She bit her lip, her expression softening as he realized what he had said. Home. Dammit, she was making herself too much a part of his life.

“Well, if you need me bad enough to collect me yourself, then I guess I’m ready to go.” She stared around the room with some confusion as the other women sat up. “Anyone seen my shoes?”

For some reason, this produced another round of snickers and giggles from the other women.

Minutes later, her shoes were located under a chair. Five feminine rears were pointed in the air as the other women decided she might need help pulling them free. Ian was standing across the room, his head tilted, watching them with no small amount of confusion when he heard an exasperated sigh behind him.

Turning, he faced Devril and Lucian Conover.

“Thank you.” Lucian’s expression was morose as he stared back at Ian. “That damned music was driving me crazy.”

“At least the music drowned them out.” Devril motioned to the women as Courtney collapsed into the chair and wiggled her petite feet into the low-heeled shoes. “The things I heard out of their mouths will give me nightmares for years to come.”

“Who knew Tally had such a bloodthirsty streak?” Lucian shook his head, staring at the woman with a pensive expression.

That comment and the look on the other man’s face assured Ian that Lucian’s “bloodthirsty” wife must have been giving Courtney pointers on making his life hell. Just what he needed.

“I’m ready,” Courtney announced as she came to her feet, wobbling a bit before finally standing straight.

She walked carefully across the room, her gaze becoming drowsy, sensual as she neared him. His dick grew harder.

“Good luck,” Lucian muttered as she neared. “Remember, Tally has been giving her advice. That’s never a good thing.”

Ian shook his head, his arms enfolding the slight form that nuzzled against his chest. He was aware of Lucian and Devril’s surprise as he enfolded her close to his chest, just as he was well aware of the sense of balance, of warmth it brought him.

“Come on, vixen.” He wasn’t about to trust her to walk the distance to the limo on her own.

Ignoring the other two men he picked her up in his arms, his lips quirking in amusement, as she seemed to hum in pleasure, her arms encircling his neck.

“I like you carrying me, Ian,” she murmured against his ear as he strode for the front door. “My legs get shaky around you, have I mentioned that?” she mused as the butler opened the door and he strode in the cold night air.

Courtney, completely unfazed, just burrowed closer, her nose tucking into his neck as the chauffeur quickly opened the door.

“You are going to be the death of me, Courtney.” He stooped, stepping into the limo with his burden and sitting back in the leather comfort of the seats as he pressed the button that raised the privacy window between the front and the back.

He was so hard, so damned horny he thought his cock might well burst from his pants. And if Courtney’s sensual little murmur of approval as she felt the hard length of his erection against her rear was any indication, the ride home could be one fraught with frustration. Because there was no way there was time to lay her back and have his way with her.

“When are you going to fuck my ass, Ian?” She wiggled against his lap as the breath slammed from his chest.

“I’m going to spank your ass,” he growled, unable to stop himself from allowing his hand to smooth up her leg, sliding beneath the soft weight of the dress.

And he was smiling. In the dim light he felt the curl of his lips, the laughter in his chest and it amazed him. He should have been enraged that she would stay out so late plotting to make him insane. Instead, all he truly felt was a strange sense of joy that she was back in his arms.

“That would be foreplay,” she giggled playfully as his hand caressed the sensitive flesh behind her knee.

“So it would be.” He grunted to cover his laughter.

The dark confines allowed him the freedom to release a small measure of the surprising happiness she seemed to fill him with at the oddest moments. What was it about her? He should have been raging, furious at her for her manipulations, her scheming determination to get her way with him. Instead, he could do nothing but allow the little minx her way and stand back and watch in bemusement as everything inside him reached out for her.

“Hmm. We need to take a very long limo ride one night, Ian.” She leaned back in his arms, her eyes gleaming beneath her lowered lashes. “I could get so naughty in the back of this car.”

“Really?” He lifted a brow.

“Really,” she sighed. “We could get naked and have wild flaming sex as we traveled. The night we rode home from the airport, I wanted nothing more than to kneel before you and take your cock into my mouth. Would you have been surprised?”

Surprised? He would have had a stroke. He still might.

“We could have so much fun.” She leaned forward, nipping his ear as his hand clenched at her thigh, spreading her legs as he felt his breathing escalate. The woman was going to drive him insane.

“There’s no time for these games, Courtney,” he groaned as her tongue stroked along his neck. “We’re nearly to the house…”

“I could come just rubbing against you I bet,” she sighed against his ear. “Just the sound of your voice stroking me. Talk dirty to me, Ian. Make me come for you.”

Her voice was teasing, her body wasn’t.

His fingers skimmed over the crotch of her panties to find them hot, wet. Her juices were plastering the silk to the bare curves of her pussy and tempting him beyond endurance. The hard catch of her breath as his fingers stroked over the material had his jaw clenching as he fought for strength.

She would come so easily for him, he knew. She would unravel in his arms, spill her sweet cream around his cock and scream his name.

“When I get you home, I might not make it to the bedroom, Courtney. You’re in danger of being fucked on the stairs.”

“Mm.” She wiggled in his lap. “However you must do it, Ian. As long you’re inside me. I feel so empty. I need you inside me.”

His eyes closed at the emotion he heard in her voice. He had a feeling she had more in mind than just his cock filling her.

She snuggled against his chest again, her head resting against his shoulder as her hair fell like a ribbon of silk over his arm to the seat. His hand buried in the mass, something inside him clenching painfully.

Now he knew why he had kept his relationships purely superficial. Why he never allowed himself to get close to the women he took to his bed. Because he knew the dangers inherent in letting himself feel again.

Unfortunately, Courtney was asking for nothing. She never had. From the first moment he had seen her as a young child, she had moved into his reluctant heart with her open smile and generosity. She had been a child. He thought himself safe loving her. Hell, he needed someone to love, and she had asked for now more from him than a smile at that time. He had never imagined the changes that time would bring.

As she lay against him, Ian rested his chin against her head, his hand still stroking the soft flesh of her inner thigh, so near, and yet so far from the heat he craved. His eyes closed as the silence wrapped around them, the intimacy of the moment weaving through his soul.

“I love you, Ian.”

Her voice was soft, the words slipping out as she relaxed against him, sliding into sleep with all the innocence and trust of a child.

His teeth clenched as a shattering sense of hunger overwhelmed him. As though the words had opened something inside him, torn it loose and left him grasping for a tenuous hold on his rapidly slipping control.

I love you, Ian…

The words drifted around him, echoing through his senses and leaving him with a hollow ache he couldn’t make sense of, one he knew he couldn’t live with.

Love. A child’s dream. A young girl’s fantasy. But Ian was a man, no longer a child, and without a drop of innocence left within him. And love, he knew, could hold no part in his life.

Chapter Nine

Courtney groaned miserably as she came awake the next afternoon, her eyes fluttering open in the dim light of the room. And it shouldn’t be dim. Her bedroom faced the afternoon sun, the filmy curtains doing little to hold it at bay as it spilled into the room.

Opening her eyes further, she gazed across the expanse of a huge bed, into the cool dim room as an unconscious smile tugged her lips. She was in Ian’s bed. Not that he was there with her, but he had been.

Her hand reached out to smooth over the pillow beside hers, the slight indention in it assuring her had slept beside her.

Had he held her as she slept?

She moaned miserably. What the hell was she thinking the previous night to drink so much? She had known she couldn’t stay awake. Wine was more effective than any sleeping pill where she was concerned. Her foolishness had caused her to miss a night she would have given anything to remember.

The feel of his arms holding her. If he had held her.

She stared pensively around the masculine room. Heavy dark furniture emphasized the dimness of the room and added to its air of protective comfort. Here, Ian had surrounded himself with furniture of comfort. The chest and dresser and wardrobe were definitely antiques and beautifully preserved. The rolltop desk on the far side of the room looked a bit incongruous with the laptop that sat on its polished surface.

And the bed. She stared at the heavy foot posts, rising a good foot from the mattress. It was huge, obviously custom-made and superbly comfortable. She could lie there for hours. Ian’s scent wrapped around her, his blankets warming her, his bed cushioning her. Everything she needed was here, except Ian.

She settled deeper into the warmth of the bed as she stared at the glow of the sun’s warmth behind the heavy drapes. Last night had been informative. Not just in the information she had learned about Ian, but things she had learned about herself. She had believed she would be uncomfortable having to actually acknowledge any female Ian had fucked within a relationship. But where Kimberly Raddington had been concerned, there had been no jealousy.

The woman was warm, friendly, and so obviously in love with her husband that Courtney had quickly gotten over any ill feelings toward her. Yes, Ian had touched her, often. He had been the third in her marriage for many months now. But it had ended the night Courtney had arrived. He hadn’t been back since, and the most encouraging bit of news the other woman had dropped, was that Ian had informed her and her husband Jared, that they would need to find another third to fulfill the balance they both sought in their sexual relationship.

But Ian still hadn’t made any moves to complete his relationship with her. She bit her lip in indecision as she tried to figure that one out. She knew he wanted to. Knew he ached to do it. She could feel the tension whipping through the air each time another male came around them. She could also feel the tension rising in Ian. When he touched her, he was so obviously restraining himself, tamping down the wild lust she ached for.

She had thought just getting him into her bed would be enough. That the rest would automatically follow. She was finding out it wasn’t.

“Hangover?”

Her head swung around quickly to the bathroom door. Her heart rate picked up, her mouth drying out at the sight of him. He had obviously just completed his shower. His shoulders gleamed with a slight dampness, as did his silky midnight hair.

“I wasn’t drunk,” she informed him with what little pride she could dredge up as her gaze drifted lower, to the impressive erection straining forward from his body.

“Hmm…” He moved then, walking slowly toward her as she sat up in the bed.

He looked wild. Untamed.

“No headache?” His voice throbbed with lust.

She shook her head slowly, flicking her tongue over her dry lips as her position placed her at the perfect level to greet his hard-on with a moist morning salutation.