Laughing, the wind whipping her hair madly about her face, Eva darted from her Jeep just as Adam stepped from his Maxima and opened an umbrella.
“You’re always prepared,” she said, feeling utterly breathless as he sheltered her from the rain.
“And you never are.”
“That’s half the adventure,” she said. “Never knowing what’s around the next corner.”
They were standing in the courtyard now, huddled together beneath his umbrella, the lightning moving closer, the thunder growing louder.
“Um…” Eva said, “the evening doesn’t have to end.”
“I think maybe it does.”
“You could come up to my place.”
He shook his head. “That’s not such a good idea.”
“Oh,” she said, feeling very disappointed. The way he’d been touching her all night had made her skin so sensitive. “Well, okay then. G’night.”
Then before he could see the hurt in her eyes, she turned and sprinted for her apartment.
You’re not dating her.
Okay, not technically, but Eva thought they were dating. It felt like they were dating. He wanted to be dating her.
She spun, kicked. The butterfly on her back flashed past. It appeared to flutter as she moved. Flying free.
Butterfly.
It was the perfect symbol for Eva. Beautiful and light, unfettered and sensual.
Why was
she
interested in him? What did he have to offer a woman like her? She could literally have any man she wanted. Who wouldn’t be drawn to her joie de vivre? Who wouldn’t ache to kiss those lips, to run his palms over her skin, to slip his fingers through her hair? She was the most amazing creature and he couldn’t have her. Not for the long run. It was like Kirsten had said. He and Eva fit together like peanut butter and sausage. Still, he couldn’t help wishing, hoping.
Yeah, all that will fall apart when she finds out that you’re just hanging out with her because of Barksdale.
And he wasn’t even doing his job worth a damn. He was supposed to have planted a listening device in her cell phone tonight, but he’d gotten so caught up in teaching her to play golf, he’d completely forgotten about looking for an opportunity to do what he’d been assigned to do.
How he wished things were different. That they could be a real couple, really dating. He wondered when he’d started yearning for her so consistently.
It had come in measures, starting with the pure thrust of lust when he’d first gotten a peek at her doing naked yoga. His desire had grown steadily with each encounter he’d had with her, rooting deeper and deeper the more he got to know her. She was everything he was not and he knew that when this was over he’d forever have an empty feeling because she was no longer part of his life.
She’s not part of your life. She’s just an assignment.
He could tell himself that all day long, but it wouldn’t make it true. He wanted her with a vengeance.
The rain pelted against the window, clouding his view, but he could still see her through the streaks of water, dancing and dancing.
His need was a living thing—growing, burning, yearning. He had to have her.
Lightning flashed, bathing the dark courtyard in a split-second illumination of light. Thunder followed with a window-jarring crack.
He couldn’t deny his need any longer. He’d tried his best. Fallen back on every trick he knew. He had to have her. He didn’t care what it meant for his career.
That scared the shit out of him, but fear was no longer enough to hold him. The temptation was too great. The spell Eva had cast over him too intoxicating.
On and on she danced.
He could unzip his pants and satisfy himself as best he could, as he’d done on other lonely nights, but he knew it was no longer enough. He craved the feel of her body, the taste of her tongue, the smell of her hair. He was in knots over her and there was no undoing them. He had to have her.
The rain fell in buckets now, drenching the courtyard. He could barely see her. She was just a beautiful blur. But he imagined that her breath was coming in sexy, heavy pants, timed with the throbbing of the song. The tempo seemed to pound out
Eva, Eva, Eva
against the back of his brain.
Compelled, he got up from the stool. He wasn’t thinking. All rationality was gone. He only reacted, following the dictates of his body. He rushed out the door.
Instantly, he was drenched in the torrential downpour, his shirt plastered to his chest, his hair plastered to his head. He clambered down the steps, sprinted across the courtyard, the tune in his head driving him, driving him.
Eva, Eva, Eva.
Up her stairs he went, two at a time. He was breathing hard, not from the exertion—he was in excellent shape—but from anticipation.
Saliva filled his mouth. Hunger tore at him. Eva was the only thing that could sate him. No other woman would do. Not now. Not ever.
Flashdance.
She’d been whirling to
Flashdance.
The sound track from the old movie spilled from her apartment.
He reached her door. Lifted a fist. Thumped on it.
Wham, wham, wham.
“Eva!” He yelled her name like Marlon Brando in
A Streetcar Named Desire.
No, more like William Hurt smashing through a window with a chair to get to Kathleen Turner in
Body Heat.
He was that driven, that determined to get to her. That out of his mind for her.
She’d reduced him to this. Out of control, crazed, ruled by sex and need. Dammit, he was drowning and loving every minute of it. His career was unraveling and he didn’t care. Eva was all that mattered. She was both his salvation and his destruction. “Eva!”
She yanked open the door. At some point on his mad trek over there, she’d wriggled into yoga pants and a T-shirt, but her feet were still bare, her hair a wild tumble about her shoulders. “Wh—”
He didn’t give her a chance to speak. Just reached up with his palms and captured her face between them. He looked her squarely in the eyes and then he kissed her. Kissed her with every ounce of passion that had been growing inside him since the first moment he’d seen her. Kissed her until neither one of them could breathe. The cold wind blew water over them. He was getting her soaking wet.
Apparently, she didn’t care. She reached up, wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him over the threshold. He stood there dripping water on her hardwood floor.
“Eva, I—”
“Shh, shh.”
She didn’t want to talk. That was fine with him. He’d always been a man of action, anyway. He didn’t speak another word, just leaned over to scoop her into his arms and stalked toward her bedroom.
“At last,” she said. “I wondered how long I was going to have to get naked in front of that window before you came to get me.”
Lightning flared outside the window. Thunder crashed as loud as if it had been in the same room with them. They both startled as the electricity snapped off, amputating the
Flashdance
beat in midthump and bathing them in black silence. The only sound was their raspy breathing and a distant wail of an ambulance siren.
Her bedroom was completely dark. Oh, this wouldn’t do, she needed to see him.
“Hang on,” he said, as though reading her thoughts. He set her down. “I’m just going to get some of those candles from the living room.”
He returned a second later with two vanilla-scented candles in his hands. He settled them on the top of her bureau, and then turned to draw her into his arms again.
His hot mouth took possession of hers and she felt herself melting against him as his strong arms pulled her closer. His solid erection pressed hard against her thigh.
Sensation swamped Eva’s body. Enveloped her in a snug embrace. Her nose twitched with the earthy smell of him. Her lips tingled, anxious to taste his raw, masculine energy. Goose bumps rippled over her skin at the heat radiating off him. Her fingers splayed over the wet T-shirt clinging to his chest and she felt his thudding heart as she heard her own heartbeat pounding through her eardrums.
Welcomed.
She felt welcomed.
He pushed her back against the wall, glaring down at her. “Woman, you can’t keep driving me crazy. Naked yoga. Naked dancing.”
“So,” she murmured in a soft, teasing tone. “You like to watch.”
“It’s not—”
She laid a finger against his lips, breaking off his words. “Shh, you don’t have to lie. I’m not mad.”
“You’re not?”
Eva leaned into him, felt the heat rolling off his muscular body. “I find the idea sexy.”
“You do?” he croaked.
“It’s so naughty.” She splayed a palm to his chest and pushed him backward until he planted his feet by the end of the bed.
His eyes flashed fire and he growled low in his throat as he lowered his head to nibble at her throat. She realized she could lose herself in this man. Fully, completely—and that scared her more than anything. If she were smart, she’d ask him to leave.
But she couldn’t. She didn’t want him to leave. She wanted him to make love to her all night long.
“Adam,” she whispered.
His body surrounded hers. His eyes had darkened. His hand was tight around her wrist.
Her flesh burned from her heart to her stomach, straight down to her sex. Burned and ached and craved.
His mouth claimed her.
She might not want to admit she belonged to him, but her body had other plans. Involuntarily, she arched against him, her pelvis grinding against his. His erection was granite. No, harder than granite.
“Eva,” he rasped.
She opened her mouth to tell him to take her, but his tongue darted between her parted teeth and she got nothing out but a soft sound of exhalation. He swallowed her up in one heady gulp. She didn’t even know how it happened but one minute he again had her back pressed up against the wall, the next minute he had his knees shoved between her legs, prying them apart, while he bent his head to suckle her nipple through the cotton material of her T-shirt.
“You like things wild?”
“Yes,” she gasped.
“You like it hot and furious?”
“I do.”
“Then that’s the way I’m going to give it to you. Hot and hard and fast. You’re going to take every inch of me and when we’re done, then we’re going to do it the way I like. Soft and slow and sweet.”
Her entire body liquefied at his words. “Oh, Adam.”
His hands slipped underneath the hem of her shirt, his mouth still nibbling at her nipple.
She threaded her fingers through his hair, threw her head back against the wall and let out a low moan. He pushed her shirt up around her waist, slid a hot palm down the waistband of her yoga pants. She writhed, twisted against him.
He pushed his index finger into her. He wasn’t gentle, but neither was he rough. Just firm and determined, letting her know he was in charge and she was at the whim of his bidding.
It was incredibly erotic. Knowing this man wanted her and knew how to please her. A man she could truly trust. She wriggled against the feel of his finger. She had to have more.
When he slipped the second finger inside her, she moaned again.
He raised his head, ran his other hand through her hair, pinned her to him as his mouth drank from hers again.
His taste intoxicated her. Bowled her over. His tongue was doing crazy things to her. Things she’d never felt before. Things she’d never believe possible. She was helpless to resist. He owned her and it felt glorious.
Adam lightly pinched her nipples with one hand, while the other was still embedded into her. Three fingers now, shoving into her. His chest pushed against her, kept her pressed against the wall. “You like the way my hand feels inside you?”
Mutely, she nodded.
“You haven’t felt anything yet,” he said. “Just wait until you have my cock buried inside you as far as you can take it.”
She groaned.
“That’s right, baby. By the time I let you come, you’re going to explode.”
His hand continued to pump against her, while his thumb, his wicked, wicked thumb, strummed the straining nub at her entrance. Each stroke took her higher and higher on an updraft of sensation until her breathing was nothing more than shallow strings of air, barely eking through the passageway of her lungs.
Nothing had ever felt this intense. His mouth was on hers, then it was gone, nipping at her nipples, then it was back again, leaving her dizzy and delighted.
And all the while his hand worked her over, giving her no rest, no respite.
“Adam, Adam, take me,” she begged.
“Not yet. Not by a long shot.”
“You’re so mean,” she ground out through gritted teeth.
“Payback’s a bitch,” he whispered.
She supposed he was referring to the way she’d been leaving the curtain slightly ajar when she’d done yoga in the nude, hoping that he was watching her. She smiled. But had she been this relentless?
Her body tensed, she was on the verge of coming, his magical hand stoking her higher and hotter…
And then suddenly he just stopped.
“Wh…” It was the only sound she could push through her constricted throat.
He pulled his hand from her panties. She could smell her own scent. Feel her body throbbing. She felt robbed, cheated.
He held her tight against his chest, his heart pounding as fiercely as hers. Amazingly his erection was harder than before.
“Arms up,” he instructed.
She couldn’t have disobeyed him if she’d wanted to. She raised her hands over her head and he grabbed the hem of her T-shirt and tugged it over her head. At the sight of her bare breasts, a groan slipped from his lips.
“Eva,” he murmured. “My sweet Eva.”
He was suckling her again. Did he have any idea how much that turned her on? He was a wizard, instinctively knowing just where to touch her and with how much pressure. It was as if he’d been given a map to her body and he’d spent a lifetime studying it.
“Your turn,” she said when she couldn’t bear the torture anymore and wrestled his wet T-shirt over his head.
She ran her palms over the planes of his chest, but when she tried to hone in on his nipples the way he’d done to her, he put up a hand to block her.
“No,” he said. “Tonight is all about you. You touch my nipples and I won’t last five minutes.”
“Good to know,” she said.
“I’m giving away all of my secrets,” he said.
“So am I,” she whispered. “I’m trusting you not to hurt me.”
He looked deeply into her eyes. “I won’t betray your trust, Eva.”
“You promise?”
“I swear to it.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head down in a kiss. His hands were tugging off her yoga pants, pulling them to the floor. She kicked out of them.
He encircled her waist with his hands and twirled her across the room, leaving her clothes behind. She wore nothing now except her panties. He still had on his blue jeans.
She reached for his belt buckle. “Let’s get you out of those.”
“Oh, no, not yet. C’mere.” He took her hand, led her over to the bed. “Sit.”
She sat, nerve endings tingling.
He dropped on his knees in front of her.
“Adam…what are you doing…I…don’t really like that.”
“You don’t like oral sex?”
Oral sex had always made her feel slightly ashamed and she didn’t know why. Most guys were relieved that she didn’t want them to go there.
“It makes me feel…embarrassed.”
“There’s no reason to feel embarrassed, Sunshine. Not with me.”
“I—”
“Shh.” He pressed a finger against her lips. “You’re the one who’s so good at relaxing and letting go. Just lie back and enjoy this.”
She started to protest again, but he was kissing her navel and instant tingles spread downward. He was right. She took a deep breath, leaned back and just allowed him to do as he wished.
He spread her legs wide, moving her hips until she was in a froglike position. Lightly, he tickled her inner thighs. The sensation had her squirming against him. She grabbed a couch pillow and pressed it to her lips to keep from groaning as his mouth traveled lower and lower until the tip of his tongue touched her hot clit.
“Sweet,” he cooed. “So damned sweet.”
She didn’t know what to say or how to react, but nature took over. Her hips arched upward of their own volition, seeking his mouth.
He chuckled low and deep. “That’s my girl.”
Eva luxuriated in the moment, in awe that she was here in bed with this man—a man who had the potential to change her entire life. She’d never been one to give a man that much power, but with Adam, she just wanted to let go. He made her believe that anything was possible.
He dipped his head down to her sex, but stopped just short of touching her with his tongue. His breath was hot against her tender flesh, igniting her.
Eva arched her hips, trying to bring his mouth and her clit into contact, but he read her like a map and moved with her, keeping his mouth just out of her reach.
“Beast,” she hissed.
He chuckled.
“You’ve got a cold heart.”
“Hang on, Sunshine. We’ll get there.”
She liked the way he called her
Sunshine.
A warm endearment. But she didn’t want to hang on. She wanted him to make love to her with his mouth
right now.
Her brain was glazed with lust, her body worked to a fevered pitch.
Gently he spread her thighs wider and moved his body around so that he could kneel between her legs. “You are so beautiful.”
The head of his penis throbbed against her inner thigh as he leaned forward. Eva’s excitement escalated. She couldn’t stand this. She’d never felt such desperate pressure.
His big fingers caressed her gently as his tongue explored her silky folds. Her eyes slid closed, savoring what he was doing.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes.”
His teeth tenderly captured her clit.
Never, in all her life, had she experienced this kind of pleasure. It was ecstasy. He seemed to know exactly what she wanted, what she needed from him. Knew it even better than she did. He reveled in her and she had never felt so cherished. It was dangerous territory, these sweet feelings. But she couldn’t stop them. They were part and parcel of what was going on.
All her senses were altered—sound, sight, taste, smell, touch. She existed in an uncharted but delicious land. Total awareness. Barbed strands of fevered sensation pricked her throbbing sex. Her inner muscles contracted, wanting him.
“You are the hottest woman in the world,” he breathed.
She scaled the mountain of arousal, pushed upward by his tongue. She hovered on the brink of orgasm but he would not let her fall over. A steady strumming vibration began deep in her throat and it emerged as a wild moan.
“Please,” she begged. “Please.”
“Ask me,” he whispered.
“Please, please, please make me come.”
He gave her everything then, his tongue, his fingers, his lips. She let go and just allowed him to take her over. He seemed to be everywhere—over her, around her, inside of her, outside of her. He was unbelievable.
“Almost,” she gasped. “Almost there.”
It washed over her in a sudden wave, big and full. She rode the crest, surfing it to the shore.
And when the wave had trickled away, he pulled her into the crook of his arm and held her tightly for a very long time.