Ah, there they were. The big, thick rims were perfect.

She turned around to face Jake and had to laugh aloud at the look on his face. Lust mixed with horror.

“Sweet Lord, you’re every twisted librarian fantasy I’ve ever had come to life.” His voice sounded strangled as he looked down at her naked body, then back up to the bun and glasses. “I don’t know if this is a good idea. I’m pretty much on the edge already, here, Sophie.”

“Not Sophie.” She squeezed his huge erection before letting herself stroke up, then down, the skin that had been stretched smooth. “Ms. Sullivan.”

“Is that your librarian voice?” When she nodded, he groaned. “This is officially my new favorite game.” She glared at him and he added, “Ms. Sullivan. Ma’am.”

“Game?” She crawled back onto the bed, straddling him again and leaning down to lick up the side of his neck. “Do you think this is a game?” She sank her teeth into his earlobe before moving to the other side and giving it the same treatment. “Or this?” She pressed her hands flat over his chest, covering his pectoral muscles. “What about this?” She lowered her head to his chest to lick and nip at him and he reached for her.

But instead of letting him pull her up over his body, a surge of feminine power came over Sophie. She’d reduced big, bad, lady-killing Jake McCann to a puddle of desire. That was how much he wanted her...and, oh, wasn’t it just lovely to finally be wanted?

Before he could stop her, she moved down his incredible body to experience something she never had before, but suddenly couldn’t live without for another second. Seconds later, warm, thick male flesh greeted her tongue. She hummed her pleasure at how good he tasted as she circled the broad head of his erection before opening up her mouth and taking it inside.

Jake’s fingers threaded into her bun so tightly that Sophie was held captive over him, but she didn’t care that she was no longer in charge, didn’t even care about playing the “sexy librarian” role anymore. She threw off the glasses and gave in to the shocking thrill of giving Jake pleasure as he thrust up into her mouth. He’d wanted her to come above him earlier and now all she wanted was for him to do the same for her, just like this.

“I need you here.” His words barely pierced the thick fog of her lust. “Right here with me.”

A heartbeat later he was pulling her down over him, causing her to lose her breath completely as he filled her all the way up. If it had been just her body he was filling, then maybe she would have been able to handle it, but the way he was looking at her, like she was his every dream, every single fantasy come to life, had tears springing to her eyes even as her body began to explode around his.

“Now,” he urged as he grew impossibly big inside her and her inner muscles instinctively clenched around him. “Come with me.”

Sophie threw her head back and held onto him like she was going for rodeo queen and he was the prized bull that was going to clinch her the title. Jake’s roar of pleasure set every nerve in her body to tingling as she called out his name.

When she could finally rouse her brain to working again, she realized that somewhere in there he must have rolled them over to cradle her in his arms.

For several minutes, they remained connected, two sweaty, panting people wrapped around each other. Sophie felt she could stay like this forever. No need for food or clothes or words. Just Jake’s arms around her, his heart beating against hers.

* * *

Jake had spent his entire life on guard against pain, failure, disappointment. Being with Sophie made him want to stop bracing himself for the inevitable fall, made him want to give in to a hope he’d sworn as a kid never to let himself feel again.

“Can I ask you something?” She was slowly tracing the inked armband around his bicep with the tip of one finger.

He tensed before he could will himself not to give his discomfort away, and she pressed a kiss to his chest. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad. At least, I don’t think it is.”

She lifted her face to look up at him and his breath caught at how beautiful she was. He kept thinking that, after all these hours they were spending together, he’d get used to it soon.

Considering he’d never been able to get used to it as she’d grown from girl to woman in the past twenty years, he supposed he should just man up and accept that he never would.

She was that beautiful to him.

“What is it?” he said, the realization of just how powerfully the woman in his arms rocked his world making the words come out harder than he intended

“I was just wondering about your tattoos.” She slid the tip of one finger over the Celtic dragon tail that ran from his back to his lower ribcage. “They’re beautiful. I’m sure they must have hurt, so you must have really wanted them.”

Being drilled with a needle for hours hadn’t hurt nearly as much as his father’s punches had. At least the tattoos had made him feel stronger. Tougher. As though the Celtic warriors of the past were in the wings waiting to help him when he needed it most.

“Tell me what they mean.” At his continued silence, she lifted her eyes to his again. “Please.”

Did she know that he could never refuse her anything if she looked at him like that and asked so sweetly? Did she have any idea just how tightly she had him wrapped around her little finger, that even as a bitter ten-year-old boy he’d been held captivate by her?

“That one is a Celtic dragon.”

“We’re always so busy with—” She blushed. “I’ve never really had a chance to see the whole thing up close.” She slid her fingertips over the tattoo, her breath warm on his skin. “It’s amazing. What does it symbolize?”

He’d never shared the symbolism, or his reasons, with anyone else. Had never even been tempted before now. Before Sophie.

“One who conquers the dragon.”

“What about this band around your arm? What does that stand for?”

“The strength of a warrior.”

“And the leprechaun on your forearm? Why does he have his fists raised?”

He would have shut her down if he thought he could get away with it. But he knew with utter certainty that she wouldn’t leave it alone until she had all her answers. And if he didn’t give them to her, she’d just look them up in one of her books. Anyone who thought Sophie Sullivan was a pushover was the real idiot.

“Leprechauns are fighters.”