She leaned in to him and when her nipples scorched his chest, he didn’t miss the intimacy of what they were doing. Even though they were acting, and a level of separation existed between the characters they were playing and the man and woman currently facing each other, there was nothing impersonal in the way they were touching.
Her expressive eyes devoured him with raw need and a low moan sounded in her throat, a soft, sexy bedroom noise that raised his hunger to dangerous proportions.
Her voice was nothing more than a seductive whisper and held all kinds of innuendoes—all kinds of promises—when she said, “You never were one for shortcuts were you, Riley?”
Want exploded inside him and he swallowed. Hard. Riley might be the character he was playing, and even though she’d called him by many different names when they ran lines, tonight it sounded odd coming from her lips. Tonight—God help him—he wanted her to call him Jay. Wanted her to look at
him
like that. Wanted this to be real.
Get it together, Bennett.
He drew a fueling breath and reminded himself that he wasn’t going to cross the line with her. Because if he did, he’d want her today, tomorrow, forever, and a sweet and innocent thing like her, one who came from a world very different from his, would undoubtedly want him off the dangerous streets. And that was something he just couldn’t do. Not only that, if he took her the way he wanted, what would happen to their friendship? He couldn’t risk losing her from his life.
“Actually,” she murmured, a new kind of urgency and emotion in her voice. “Even though I know you’re going to give me a lecture, I’m glad it was you who came to my rescue.”
“Why’s that?”
Warm heat moved over her eyes, and when she adjusted her stance and rubbed up against him like a cat scratching an itch, he knew he was in a shitload of trouble.
“Because I’ve missed you,” she said, her hands circling his shoulders to hold him tight. When her body pressed against his, all he could think about was stripping her naked and having his way with her. He ached to drink in her sensuous body, to lick a path down her flesh until he reached the spot his mouth craved the most.
Feeling edgy and fearing his lust was about to overtake him, he eased back, pulled in a fortifying breath, and asked, “What did you miss about me?”
As soon as he put an inch of distance between them, she gave a frustrated sigh. “It’s still not working.”
Jay swallowed, because whatever it was they were doing here was damn well working for him. Christ, he was hurting so badly his cock was about to burst through his pants.
She made a sexy sound and shifted closer. “Maybe I should rip open my blouse, you know, to really help me get into character.”
His heart began racing. “You want to rip open your blouse?”
“Yeah, the script said my clothes were practically torn from my body.”
When her hand went to her blouse, he shackled her wrists and put his mouth close to her ear. “I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.”
She frowned. “I need to nail this part, and I think it would really help.”
There was that word again, the one that suggested all kinds of erotic possibilities. Commanding himself to get it together and remembering how important this was to her, he let go of her and with one quick yank, she tore it open. Her buttons scattered to the ground, and when he set eyes on her lacy black bra, his brain stalled and his body reacted with urgent need.
“Riley,” she said.
He struggled to find his voice. “Who’s Riley?”
She gave a low, throaty chuckle. “You are, remember?”
Hell no, he didn’t remember.
She blinked up at him. “The next line is yours.”
Christ, he couldn’t remember his own name let alone his next line.
“You have to ask me what I missed about you,” she said, coming to his rescue.
Working to keep a measure of calm, he pressed his hands on either side of her head again, and with his scripted words long forgotten, he asked, “What did you miss about me?”
She ran her hand along his chest, her fingers toying with his buttons, and that’s when he noticed her body was too hot. Her voice too husky.
“I miss seeing you in your uniform.” She paused, traced her tongue over her lips, and added, “And I miss seeing you out of it.”
His teeth clenched. Okay, he knew she was a damn good actress, but Jesus, if he didn’t know better, he’d think she was as hot for him as he was for her.
“Your turn,” she murmured.
The air around them was
charged with sexual energy and he knew if he didn’t soon get out of there he was either going to have his way with her or explode in his suddenly too-tight work pants. She palmed his biceps, and her warm familiar scent drove his need for her to new heights.
She released his top button and his entire body began shaking, everything inside him urging him to take one little nibble. One tiny fucking bite. Her hot hands slipped under his shirt and when her touch went right through him it was all he could do to marshal his control.
Breathe, Bennett, breathe.
Feeling frantic, edgy, so close to losing it, he glanced over her face and the honesty in those honey-flecked eyes of hers pulled him into a place he had no intention of going.
“This…this is where we kiss,” she murmured, her voice sounding breathless.
With lust fueling his actions and his brain no longer functioning at full capacity, his mouth closed over hers, and the softness of her lips nearly drove him to his knees. He pressed deeper and kissed her like a man hell-bent on a mission to claim what he wanted. What he needed.
More.
Her tongue swept inside his mouth to tangle with his, and he drew it in deeper, craving, demanding.
So good. So fucking good.
He pulled her against him, and her breasts felt hot, swollen. She circled her hands around his back, and impatience thrummed through him as her body teased and tormented him in a way no woman’s ever had before.
Need.
But this was
Eden Carver
!
She was too sweet. Too innocent. And she’d want things he couldn’t give her.
Fuck.
Nostrils flaring, he worked hard to keep it together as need pushed him to the edge of oblivion. His hands clamped her wrists. Vaguely remembering what he was supposed to do next, he slapped the cuffs on her and pulled her arms over her head. Once he had her captive, he kissed her with fierce possession, everything inside him eager to strip her naked so he could acquaint himself with her body—using his hands, his tongue. His cock.
“Jay.” Eagerness laced her voice and some small part of him registered that she’d called him by
his
name.
Teetering on the edge and needing her in a way he’d never needed another, his lips devoured her with rough desire, and as much as he tried there was nothing he could do to slow down. Savage with the urge to taste every inch of her lush body, he drove his tongue back inside to mate with hers.
Tension rose inside him. He let go of her hands and reached for her shirt, ready to push it from her shoulders, but when she made a noise, he stilled and desperately clawed for a scrap of control before he ravished her right there in the dark alleyway.
“Jay,” she murmured again, but he was so far gone, too far lost in her to understand what she was asking of him.
He needed to get it together and he needed to do it now. He fisted her shirt and tried to concentrate on his breathing. Tried to shake the buzz from his head. “Tell me what we’re doing.”
Her eyes clouded, and keeping her hands over her head, she rolled her hips. “We’re winging it.”
Do and say what comes naturally.
He gulped air, her words unleashing something primal inside him. “You don’t want me to go there.”
Her voice was a low, intimate whisper when she said, “Maybe I do.”
With lust overshadowing sensibility, he put his hands over hers, widened her legs with his knee, and when he felt the heat of her sex on his thigh, he damn near lost it.
“Eden,” he whispered.
“Mmm,” she said and moved against him.
Despite the fact that they were outside and could get caught at any moment, he groaned without censor. He’d already established that Eden was a great actress, but everything in the way she was moving, gyrating, scraping that hot little pussy against his leg made him wonder if she was still acting. He inched back to see her, and the desire reflecting in her eyes told him everything he needed to know. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. Fierce need raged inside him and his cock pulsed, screaming to plunge inside her.
Go slow, Bennett, go slow. This is Eden…
Even though some functioning brain cell was warning him to take it easy, that she didn’t know what she was getting herself into with him, his body was urging him to take her.
Now.
He kissed her again, his cock pressing so firmly against her sweet spot he was about ready to erupt. His tongue lashed against the inside of her mouth. Hard. Rough. Greedy.
Christ, he’d just lectured himself on taking it slow, but he knew he wasn’t being gentle. Not by any means. But the need to be inside her was making him frantic, crazed.
One bite. One fucking nibble.
He shouldn’t be doing this.
“Tell me to stop. Please, Eden. Tell me to stop.”
When silence met his words, a riot of emotions rushed through him and he buried his face in her neck. Then he did the one thing he swore he wouldn’t do. He lightly bit into her soft flesh, and then he used the soft blade of his tongue to soothe the sting he left behind.
Sweet. So damn sweet.
She gasped, and he felt a tremble move through her body. In one swift move his mouth crashed back down on hers and he pushed harder against her. The handcuffs jangled as she reached around his neck. She gripped him tighter as he kissed her harder, deeper, faster.
He slid a hand between her legs, dipped inside her panties, and scraped the soft pad of his thumb over her clit. She cried out, and when she thrust her hips forward the movement nearly obliterated what little control he had left.
He buried his face in her hair and purposely put his mouth close to her ear. “Tell me to slow down and I will,” he rasped, before taking a small nibble of her lobe.
Her nails bit into his skin, scratching his flesh in the most seductive ways. He momentarily stilled, because he hadn’t expected that. Hadn’t expected her to bite back.
Biting back changed everything.
“Jay.”
Hearing his name on her lips shattered his last vestige of control. “Yeah?” he asked, his breath coming quicker now.
Needing her naked, he grabbed his key and removed one cuff. Then he slid his hands over her sides and ripped her shirt off her shoulders. He palmed her bare skin before unhooking her bra. He trembled at the sight of her gorgeous breasts, her pert nipples just begging to be sucked.
She opened her mouth to say something, but he slapped the cuff back on and said, “Hands over your head—
now.”
Her words died an abrupt death and she moaned in bliss.
The second she obliged, his mouth went to her nipple. He licked, sucked, nibbled, and bit into her hard buds until she writhed wildly beneath his mouth. He continued to indulge in her breasts, taking turns to give them both the attention they deserved.
After he’d had his fill, his mouth traveled a path down her body. He sank to his knees, gripped her short skirt, and pushed it up until her sexy panties were exposed. The fragrant tang of her arousal reached his nostrils and he groaned.
He pressed his mouth to the moist juncture between her legs and ran his tongue over the thin lace covering the spot that needed him the most. Jesus, she was wet. So damn hot.
“Oh, God.”
The pleasure resonating in her voice licked him from head to toe. As lust tore through him, he curled his finger in the scrap of material and with one quick tug tore it from her hips. He shoved her panties into his pocket and without pause widened her wet lips with his fingers, then buried his face between her legs and plunged his tongue in deep.
She bucked against him, her cries of ecstasy cutting the quiet of the night. When he pressed his thumb over her clit he realized how close she was. He could feel her muscles clenching, spasming, pulsing, screaming for him to take her over the precipice.
He pushed a finger inside and his entire body throbbed when her walls squeezed hard.
So tight.
Her breathing changed, coming faster now. Her hips began moving, rocking, driving his finger in and out. In and out.
He added another finger and she clutched his head, her hands fisting his hair, and he knew. Knew she was right there.
“I told you to keep your hands over your head. Now do what I say, or I stop.”
The second she lifted her arms, putting herself at his mercy, he punched up the pressure and raked his teeth over her puckered clit, knowing just what she needed to push her over the edge.
“Jay,” she cried out, her body quaking beneath his touch as she let herself go.
Her liquid heat singed his mouth and he stayed between her legs for a long time, drawing out her orgasm with his tongue.
Off in the distance, some coherent part of his brain registered the slamming of a car door.
Shit.
Knowing he wanted her alone where he could have her all to himself and ravish her with his dark hunger, he climbed to his feet and pulled her skirt down. He quickly removed the cuffs and gathered her blouse. Wrapping it around her shoulder to cover her nakedness, he grabbed her hand and tugged.
Without speaking, he hurried them back to his apartment, and once they were inside, he scooped her into his arms, carried her to his bedroom, and tossed her onto his bed. She blinked up at him as he stood over her, and her beauty took his breath away.
Mine.
He noted the color on her cheeks and the heat in her eyes as he made short work of his clothes.
“Get undressed,” he commanded in a soft voice.
His eyes swept over her curves and his body shook almost violently as she shimmied out of her clothes and tossed them to the floor. She was about to kick off
her sexy shoes, but the shake of his head stopped her. Raw need gathered in the pit of his stomach as he saw her lying there in nothing but those stilettos, and he knew restraint was a thing of the past.