He lowered his mouth to hers and told her with his kiss just how much he’d missed her, too. And yet, though all he could think about was taking her to bed for a repeat of their earlier lovemaking, he made himself pull back. "You must be exhausted from your trip."

"I was," she admitted, "but now that you’re here, I’m not anymore."

Sweet Lord, all he wanted was to drag her into the bedroom, tear her clothes off, and take her fast and hard. Instead, he asked, "Are you hungry?"

Her lips curved up into a small smile. "Yes."

Damn it, somehow he was going to have to make it through a meal without losing what was left of his mind.

But then she was pressing her body against his and saying, "Hungry for you."

How could he do anything but love her mouth the way he wanted to love the rest of her? When he finally let her up for air, and both of them were panting, she licked her lips, already damp from his tongue.

"There’s something I want to show you."

Rafe warned himself it could be anything. Pictures of her new storefront. A new style of box she’d found to package chocolates. Even, possibly, the contracts she’d signed today. But the way she’d said the words There’s something I want to show you had Rafe only able to think about sexy things.

Dirty things.

When she slid her hands into his and took him back into the bedroom, he immediately noticed several strips of colored silk draped across the pillows. To the naked eye they looked like scarves. But Rafe knew exactly what they were for.

They were sensual bindings meant for a woman’s naked skin, and he went a little crazy just thinking about using them with Brooke.

"Where did you get those?"

As she picked up the silks, sweetness shimmered in her eyes alongside a budding wickedness that kept surprising him, over and over.

"In a really fun store in Seattle."

The vision of Brooke browsing through sex toys had Rafe nearly bursting the zipper of his jeans. But this was just the kind of thing he’d sworn he wouldn’t do to her. She’d been a good girl before him, and he doubted she would ever have walked into the store before they’d started sleeping together.

Forcing himself to shove aside the too-clear vision of using the scarves to bind her to the iron head- and footboards, her beautiful body naked and open to him, he said, "I already told you we don’t need props."

Though his voice was rough, when he pulled her back into his arms a moment later, making silk fall from her fingers as her hands slid over his shoulders, his lips were gentle over hers. She sighed into his mouth, making one of her little sounds of pleasure that had been playing on repeat inside his head all day long.

He gathered the fabric of her dress in his hands and pulled it up. But when he got to her hips, he had to smooth his hands over her hips and thighs. Lace and silk and soft, smooth skin met his palms and fingertips. She pleased him, every part of her, so much that he couldn’t wait any longer to strip her dress all the way off. Only, once her dress was on the floor, Rafe had to try like hell to pick his jaw up off it, too.

Strips of see-through white lace and silk crisscrossed her body, leaving her at once covered and naked...and so damned beautiful that he was stunned senseless.

"I also bought this today," she told him in a husky voice. "Do you like it?"

But he couldn’t speak just yet, couldn’t do anything but reach for her again to run his fingertips down over the fabric that started at her shoulders, then curved over her incredible br**sts. Her ni**les beaded beneath his hands, and she pressed herself into his palms. Yet again, she was pure sensuality come to life as he followed the strips down across her stomach to where they met over her gorgeous bottom.

Again and again he’d vowed to curb his natural impulses with her, but now he wondered how the hell he’d ever have a prayer of doing that.

Any self-control he had left was on its last legs as his fingers slowly continued their trip over silk and lace. And when he finally cupped his hand between her legs, he learned that the shockingly sexy lingerie didn’t cover everything after all.

Damp, hot skin met his fingers instead of lace and silk. Whispering his name against his mouth, Brooke rolled her hips so that his fingers stroked over, then into the heart of her. Just that fast, she was coming for him, and the joy he felt when her climax tore through her was unlike anything he’d ever felt before.

Only with Brooke.

* * *

Oh my.

Brooke’s new sexy lingerie had inspired quite a response from Rafe...one that had her tingling from head to toe. But there were other things she wanted, too. Things that involved not only the naughty lingerie she was wearing, but also the silk bindings she’d bought in Seattle. Things that Rafe, quite obviously, had no intention of giving to her.

Maybe it was better that way. Since he had such a big thing about not wanting to "strip away her innocence," she’d take any room for potential guilt out of his hands by stripping it away herself.

Perhaps it was knowing just how powerfully he’d been moved by her sexy lingerie that made it feel perfectly natural to drop to her knees in front of him. She couldn’t help but smile at the way he was frowning down at her.

"Brooke—"

"Shhh," she said to him, just as he’d done with her when they were in the shower and she’d been begging him not to tease her. She didn’t need to feel him beneath the zipper of his jeans to know how hard he was, but when she undid his fly and slowly slid his jeans down, though she’d already been with him more than once, she was surprised all over again at just how big he was. Her mouth already watering, she didn’t just pull down the denim, but made sure to bring his boxers down, too.

"Oh, Rafe." She didn’t try to hide her delight at just how beautiful he was.

One of her hands rose automatically to wrap around him, and he throbbed hard once, then twice against her palm and fingers. "Come to the bed with me, Brooke."

But she didn’t want to do that—not unless he was willing to play with her the way she guessed he’d played with his other lovers. In some ways, she knew she had more of him than any of his previous lovers had—their friendship, their past, their family connections. But in others she knew she had less.

She wouldn’t settle for that, darn it, whatever good reasons he thought he had for the way he was behaving, for believing she couldn’t handle his darker desires…or her own. She wouldn’t go so far as to ask him for forever tonight, but she was going to ask for this.