arched up, offering it to him. She felt the touch of air against her bare skin as she eased her shirt up and over her head. She felt the effort it cost him to be slow and gentle about it.

“I'm really okay,” she said. Rolling her shoulder, making the bandage crinkle just a little, she reached forward and grabbed his shirt, yanking it up and over his shoulders to bare him. When she had it free, she balled it up and chucked it across the room before reaching out and cupping his jaw.

“I'm not a baby doll.”

Their gazes were locked, giving her a prime view of the way her words hit him. Passion brightened his eyes, flickering in the darks orbs before he tilted his head and pressed his lips to hers.

This time, he claimed her mouth like a prize, tasting her lips with the pure intention of devouring her. He was hard and hot, pressing her against the wall as he cupped the back of her head and continued to ravage her mouth. She twisted against him, needing to be closer. It was a desperate motion, one she couldn't have controlled if she'd tried.

Once again, there was only need and the satisfaction his body promised.

He lifted his head, looking at her for a moment. “I like you like this. Panting for more. I'm going to give it to you, Zoe. Give it to you while I watch.”

Her bra went sailing over his shoulder. His gaze slipped down to her breasts as he reached out to cup them.

“You're beautiful, baby.”

He was cupping her breasts, the contact sending her back into the storm of sensation. He leaned over and licked one nipple. It drew tighter, puckering into a hard nub that he sucked into his mouth. It was as if the sensitive tip were connected to her clit. The little bundle of nerve endings hidden between the folds of her sex started to throb and beg for the same treatment.

“You're getting wetter,” he whispered next to her ear. Her cheeks heated and he laughed as he felt the blush with his own cheek.

“It's sexy, Zoe.”

“No, it's not,” she argued.

“Look at me.” His tone was raspy but just as full of authority as always. She raised her gaze to his. He waited until their eyes met before he pressed forward, flattening his body on top of hers. The hard presence of his erection made her breath catch and then release in a low sound of need.

“I can compliment you all day with pretty words, but feeling how hard my cock is tells you I find you attractive more than a thousand polished comments. Doesn't it?”

She was nodding, feeling like he could read how aroused she was just through eye contact.

He slid his hand down her arms, sending a new rush of delight through her. She was twisting in his grip as she felt him close his fingers around her wrists, capturing her. Her eyes had started to close as she sank into bliss but she forced them open and discovered him watching her, his eyes burning with need.

The need to take.

The need to conquer.

The need to claim.

Her mouth went dry. She wanted that, wanted it so badly.

He pulled her arms up, doing it slowly as he watched her face. His jaw was tight as he controlled himself. When he pressed her wrists to the wall above her head, he leaned against her for a long moment, letting her sense him claiming her. She shifted, making him feel the hard points of her nipples.

He sucked in his breath, baring his teeth at her.

“I'm going to play with you, baby.” He leaned down and nipped her ear. “Like my own personal toy.”

He transferred her wrists into one hand and slipped his other one down her body, teasing a path toward her sex. She knew that was his destination, the knowledge tormenting her with anticipation. The soft waistband of the leggings wasn't much of a barrier. He pulled it down as he found her curls and teased them.

She was wet.

So wet, his fingers slipped easily into her folds. She moaned, a half breath away from climax.

“God I love the way you heat up for me, baby.” He teased her folds. Stroking her as he opened her thighs wide with his knee.

“I like you like this.” His tone was razor-edged. “I want to take you. Hold you in place and watch you while I touch you.”

“Just … touch me…” She was pretty sure she wouldn't survive if he didn't.

“Look at me, Zoe.”

She opened her eyes, ready to do anything he asked.

“I'm going to make you come.”

There was determination in his eyes. Flickering there. Warning her. Promising her.

“You'd better.” She tossed out the challenge, knew that was what she was doing. In fact, she fully intended to push him. She bared her teeth at him and watched him smile in satisfaction.

He made a soft sound of amusement, his face drawing tight as he plunged his fingers into her folds to where her clit was throbbing madly. She gasped, pleasure spiking straight into her core. She twisted, arching toward his hand, seeking out what she needed from him.

“Is this the spot you want stroked?” he demanded bluntly.

Her mouth was dry, her eyes trying to close as rapture was taking hold of her.

“Look at me,” he demanded. “And tell me…” He rubbed her clit, just hard enough to feel like climax was within reach. “Is this the way you like me to touch you?”

“Yes.” Her voice was a hollow sound of yearning. “Harder.”

“Sometimes, I'll give you what you need, baby…” His nostrils flared, his fingers pressing against her clit just a fraction harder. “And watch you enjoy satisfaction…” His jaw was set, his teeth bared. The grip on her hands tightened as he pushed her that last bit with his fingers, holding her still while he rubbed her into an orgasm. “Satisfaction from my touch.”

She jerked, something snapping inside her. It was harsh and slammed her back into the wall. She withered, feeling like she was being wrung. He rubbed her through it, easing off the pressure as the moment subsided. He held her as she clung to his shoulders, her heart hammering.

“And sometimes…” She was suddenly free, sagging against the wall because her knees were jelly. He paused for a moment, drinking in the sight of her, enjoying what he'd reduced her to.

“Sometimes … You'll drive me to the brink of madness…”

He opened his fly, popping the buttons to free his cock. It sprang into sight, swollen, hard, and exactly what she craved. He closed his fingers around it, pumping his hand up and down the large staff while he backed away from her.

“I'm going to enjoy letting you take everything I see you craving from me.”

“You bet your ass you will.”

She sprang after him, pushing him onto the bed. The frame made a groaning sound as they both bounced on the mattress in a tangle of limbs. Mercer closed his arms around her, taking the brunt of the fall, his chest vibrating with his amusement.

But that wasn't what she wanted from him.

Hell no.

She pushed herself up and grabbed his pants, hooking her fingers into the soft denim and ripping it, baring him as she pulled the pants off him. Yanking his shoes off when she made it to his ankles, she left him lying on the bed in nothing but glorious skin.

And he was perfection. She purred and stripped out of her leggings before she flattened her hands on the bed as she crawled up and over him. She sat down on his cock, not letting him penetrate her but resting his staff between the folds of her sex. He sucked his breath in, jerking beneath her before he tightened his control. She flattened her hands on his chest, petting him, stroking him as she enjoyed having his hard flesh waiting for her whim.

“That's it, play with me.”

She looked up and caught the look of anticipation on his face. It was savage and it sent victory surging through her.

“Sex with me will never be boring…” she said.

He slowly shook his head. Zoe curled her fingers into talons and drew them down his chest, stopping at his nipples to tease them.

“And I don't ever want to hear about how much other sex you've had,” she instructed him.

“Yes you do,” he argued. Reaching up to cup her breasts, he massaged the tender globes, shifting the power between them as he teased her nipples with his thumbs. “You want to know I compare you to them and find you something altogether different.”

He wrapped his arms around her, curling up off the bed and holding her still as he thrust. His cock slid against her clit. She yelped at the intensity of the sensation, reeling from the spike.

“I'll remember them because it will confirm why I have no reason to ever stray from your bed, Zoe.”

“You bet your ass you won't stray,” she hissed.

She rose up and mounted him. Lowering herself onto his cock, she groaned as her body stretched to accommodate it. “Because I'm a bitch and I don't share my meat.”

“Ride me … show me why I don't have a reason to stray, baby.”

She opened her eyes and shot him a hard look, but she realized that he wasn't demanding. He was just as needy as she'd been.

Still was, really.

Hunger drew his lips back, baring his teeth as he cupped her breasts, massaging them gently, reverently. He was hers in that moment. Completely devoted to her. She was the object of his desire. The look in his eyes filled her with confidence, the surge of power that she'd only ever felt with him. There was no awkwardness. Only an enjoyment of the way they fit together, like it was meant to be. So natural, so right, she could focus completely on the motion of the ride.

And she did.

She braced her hands on either side of his head as she rose and fell, but it wasn't enough. She stretched up, her thighs burning with the effort, and rode him with her hands in the air and her head thrown back.

“Hell yes…” He had her hips in his hands, the grip tightening as his cock felt like it was hardening even further. He was bucking beneath her, filling her as she came down. Their bodies slapped together while the bed rocked at a frantic motion.

“
Hell…”
He was growling, grunting as his cock started to pump spurts of hot fluid into her. He wanted to flip her over; she could see the need in his eyes. She rolled, gripping him with her legs as he followed her and hammered himself into her spread body.

“Yes!” he snarled, fucking her until she felt her body dissolving into another climax. It came out of the swirling vortex of sensation being in contact with him produced. One moment she was enjoying the hard motions of his body as he pumped her through his climax and the next, her clit was twisting, her core clenching, and her pussy milking his cock.

The intensity was off the scale, burning through her with enough force to shatter her. It was a fate she willingly gave herself up to, the idea of surrender attractive as it yielded complete rapture.

She cried out, arching up to take the last few thrusts, jerking as pleasure tore through her and dropped her back onto the surface of the bed, more spent than she'd ever been. Moving was out of the question. Her muscles were nothing more than jelly.

Mercer smoothed her hair back from her face, kissing her temple before he rolled over and took her with him. He folded her into his embrace as he settled her against his side with her head pillowed on his chest. She shifted closer, rubbing against him as she tried to absorb every last detail of the moment.

She'd never felt cherished. Not until now. She might have noticed how much it frightened her if she had any ability left to think at all.

She didn't.

There was only the feeling of his arms around her and the scent of his skin. Everything else was a blur on the horizon. Too far away to concern herself with.

No, for the moment, she was going to just feel.

Just savor.

*   *   *

Someone cussed in the kitchen.

Zoe lifted her head, frowning as she came fully awake. She was rolling out of the bed before she thought about it. She paused for a moment as her body protested being in motion. Mercer was still stretched out in the bed, giving her a prime view of just why she was sore.

He was an animal.

Lean, cut, untamed.

And she loved it.

Shit.

She did love him. The admission left her feeling vulnerable. As in her ass hanging out in the wind. He could crush her heart. She knew it. Had to embrace the reality of that truth.

What I need to do is decide to trust him and live in the moment.

She shied away from her inner voice, plucking her clothing up from where it had fallen and dressing. She opened the door slowly and sneaked out with one last look back at Mercer to make sure he was still sleeping.

Chicken.

Guilty as charged. But in her defense, marriage was something she really should think about.

Chicken.

Her inner voice was screaming at her.

So was Roni's notable advice to live in the moment and enjoy the ride while it was available.