She waited to feel his hands come back around her hips, naked skin against naked skin. She knew what would happen now, that in a matter of moments she’d be beneath him on the bed and they’d be going after each other without any preliminaries necessary.

But a moment later, as his hands slid gently into her wet hair, she realized her mistake. Gabe Sullivan wasn’t like other men, who would have gone straight for the ultimate prize.

On the contrary, he was surprising her with—oh my!—a sweeter kiss than any other man had ever given her.

His mouth covered hers, molding her lips with his so softly she almost couldn’t feel anything at all. Just warmth. And so much pleasure as he deepened the kiss, as he found the curves of her lower lip with his tongue and slowly slid across it, that she couldn’t hold back a whimper.

“Gabe, please.”

She didn’t realize that she was begging—already, with nothing more than just a soft kiss—until he said against her mouth, “Slow, baby. That’s how we’re going to do this tonight.”

“I don’t know if I can do slow,” she said, her body reinforcing her words by moving closer to him so that her bare br**sts were pressed into his chest.

The rough gauge of his long-sleeved wool shirt rubbed so deliciously against the already hard points that she gasped at the incredible sensation of rubbing her naked body up against his fully clothed one. There was something so deliciously naughty about it all. Megan had only ever been naughty, had only ever let herself get that close to danger and the adrenaline that came with it, in her private fantasies.

But something about Gabe made her suddenly want to see all those dangerously seductive fantasies come to life.

“Megan.”

He groaned her name, sounding like a man lost, just as lost as she knew she already was to him. His hips ground against hers, backing her up against the wall, her thighs opening to let him in. And oh, how she loved the way the thick bulge behind the zipper of his jeans pressed into just the right spot.

She shouldn’t be this close to the edge, shouldn’t be only the barest touch, the slightest caress away from coming apart for him. But the truth was that every moment they’d spent together not touching, not kissing, trying to keep their distance from each other, had been foreplay. Some of the most intense foreplay of her life.

“I could take you now, could be inside of you in seconds.” His voice was rough at her ear, his words blunt and oh-so-sexy, making her heart race with wanting what he was describing. “Just like this, up against the wall, your legs wrapped around my hips, with you coming around me as I take you hard and fast.”

Yes! That was what she wanted. What she needed.

Only, instead of doing any of those things, he stilled his hips against hers and lifted his face from that spot beside her ear where he was filling her head with naughty visions. His blue eyes seared her with heat.

“But that’s not how we’re going to do this tonight, Megan.”

Her eyes widened at the confident statement. “But what if that’s what I want?” came from between her lips, barely above a whisper.

“You’ll want this more,” he said, and then he was bending his head to lick into the hollow of her shoulder.

She arched her neck into his sweetly sensual kiss, her skin trembling beneath the tender onslaught.

No man had ever talked to her like this, told her what to anticipate, promised her ecstasy if only she’d follow where he led. She was just pragmatic enough, had taken care of herself for long enough, to think that she shouldn’t like whispered promises from a man who clearly knew exactly how to drive a woman wild with wanting. And yet as his mouth traveled up her neck, alternating soft little bites with the warm press of his tongue over the small hurt, she knew the truth for what it was.

She loved it.

He pulled back and slid his hands from her hair, down her arms to take her hands, and that slow glide of the calloused skin on his palms across the inside of her elbow, her wrist, was just about as good as any orgasm any other man had given her.

Gabe threaded his fingers intimately through hers and even though she was already naked, even though she’d all but been begging him to take her up against the wall moments before, the feel of being held like that—like more than just a lover for the night—rocked all the way past her skin and bones, heading straight to the core of her heart. And, amazingly, even though he’d shifted away enough to easily take in her nudity, he never looked away from her eyes for a single second.

It was crazy for tears of emotion to rush at her and she tried to blink them away before he noticed, but maybe it was the hitch in her breathing that gave her away.

“You and me, we’re going to talk to each other tonight. You’re going to tell me when I make you feel good...or if I don’t.”

She licked her lips, knew he was right. They weren’t kids taking a tumble together. “It’s good so far,” she said in a soft voice. “Really good.”

“But?”

Any other man would have pushed past her obvious emotions, but Gabe was doing just the opposite.

“I expected hot.” She slid her thumbs against his palms. “I was ready for hot.”

His eyebrow quirked up at that. “Really?”

She shook her head slightly. “Well,” she admitted, “maybe not exactly ready for it, but I’m not surprised.”

“Me either,” he said, and then, “Tell me what’s surprising.”

She didn’t know how to put words to it, other than to say, “Everything else.”

His eyes darkened, his fingers tightening on hers. “I wish I were surprised,” he said in a low voice, raw with need and something else she was afraid to dissect. He lifted her hands to his mouth and managed to kiss them both at the same time.

Oh God, what this man was going to do to her...how would she ever recover from this night? she wondered helplessly as he slowly brought her hands back down and began to move them apart. If it were just hot sex, that would be one thing. But what if he were looking to seduce more than just her body?

What if he was going for her heart, too?

His eyes moved slowly from her face down to her br**sts, and held. The seconds ticked by, one after the other, as he took in every inch of her skin. She couldn’t stop herself from following his hot gaze to her br**sts, and both of them watched as her ni**les puckered up hard, pulling her full br**sts up higher on her chest.

“Touch me,” she begged, desperate to feel his hands, his mouth on her. “I need you to touch me.”