“How many, princess?”

She looked him straight in the eye. “Are you sure you want to know?”

Damn it, he hadn’t seen that coming. Knowing he could barely handle the thought of Sophie in bed with another man, before she could actually give him her answer, he tried again with something she couldn’t possibly have done.

“What about sex in a public place?”

Sweet, nice Sophie Sullivan smiled at him. “Define public.”

Jake sucked in a hard breath, feeling like he’d just been punched—repeatedly—in the gut. Still, he had to try one more time, one last-ditch effort to make Sophie see what a mistake she was making with him.

“Okay,” he said as easily as he could between clenched teeth, “so you’ve played around a little bit. But you and I both know what a guy like me needs isn’t something a girl like you wants to give.”

“Wanna bet?”

The last thing he expected was for her to throw the same words back at him that he’d said before he grabbed her and kissed her. He shouldn’t want to do it again, shouldn’t be a heartbeat away from shoving her up against the front door and ripping off that silky dress so that he could make good on showing her he meant every word he’d just said.

“I’m not a soft, gentle lover like the guys you’ve been with before. You make the mistake of taking one step inside this house,” he warned her in a hard voice, “there’s no going back.”

As if in slow motion, Jake watched as Sophie reached for the doorknob, turned it, and took that fated step into the house. He was paralyzed, couldn’t do anything but stare at her as she moved further into the house, her hips swaying with every step she took. When she reached the living room, while still in full line of sight from the front step, she paused for a moment before turning around to face him.

Her face held hope, desire—and something that looked too much like love—as she reached for the zipper on the side of her dress and began to pull it down.

No.

God, no.

He needed to put a stop to this right now. But instead of barking out an order to stop acting crazy, instead of turning away as if he didn’t care one way or another if she undressed in front of him, he was struck stupid yet again. It was as if she’d cast a spell over him, one he couldn’t break if it meant he missed one single second of her shockingly gorgeous unveiling.

He’d guessed earlier she wasn’t wearing anything under the dress, but he hadn’t ever expected to confirm it in person. In seconds, the dress would fall and he wouldn’t have a prayer of doing the right thing.

“Sophie,” he said, her name a ragged plea from his lips.

A plea to stop...and a plea to let him finally see all of her.

A plea to leave...and a plea for her to promise she’d never, ever give up on him, no matter what happened.

The zipper came all the way down and she held the dress in place with steady hands. Her eyes were huge, but he didn’t see fear, didn’t see nerves in them.

Only anticipation.

And a desire strong enough to match the lust eating him up from the inside.

A moment later, she let her dress drop to the wood planked floor, and stood before him wearing nothing but a pair of pink heels.

“I’m yours, Jake.”

Chapter Eight

“Holy hell, you’re beautiful.”

Jake’s words took the chill away from her naked skin just moments before the front door was slamming shut and she was in his arms. His mouth covered hers, taking, claiming, branding her with a kiss that blew every other kiss away. His hands cupped her hips and as the kiss spiraled more and more out of control he dragged her naked body into his. He trapped her legs between his spread thighs, the thick bulge behind his zipper throbbing and pulsing against her belly.

She wanted to touch him everywhere, wanted proof that this moment was real and not just a dream she was going to wake up from, frustrated and alone. He was holding her so tightly against him that her forearms were pressed up against his rock-hard chest, but she could splay her hands against him, could rub the pads of her fingers over his chest through the fine cotton of his dress shirt.

But it wasn’t enough for her. Sophie was desperate for more of him, for more of this kiss and the chance to slide her hands up over his shoulders, up his neck, to cup the planes of his beautiful face. When he began to rain kisses over her cheeks, her chin, and then into the hollow of her neck, she threaded her fingers into his hair, then arched her head back and pressed her br**sts harder into his chest as he pressed kisses to her skin.

And then—oh God, how long had she waited for this moment?—she felt his mouth move lower, and lower still, until his tongue curled over the tip of one breast.

She’d never felt anything like this, had never known what it was to step inside a bolt of lightning and become light and flames. The explosions started deep in her belly, down low where everything was throbbing with arousal, waiting for Jake’s savage possession.

She gasped his name and he answered her by moving one of his hands from her hip to cup and tease the other breast, just as he slid his other hand over her sex. She dropped her gaze down to his dark head, only to find that he was looking up at her, too, and in that instant that their gazes connected, Sophie lost hold of the thin thread that had been holding her together.

Her eyes fluttered closed as she came apart against him, her hips instinctively rocking into his hand as she rode the shockingly unexpected climax. His sensual touch, the warmth of his fingers in her most intimate place even as he moved his mouth to her other breast, his stubble scratching against her chest in the most deliciously rough way, sent her spiraling off even higher, from a prelude of pleasure to an encore that came out of nowhere and seemed to just go on and on.