Her eyes ran over his tall frame, so perfectly set off by his white T-shirt and faded jeans. She saw the wet patch on his thigh, and the gasp finally escaped.

Travis’s eyes followed hers. Lily cursed herself for dropping her worldly veneer. She wanted him to think that she left marks like that on all the men she came against while out dancing, but even then, even amidst the red haze of their sensual connection, she knew it was ridiculous.

Outside, in the evening light that streamed in the windows, she felt the familiar pangs of self-consciousness. She was afraid to let Travis look at her. They weren’t kids anymore, and she needed to face facts: The Travis who liked her wasn’t ever coming back. Though he’d made her come like a bomb, that didn’t alter the fact that he always acted like she wasn’t there, like she wasn’t the least bit important. She knew that he had no respect for her whatsoever and, now that they had left the magic of the fashion show behind, she was certain he would realize what a huge mistake he was making. She wished she were strong enough to protect herself against him. She wished she was tough enough to say,

“Thanks for the orgasm, Travis, but I’ve got to get home now.”

But, of course, she could never say something like that. Instead, she held her breath as she waited for him to tell the cab driver to stop the car to pull over and dump her out.

She looked into the green of his eyes and tried to think of something to say that would get him off the hook, so he would know she didn’t expect him to follow through with his teasing and actually sleep with her—something like “Don’t worry, Travis, I won’t mention this to anyone, so no one will ever know that we were together”—but nothing came.

But instead of running as fast as he could away from her, Travis gave Lily a hot look and ran his thumb from her neck down to the top of her br**sts.

“You are very wet,” he said in a low voice.

Lily nodded, unable to do anything else but agree with him. Would he think she was disgusting for getting so soaked from his kiss on the dance floor? One of his hands ran beneath the fold of her skirt along her bare leg, and Lily was amazed to find out that her fears were unfounded. Flicking a glance to the front seat, she whispered, “The driver,” again, but the truth was he could have ripped off her dress and taken her right then and there in the backseat of a moving cab, and she wouldn’t have so much as made a whimper of protest.

But before any of that could happen, the vehicle stopped. Travis threw some money at the driver. Once again her fingers were wrapped in his and Lily marveled at how good it felt to have Travis hold her hand.

She remembered how in first grade, Travis was her cross-the-street-buddy. He had looked out for her, holding her back on the curb if she stepped out when a car was coming at them too fast. She had never forgotten how safe he had made her feel.

Breathless, she followed him as he opened the large steel front door to the loft and pulled her inside.

Closing the door gently, he turned and pinned her against the door with the weight of his gaze.

Before she knew what he intended, Travis dropped to his knees.

“Travis?” she said, the question more breath than solid word.

“Shh,” he commanded as he lifted the hem of her skirt, pushing it up past her knees, past her thighs, to her waist.

Her small black purse dropped from her fingers to the floor and she held her breath as he gazed at her.

She was nearly naked from the waist down, clad in only a sheer silk thong. He drew one finger up the inside of her knee, and Lily’s breath blew out in a hiss. Every inch of skin he touched felt inflamed. His finger slid against the wetness on her thigh and Lily’s legs began to shake so hard that she wondered how she could possibly stay on her feet.

Straight from her fantasies to real life, a warm tongue lapped against her thigh. Lily forced herself to still her shaking legs. God forbid she collapse on the man who was about to make her deepest, most wonderful, dreams come true.

Hot breath blew against her silk-covered mound, and Lily moaned as she threaded her hands into Travis’s thick black hair.

“Please,” she begged, unable to keep the word from spilling out of her lips.

Wordlessly, Travis obeyed her plea, cupping her soaking-wet silken mound. She felt his teeth on her clit and cried out, pressing her hips against his mouth.

Lily wanted to come against every single part of Travis before the night was through. His thigh, his mouth, his hand, his cock.

Especially his cock.

He slipped a finger beneath her thong and Lily reared into it. “Oh God,” she moaned as she leaned into his mouth, leaned into his finger as it circled the base of her vagina.

His finger slid into her, penetrating her, and the tremors began in earnest. “Travis,” she cried, holding tightly to the back of his head. She moved her hips up and down on his finger, taking in one inch, then another.

“More,” she demanded in a thick haze of desire.

Travis was ready to do her bidding, but he had to, of course, do it his way. Midorgasm he pulled his finger from inside her and backed his mouth off her mons.

“No,” she cried, desperate for more of him. But she should have known that he knew exactly what he was doing. In less than a heartbeat he had ripped the small patch of silk from her and begun to suck her clit in earnest.

His warm lips and tongue sucked and pulled at her as he rammed one long finger all the way in, sliding and pumping it in time to her ongoing explosions. She was delirious with pleasure.

He licked her pu**y with long strokes that only inflamed her further. Somehow he knew that she didn’t want him to lightly flick her clit, she didn’t want him to be measured.

The last of the tremors subsided, and Lily slowly realized that she had been grinding her pu**y lips into Travis’s mouth.

Travis!

Suddenly it was all too much for her. Unable to process any more of her fantasies turning into reality, Lily did the only thing she could do.

She passed out.

The next thing she knew, she was lying on a bed, cool sheets beneath her overheated skin. She felt far too tired to ever open her eyes again, but even with her eyes closed Lily noticed how tender her skin was. The fine, tightly woven fabric against her back practically hurt as she shifted.

Groggy, she wondered why she was sleeping without a sheet to cover her nakedness. She always slept in the nude, but never completely on parade for anyone who might surprise her by walking into her bedroom. Janica and Luke both had keys to her apartment, and she would be mortified if they ever saw her naked.