Deanna Lee Read online

  One peek out the peephole told me that the visitor was far more than just impatient. I jerked off the chain and undid all four of the bolt locks as quickly as I could. Throwing open the door, I glared at Mathias Montgomery.

  “So, do you make a habit of skulking around in the night?” I leaned against the door and inspected him. He’d come to my door; I figured I could look at him like a fresh blueberry pastry if I wanted to.

  “It’s at least six o’clock in the morning.” He glanced me over and swore under his breath. “Do you make a habit of answering your door practically naked?”

  “I’m not naked.”

  “No. You’re soaking wet in a T-shirt. Which in any man’s book is actually better than being naked.”

  I took a step back as he moved forward and actually jumped when he shoved the door shut. “I didn’t invite you in, Mr. Montgomery.”

  “Yeah, and it was rude of you.”

  “Rude of me?”

  “Yes. Rude. You stand naked in a doorway and then don’t have the decency to invite me in.” His gaze dropped down slowly until he reached my feet and then he focused on my face. “Don’t call me Mr. Montgomery.”

  “I decide who I’m on a first-name basis with, not you.” I ran my fingers through my hair and motioned to him. “What was so important that you couldn’t wait until Monday? Some people might spend their weekends working, but me, I like to lounge about my apartment half naked and do nothing that resembles work.”

  “I doubt that. I’ve seen how much time you put into your job. But that’s besides the point; I’m not here to discuss the gallery.” His gaze drifted downward briefly and then he focused on my face.

  “Then why are you here?” I glared at him and crossed my arms over my breasts as he turned and twisted one of the bolt locks. “I normally lock people out, not in.”

  “I’m going to be an exception,” he responded.

  He was working on being several things, none of them pleasant. I didn’t want or need some arrogant alpha-male type dripping testosterone all over my apartment. But he was just too tempting to throw out. “Just who the hell do you think you are?”

  “I’m a man who was up all damn night because of you.” He moved forward, every step predatory and calculated.

  I couldn’t even remember the last time a man had actually excited me so much without even touching me. It was easy to think back on those few moments in the parking garage, his mouth on mine…staking claim and invading in one breathless instant.

  “Because of me?” I gasped a little when my back met with the wall. The blasted man actually had me running. I don’t run. I never have. “How’s that my problem?”

  “It’s my problem, and I’ve come over here to rectify it.”

  “I don’t like or appreciate this kind of behavior. If I wanted a chest-beating Neanderthal in my life, I would have stayed in Georgia and married one of my brother’s friends.” I pushed my finger in the middle of his chest, and he backed up a few steps. “Some women might find this take-charge attitude of yours charming and attractive, but I don’t.”

  “Is that so?” he asked, his voice taking on a silky quality that made me want to run for cover.

  “Yeah. I ought to kick you out of my apartment.” I think we both knew that wasn’t going to happen. “How’d you get my address?” I raised one eyebrow and waited.

  “My brother is very indiscreet at four in the morning.”

  “I’m gonna kick his ass.”

  “If you have any energy left when I’m finished with you, I’ll drive you over to his studio.”

  “Finished with me?” I asked, and hoped that he didn’t hear the thrill of excitement that zipped through my voice. As it was, I could barely stand waiting on him to get started.

  “Yeah.” He placed both hands above my head on the wall and met my gaze. “I have this theory about us.”

  “And what would that be?”

  “I think if we spend the next two days fucking ourselves silly, by Monday morning we’ll be over whatever this is between us.” He reached out and touched my face. His fingers trailed along my jaw. “What do you think?”

  It was the most unbelievable thing I’d heard in my entire life. In fact, as his fingers moved down my throat and his gaze dropped down to my breasts, I realized that I had every intention of totally exploring his theory. Though a part of me knew that on Monday morning I’d be thoroughly fucked but nowhere near getting over whatever he was doing to me.

  “I think you are very sure of yourself.”

  “I am.”

  “And blunt.”

  “Yes.” His fingers moved from my neck and down between my breasts.

  “I don’t like arrogant alpha males.” I gasped a little as his thumb brushed across one rigid nipple. “Most women don’t. We just like to read about them in romance novels.”

  “So you said. Is that what you really think?”

  “You’re arrogant.” Though he did have that smooth, tailored look of the average metrosexual male, there was something rough about him that didn’t jive with that, and that rough, unknown quality had me so very curious.

  “No. I mean that you don’t find arrogant men attractive.” He cupped my breast and rubbed the nipple back and forth through the all-too-thin material of my T-shirt. “You want me.”

  “You’re an attractive man, and I’m not immune to that.” My body was humming like my favorite vibrator, and I figured he knew it.

  He smiled briefly and lifted his hand from my breast. “Tell me to leave.”

  I wasn’t going to tell him to leave and he damn well knew it. I pressed my thighs together and held firm against the wall as I watched his face. He was amazing, and I wanted to wrap myself around him and not let go for days. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

  He laughed softly, his dark brown eyes lit with amusement. “I’m thinking that my theory about this weekend could be slightly flawed.”

  “Oh really?”

  “Yeah, but I’m willing to take the risk.”

  “Why?” I asked, though I wasn’t sure I wanted to know his answer. Especially since I was nowhere near figuring out why I was so willing to take the risk of getting sexually involved with a man I barely knew and would be required to interact with on a business level in the very near future.

  “Because you’ve got me all twisted and confused.”

  “And you think that fucking me would solve that?” Hell, I didn’t care what it solved. I wanted him, and everything else be damned.

  “I think that fucking you repeatedly as often as I’m capable for the next two days would go a long way toward solving my problem.”

  I was barely clothed and burning up. My nipples were tight and already aching as if he’d had his mouth on them. I pressed my lips together as I considered what I knew was coming. Sex is good. Sex, in fact, could be the best part of being alive. There had never been a time in my life when I’d denied myself, and I figured I was nowhere near starting such an atrocious habit.

  “Invite me into your bed.” He leaned in and brushed his lips over mine. I leaned briefly into him, unwilling to end the soft and alluring contact of his mouth on mine. “I need you to say it.”

  “Why?” I tilted my head and looked over his face, looking for anything that would make his motives more clear.

  “Because I need to know I’m playing this game with a woman. You’re not a shy little virgin with a head full of candlelit rooms and sheets covered in rose petals.” He moved in closer. “Are you one of those women who needs that?”

  “No. I’m not. I don’t need empty promises and lies.”

  “I know.” He cupped my face with both hands and kissed me again. “Just looking at you makes me hard.”

  Every woman has a breaking point, and that is mine. “It just so happens that I have a place designed to take care of that problem.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  I laughed and slipped underneath his arm. With a smile, I reached out and offered
him my hand. His fingers slid against my palm, and I tugged gently. “It’s hot and wet and tight.”

  “Tight?”

  “Yeah.” We moved down the hall toward my bedroom. I glanced over my shoulder as I walked into my bedroom, and suddenly I felt like prey. His gaze was consuming me, and he looked like a tiger ready to pounce. “I do those exercises.”

  “If you expect me to be even remotely gentle with you, you’ll shut up now,” he murmured through clenched teeth.

  I let go of his hand, turned around, and pulled my T-shirt over my head. “What makes you think I want you to be gentle?”

  I slid onto the bed and watched as he pulled his shirt over his head and pushed off his shoes at the same time. My mouth literally watered at the sight of him. He was beautifully cut and sculpted…like he spent ten hours a day working out. I watched him pull his belt away and then work his jeans around an impressive erection.

  My thighs clamped together of their own volition when he finally freed his cock. He was probably close to nine inches long, but it was his width that gave me pause. I thought with some seriousness that I wouldn’t be able to wrap my hand completely around it. I absolutely couldn’t wait to try.

  He pulled several condoms out of his jeans pocket, dropped them on the dresser, and rested one knee on the bed. “Last chance.”

  I spread my legs and leaned back on my hands. “Come here.”

  He moved completely onto the bed and then between my legs. I watched him pause as if he weren’t quite sure what he wanted to do, then he leaned down and placed the softest kiss I’ve ever known between my breasts. I gasped softly and let my head fall back as his mouth drifted to one breast.

  I sucked in a breath and stiffened my arms to keep from falling completely back on the bed as he pulled my aching nipple into his mouth with firm, determined lips. His teeth brushed against me, and I arched upward. I needed more. Wanted more, and I really didn’t know how to say it. I wasn’t even sure what I wanted more of.

  He released my nipple and covered my mouth with his in a rush of movement that left me breathless. I wrapped my arms around him as he lowered me to the bed. The warm heat of his body against mine felt perfect. Mathias pressed his cock against my labia and rocked gently against my wet flesh. The friction was delicious, just as amazing as his mouth on mine.

  I slid my tongue between his lips, and he groaned against the intrusion. I loved the sound of it and wrapped my legs around his waist. He lifted his mouth from mine and met my gaze as he continued to rub his cock against my clit. The silky wet movement was just enough to be both soothing and frustrating at the same time.

  My legs fell from his hips as he lifted away and then moved down. “Don’t tease.”

  He laughed softly, spread my legs wider with firm hands, and lowered his head to my pussy. His tongue teased at my folds briefly before he brushed over my clit. I arched deeply up off the bed and fisted my hands into the blanket beneath me.

  Helpless against the pressure of his tongue, I relaxed on the bed as much as I could and shuddered against each tantalizing stroke. He pressed his tongue against my entrance and then slid in. The shallow penetration forced me to lift my hips upward against his mouth.

  “Mathias?”

  He lifted his head and glanced me over before he turned his head and kissed the inside of my thigh. “Yes?”

  “Your cock isn’t the only thing you’ve got going for you,” I explained weakly, suddenly at a loss for anything real to say.

  Every graze of his skin against mine sent a rush of excitement over me. The feeling was addictive and so very seductive.

  He sat back on his heels and reached for a condom. “Looking at you makes me hurt.”

  I watched in silence as he freed a condom and rolled it into place. Restless, I moved my hands across my nipples and then downward over my rib cage. Since he was watching me intently, I spread my legs wider and slid one hand down to cover my pussy. My fingers slid over my clit just once before he grabbed my hand and lifted it away.

  “Trust me. I won’t leave you hanging.” He brought my hand to his mouth and kissed the palm before he released it.

  Laughing softly, I relaxed on the bed and let him have his way. He pushed the blunt tip of his cock against my entrance, and I lifted my hips against him. As wet as I was, my body still protested the penetration. One hand drifted down my leg to my knee, then he lifted my leg up against his hip.

  “Easy.” He kissed my lips softly as he came to rest on top of me. “Relax.”

  I nodded abruptly and tried to relax against the intrusion of his cock. “I want this.”

  “Trust me. I won’t hurt you.”

  I arched against him as he pushed deeper into me. “So said the man hung like a horse.”

  He laughed, and the gentle sound of it was a relief. “Am I hurting you?”

  “No.” I touched his face. “I guess I do need you to be gentle.”

  “I want to be everything you need.”

  How do men know what to say? My heart started to pound harder when he retreated and pushed into me again. I relaxed against him completely. I gasped as he slid deeply into me.

  He stopped and rested his forehead against mine. “Perfect.”

  It was indeed perfect. I wrapped my legs around his waist and threaded my fingers with his when his hands sought mine. “Yes.”

  Mathias moaned against my mouth as we started to move. The thick push of his cock into my body was divine and better than I could’ve hoped for. My fingers tightened in his as our movement became frenzied. I dropped my legs from his waist and braced my feet against the mattress as his body slapped against mine.

  “Damn.” He pressed his mouth against mine briefly and slowed his pace. “Slow down, Jane, I’m not ready for this to end.”

  “I need it hard.” I strained against his body, physically demanding more. “Harder. Fuck me.”

  He released my hands and placed his hands on either side of my head. I moaned against his lips and rubbed one hand over his head to pull him closer still. His tongue slid into my mouth, mimicking the action of his cock until the pleasure of having him inside me was overwhelming. Mathias slid his hand between us and pressed his thumb against my throbbing clit. The pressure of it was enough to rush orgasm to the surface. I stiffened beneath him and came so hard that my vision darkened briefly.

  “Yes.” He kissed my mouth softly as I relaxed beneath him and slid deeply into me and arched against me as he found his own release.

  I clenched my muscles around his cock again and again as he continued to move. Mathias shuddered and buried his face against the side of my neck. Abruptly, he lifted off of me and sat back on his heels. He was still for a few seconds, and then he slid from the bed and disappeared into the bathroom.

  I rolled over onto my stomach and buried my face in the bed. The sun was bright in the window, there was a naked man in my bathroom, and I’d just been fucked nearly stupid. So maybe getting up at the ass-crack of dawn really isn’t such a bad thing.

  A hand drifted up my leg, across my ass, and then upward to trace my spine. He hesitated and then his fingers drifted over the neatly healed scar on my shoulder. I turned my face to look at him as he laid down beside me. His gentle exploration stirred something inside me that I wasn’t really prepared to deal with.

  “I was a cop.”

  “I know.” He touched the scar again. “I looked you up on the Internet when I got home last night.”

  “I’m on the Internet?” I frowned.

  “Well, yeah. I expected to find you listed on the gallery’s Web site. Nice bio there, by the way. I also found some articles about a young patrol cop gunned down on a highway in Savannah.”

  “Did you read the details?”

  “The press painted you as a survivor. A woman too pretty to be a cop who witnessed the murder of her partner and took a bullet herself. One witness said that you pulled your gun and fired within seconds of being shot. You called for help and stayed conscious lon
g enough on the scene to report to your commanding officer, a man who just happened to share your last name.”

  “My brother. Both of my brothers are cops, and my father was also. None of them wanted me in patrol. They thought I’d ride a desk and be safe.”

  “Did you leave police work because of them?”

  “No. For a long time I wasn’t all that sure what had happened that day. It seemed to blur and change every time I thought about it. The nurses and the doctors in the hospital were so careful with me—everyone was careful. It made me crazy at first; I couldn’t figure out why they were all treating me like I was a hero.”

  “Until you saw the news and realized that every news station in the state was running the footage from the camera of your patrol car.”