STORY EXCERPT

He got off the slowest elevator in history to find himself in a fancy outer hallway on the sixth floor. The ritzy apartments were off limits unless you were invited in. The place smelled of money—lots of it.

Okay, now see if the little lady is ready for her taxi.

His moment of levity vanished when he saw the door to six sixty-nine slightly ajar. Son of a bitch. Blood.

The blood spatters began at the door and continued on to the service exit door at the end of the curving hallway. The door to the stairway yawned wide open.

A stab of cold worry hit his gut.

Tessa!

He rapped hard on the door, waiting for someone to say something.

Shit.

He looked down at the drying blood on the sand-colored carpet. Hell with waiting any longer. He shouldered the door open and went inside the quiet entry hall.

Big and void of any sign of life. A sea horse fountain splashed uselessly in the center of the entry hall. Another damned receiving area. All that empty space sure made a guy feel welcome.

“Tessa.” He didn’t like the eerie silence. Anywhere Tessa happened to be, noise followed. Right now he’d give anything to hear that cultured voice.

The double doors to the formal living room stood wide open. That didn’t mean a thing. The woman probably never closed a door or drawer after herself.

“Tessa!”

He wasn’t ticked now. His hair prickled at the back of his neck. A pile of white towels on the floor were stained a dark plum color, releasing the scent of fresh blood as warm air circulated in the room.

Band-aids and small, bloody gauze were scattered around the fancy décor. Cotton swabs had been tossed in an ashtray. Someone had something bleeding.

“Tessa!”

No time to be cautious. He rushed from room to room, opening closets and looking under beds. He would have bypassed it, but the drapes on the terrace doors fluttered slightly.

Jack picked up a heavy brass figurine of a naked chick and slowly pulled the drapes apart. He wasn’t quite six feet, weighing one eighty, and dreaded a fight with Griffin’s goons.

He clenched his teeth, prepared to defend Tessa from whoever hurt her.

The doors were open only a crack, but cold air poured in the room. He shoved the doors open wide and stepped outside, squinting against the wind-driven sleet.

He flinched when he saw crimson stains on the skiff of snow covering the brick terrace floor, but that wasn’t what held Jack’s attention.

Teresa Duval pressed her body to the icy wall, staring at him with suspicion-filled eyes.

“Tessa.” He spoke softly, moving toward her. “Come inside.”

For one agonizing second, she appeared ready to run for the rail. Instead, she lifted her hand and pointed to the terrace door, still hugging the damn wall.

She whispered, obviously afraid of being overheard. “Is he dead?”

“Should he be?”

“I tried to kill him.”

Jack relaxed a little, figuring there hadn’t been a murder committed yet. “You caused all this mess? What in the hell did you hit him with?”

“My fist.” She looked ready to cry, and her chin quivered while she spoke. “I told him he was getting drunk and he slapped me. I hit him in the mouth because it hurt.” She trembled, obviously frightened. “I ran and he chased me, screaming that I was a cheap whore. He caught me and started beating me. That’s when I hit him in the nose.”

ADULT EXCERPT

His tongue barely touched her clit after he opened her wet folds to lick them slowly, driving her crazy with the occasional touch to her aching bud.

She tried to pull his face to her pussy, but he held her hand and went on with his torture. “I want it all…right now.”

“You only get four chances, honey.” He sat up and pulled her legs over his shoulders. He was smiling at her and she wanted to claw his hard-muscled belly. Sweet heaven, what was he doing to her?

He stroked her folds with his tongue, nipping her clit occasionally, each little nibble sending fire through her body.

Her heart skipped several beats while his long fingers stroked her into a fever pitch of need to be fucked. He didn’t listen to her, went on with his maddening tease. She bucked her hips to take in his fingers, clenching around him to keep the delicious fire close.

She was so close to coming, yet he knew how to hold her off, burying his face between her legs to suck her pussy lips into his mouth. He pulled her clit between his teeth and bit, gently but enough to make her scream as the hot sizzles of fuck-me shot up her backbone.

She tried to sit up, reaching for his dick, but he took her hand and squeezed her fingers. “Are you ready for number one?”

“Yes, damn you.” She was more than ready, wrapping her arms around his neck when he lay down to cover her trembling body. “Make me come, Jack.”

His cock throbbed in her hand and she fantasized about the feel of it inside her. Large and hot, ridged with full veins and a slick head she wanted to taste.

His scent hypnotized her, drove her to the brink of sexual desire. Her lips swelled with the blood of passion, yielded to his closing over hers. His kiss was deep and searching, rough, sweet, and promising. She wanted him, wanted him inside her slick pussy and around her with his hard body.

The tip of his cock brushed her clit and she gasped, pulling down on his hips. Pleasure coursed through her, delicious quivers spiraling from her pussy to her mouth making her laugh with ecstasy.

He was solid, his olive body honed to perfection and he pumped like a well-oiled machine, driving deeper and harder, taking her out of reality. She rose up in flames, riding a wild wind and clinging to him to stay on earth.

“Jack…Jack…I’m coming...Jack!”

She dug her nails into the hard flesh of his ass while he thrust into her. The desire to never let him finish consumed her so much that her legs hugged his waist, his energy pulling her up to his belly.

This was what she wanted, being in bed with the man she couldn’t win and could never forget.

No, remember he doesn’t want you, he’s only having sex with you.

God, she wanted him to desire her, but more than that, she wanted him to fall in love with her.