She was cut off by the doorbell.

What the hell? Who could possibly be coming to see her at 1:30 in the morning?

Oh God, she immediately thought, something has happened to Lily or the kids.

Panicked, she flew to the door and yanked it open.

It took her brain longer than it should have to register the fact that Luke Carson was standing in front of her, long enough for him to take her completely unaware with his hands on her shoulders.

And his mouth hard and hot on hers.

In an instant, everything fell away but his kiss. It was hungry, like a trapped lion who'd broken through his chains and could finally unleash the urge to devour his prey whole.

He wasn't asking, he was taking.

Demanding.

A hundred times—no, at least a thousand times—she'd dreamed of kissing Luke, had stared at his mouth, at his lips, and wondered how they'd feel pressed up against her skin. And yet, even her best fantasies, even the ones that had her crying out his name in bed with one of her battery-operated toys, didn't begin to come close to this beautiful reality.

My God, he was delicious. A spicy, darkly sensual aphrodisiac. Powerful and satisfying.

He forced his tongue into her mouth, ruthless as he sucked her breath into his body. She moaned with pleasure that came from way deep down in her core and wrapped her hands around his rock-hard butt to pull him closer.

His hands were rough, unyielding as they curved hard into the small of her back, then tightly gripped the curve of her ass. All space, all air between them was completely obliterated in his full-on assault on her mouth, her body.

“What the hell?”

“Who the fuck is he?”

Two male voices spoke almost in unison.

Oh crap. She'd completely forgotten about her would-be fuck buddies.

Luke yanked his mouth away from hers to look up and over her shoulder. It was, Janica thought, like watching a really messy accident happen in slow motion. You almost felt like you could step in and stop it from happening if you were quick enough. Even though the truth was she didn't have a chance in hell of halting the crash.

Luke growled a succinct, “Get out,” at the two men.

“Wait a minute,” Nick said, stepping forward. “We were here first.”

Luke all but puffed out his chest and bared his teeth. “I said get the fuck out.”

When he acted like this she was almost scared of him. She'd never seen Luke look so menacing. Or so possessive. A delicious little shiver ran through her.

All this time she'd thought she had him completely figured out. She'd been absolutely certain he was a type A, arrogant surgeon, destined for a blond trophy wife to decorate his suburban home and carpool his J. Crew clad kids to soccer games. She'd pegged him as Mr. Perfect, someone who had never uttered a curse word in his life. Amazingly, the word “fuck” sounded just right on his tongue.

If she was wrong about that, then what else was she wrong about?

Janica opened her mouth to tell the boys she was going to send them home anyway and Luke's hands tightened on her shoulders.

“Don't you say a damn word.”

Again, desire rode through her at his command. She'd tried the whole master-submissive thing once—with her as the dominatrix, of course, in a leather corset and “fuck me” boots—but hurting someone to get them off hadn't been her cup of tea.

Luke's tough-guy act, on the other hand, was exactly her brand of Earl Grey.

Unfortunately, the boys she'd met at the bar weren't too quick on the uptake.

“Fuck you, man,” Jarod said. “We were here first. We're staying.”

Again, Janica tried to say something, but Luke pulled her so hard against him she actually lost her breath.

“She just uninvited you, asshole. Both of you.”

The two guys advanced on Luke and that was when she decided enough was enough. No way was she going to waste precious lip-lock time with Luke on what was sure to be a bloody fight with these bozos.

Another time she'd let three guys fight over her. Right now there was only one thing she wanted: to be alone, preferably naked, with the man of her dreams.

“I'm really sorry, guys, but I completely forgot about this appointment I had with Luke.”

Their mouths fell open in a particularly unattractive way. How had she ever found their beefy-arms and crew-cuts attractive?

“Appointment? In the middle of the night?”

“Do you think we're stupid enough to believe that?”

Yes, actually she did.

During the short exchange she could feel Luke simmering beside her, but even though his coming in and taking over was a total turn-on, it had also started to piss her off a little bit.

She could take care of herself, thank you, had been doing just that for twenty-nine years. Well, apart from the fact that Lily had pretty much raised her after their parents died, she'd been going it alone her whole life.

Deciding to show all of them that it was her apartment, damn it, and she'd decide who stayed and who left, using every bit of strength in her small body, she wrenched herself out of Luke's vise hold, picked up the guys’ jackets and carried them over to the open door.

“Sorry this didn't work out.”

Clearly furious, they stomped across the room and yanked their jackets from her.

“Cock tease.”

Before she even realized he'd moved, Luke had Nick's shirt in his fists.

“Don't you ever talk to a woman like that again.” Each word held a world of menace. “Apologize to her, asshole.” He waited a beat and when nothing came, he said, “Right fucking now.”

Nick's face was beet red and Janica wasn't at all sure that he could breathe.

“Sorry,” he squeaked out.

She nodded her acceptance of his apology. The truth was she'd been called worse. Frankly, she'd barely even registered the insult.

“It's okay, Luke,” she said softly. “You can let him go.” It was long past time for this train wreck to end.

All she wanted was for Nick and Jarod to leave so that she could be alone with Luke again. Her lips were still tingling from his kiss.

She wanted more.

So much more.

With what was obviously great reluctance, Luke dropped Nick's shirt and let him stumble backward into the hall.

“Come on, man,” Jarod said. “There's still time to pick someone else up if we hurry.”