“What do you think?” I counter, amused by her innocence. She’s in her twenties, a grown woman, but the way she looks like a deer in headlights tells me she’s not used to this kind of blatant approach. After years of jaded groupies willing to blow half my entourage to get backstage, it’s a refreshing change, and damn if it doesn’t turn me on all the more.

“I…I don’t know you.” The woman blinks up at me, and I can see her mind working at light-speed trying to make sense of this.

“When was the last time you did something crazy?” I ask, my eyes never leaving hers. I slide my fingers lower, down the pale column of her throat. I feel a shiver echo through her body, responding like lightning to my touch.

A rueful shadow crosses her face. “I don’t do crazy,” she whispers.

Not yet. But I already know, a girl like this would be a miracle in bed. Innocence and sensuality all wrapped up in one tempting package.

The things I could teach her. The moans that delicious mouth would make.

“So try it,” I challenge her, teasing my fingertip lower, across her collarbone, along the high edge of her neckline. “I promise, I won’t tell.”

For a moment, she stays, lost in my gaze. I can see the desire there, the struggle as she decides. Then she looks down, blushing. “You don’t know me. This isn’t…I’m not that kind of girl.”

I stop, stunned. She’s turning me down?

“I’m sorry.” The woman steps around me, heading back towards the door, and as she does, I catch a breath of her perfume. The burst of floral scent hits me like a drug, shooting through my system in a bolt of sweetness.

Suddenly, this isn’t just a playful distraction anymore.

I want her, with a fierce possession that takes me by surprise. I want her, right here against the wall. I want to taste all of her, make her forget the reason she came rushing out here in tears.

I want a moment of that innocence, and all her wide-eyed control.

“Wait,” I order her. And then, before she can say a word of protest, before I can think the better of it, I pull her into my arms, capturing her mouth in a hot, blazing kiss.

Her lips open against mine in an ‘o’ of surprise but I don’t hesitate. I kiss her deeper, teasing her lips apart, wanting to show her the pleasure that awaits her, needing to tempt her to the dark side of life. Her body tenses at the invasion, then, in a blissful surrender, she melts. Her lips yield against mine, her body sways, soft against me.

Damn, her sweetness is more than I ever imagined. Pure heat and joy flooding my system, rushing through my veins in a dark glitter of desire.

More.

I plunge my tongue deeper against hers, drinking her in, drowning in the wet pleasures of her mouth. She lets out a breathy moan, and then we’re stumbling back, hard against the wall. I feel her body, pressed against every inch of me, but it’s not enough. I thread one hand in her silken knot of hair, tugging it loose and yanking her lips closer as her body arches up against mine.

I need her naked. I want her body, damp and breathless beneath mine.

With a growl, I surface for air, pushing her head back and licking my way down her neck, tasting every inch of skin. She shudders under my touch, clinging onto me as I cup my hands around her perfect ass and lift, wrapping her legs around me shoving her back against the wall; molding her closer, grinding into her body with my aching hard-on. She makes a mewling noise, arching up against me, and fuck it, I’m lost to her now. I’m drowning in the rush of lust, the world gone, shattered, burning in ashes around us as I claim her lips again and kiss her, kiss her like there’s nothing left but us.

“Mr. Callahan?”

There’s a noise, I couldn’t care less, not with this girl’s body wrapped around me and her mouth so wet and sweet under mine.

“Umm, Mr. Callahan?”

I ignore the voice, dull on the edge of my brain, but suddenly, the girl tenses in my arms. She lets out a cry of shock, and scrambles to push me away.

“Oh my god!” She yanks her dress down, staring past me with a horrified look on her face.

“Dammit!” I curse, whirling around to face our interruption. It’s a busboy from the restaurant, some kid looking mortified in the doorway. “What do you want?” I demand, breathing heavy.

“I, umm, they’re ready for you.” He casts his eyes away, blushing.

“Five minutes,” I curse again, turning back to the girl. I reach for her, but she skitters away from me. Her cheeks are flushed, eyes wide, her hair falling loose in reckless waves.

She’s the sexiest damn thing I’ve ever seen.

“I can’t believe I just did that,” she whispers, almost to herself. She shakes her head sternly, then turns to go.

“Wait!” I call after her, “You can’t just leave!”

But she does, fleeing back inside without even a backwards glance.

I stand there in the dark alley, my heart racing like I’m playing Madison Square Garden to twenty thousand screaming fans. And I realize this girl is my only hope.

My shot at salvation, the only thing that will keep me from oblivion again.

I start after her, determination driving me through that door.

I have to make her mine.

2.

ALICIA

His hands grip my waist, clutching me to his toned, hard body.

“Alicia?” Through the haze of memory, I hear my name being called, but it’s distant, lost under the rush of sensation I feel as I replay The Kiss over in my mind. His lips, branding me with a desperate, ragged desire. My body, crushed in his tattooed arms…