She tried to kiss him, but her lips hit the side of his nose. She muttered a small “oops” and they both let loose a laugh.

“Yes.” That one magical word was followed by the softest, sweetest kiss on his mouth then the almost dirty command, “Now get to work.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Chapter Nine

She expected him to tear down her body a second later, but instead he lay against her, his heart hammering against her breasts. Or maybe that was her heart.

Tenderly, he brushed her cheeks with the pads of his fingers, his words gravel-laden when he said, “Say that again, McIntire.”

She grinned. Why, suddenly, was everything about him making her so…happy? The hot, she understood. The hot was a given. But the happy? Definitely different. Good different. She arched her back and wrapped her arms around his neck, brushing her nipples against the coarse hair on his chest.

“Get…” She gripped his ears. “To…” A kiss. “Work…” She nipped his lip as he’d done to her earlier, stroking her tongue over the fullness of it before adding, “Please.”

His arms tightened, his entire body flexed. He wasn’t the only one capable of seduction.

Clearly their banter hadn’t ended at the foot of the air mattress. They were still sparring, and the pattern was familiar, easing them into the unfamiliar ground they found themselves navigating.

“I like when you beg,” he said, clearly in agreement. He tugged at her remaining clothing, dragging off her pants and panties, socks and shoes, and dropping them somewhere in the dark.

She heard his zipper next, and her heart thudded out a hectic pattern, sending adrenaline flitting through her veins. This was really happening. She was going to feel all that hard male muscle up close and oh-so-personal. She heard the rasp of denim and felt the shift of weight as he removed his jeans and dropped his boots with one thud followed by another. The crinkle of a foil packet told her he’d been carrying a condom, and for that bit of Boy Scout preparedness, she would be eternally grateful.

“Pleasured by an ax-wielding madman,” she joked, needing to temper her excitement.

A deep chuckle penetrated the silence and sent a flutter of feather-light tingles up her naked body. His knees were between her legs as he worked the condom over his length. She hadn’t seen him, but she’d felt him.

So, yeah.

Length.

A smile she couldn’t prevent spread across her face as his hands landed on either side of her hips. She wanted to feel him inside her, stretching her, the delicious weight of his body when he came down over her.

Moonlight sliced through the boards in the window, highlighting one of his thick, hair-covered thighs. He leaned forward and the beam caressed his rippling torso, the forearm where her hand rested. She caught a glimpse of his face next, and he gave her a genuine, sexy smile before lowering his gaze to take her in. Light crisscrossed her body, a slash across one thigh and the opposite calf. He moved his arm and the moonlight lit the red-blond hair between her legs.

Starting at her ankle, he caressed his fingers up the back of her calf to the inside of her thigh. Her legs fell open, the pulse between them a steady beat. Gooseflesh rose on her skin in response to the opposing warmth of his fingers and the chill of the room.

His eyes on the triangle of curls between her legs, he murmured. “Au naturale,” not sounding the least bit disappointed.

She covered herself with one hand. “I didn’t exactly plan on…uh…company.”

“Move your hand,” he commanded. She did. He fed his fingers through the fine hair between her legs. “I like you this way.” He stroked his finger along her wetness and delved inside, slowly, deeply.

She shuddered.

“Lil,” he said, his voice holding a reverence she’d never heard before. He slid into her again. “So wet.”

“Mmm,” was all she could manage while his talented fingers worked their magic at the V of her thighs. He added his thumb, stroking her clit while she made a series of nonsensical sounds. Then he pulled his hand away, and she let out a soft little whine.

“Patience, McIntire.”

She wiggled her hips. “I’m done being patient.”

He leaned up and flicked his tongue over her breast. “Your nipples are perfect.”

She laughed. Out of embarrassment or because his compliment sounded so heartfelt, she wasn’t sure which. Again she latched onto the banter that might help her find her footing. “I’m sure you know what you’re talking about, having seeing a few hundred pairs.”

He neither confirmed nor denied, only spoke with quiet authority. “Trust me, Lil, they don’t all look like yours.” Lowering his head, he took one on his tongue in the faint light slanting over her chest. He must have known she watched, because he spared her a glance, his dark eyes zeroing in on her when he said, “Delicious.”

He licked his bottom lip, and then drew the flat of his tongue slowly over her again. She shifted beneath him, unable to stop watching his slow assault, unable to keep from pressing her hips against the part of him she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about.

“I want to see yours.” Her voice was weak. So weak.

“No,” he said, not moving away from her breasts.

Hands in his hair, she wasn’t sure whether to guide him or pull him away. She was dying a little, in a very good way. “Why?” Unable to keep from teasing him, she added, “Is it tiny?”

He made a choking sound and lifted his head. The dampness on his lips shined in the meager light, and his eyes narrowed as he peered at her through a million dark lashes.

“You tell me.” His smile turned predatory as he nudged her entrance with his erection.

She gasped at the contact. Definitely not tiny. But she’d known that, had intended for him to answer her challenge. “Then let me see it,” she said with all the conviction she could muster. Which wasn’t much.

He moved until his face was over hers. Against her lips, he muttered in a low, almost threatening tone, “I’d rather you feel it.” Then he pushed into her another inch.

The sound that came from her lips wasn’t a gasp, wasn’t feminine at all, actually. It was downright guttural. More like a guh followed by an expelled breath. Because grunting was oh-so-sexy. This was one argument Marcus was winning. Clearly. He knew it, too, sliding deeper into her and pulling a long, low groan of satisfaction from her throat.

“Have it your way, Black,” she managed, her eyes rolling back in her head as she shifted her body to accommodate him.

On his elbows, he hovered over her, blotting out the light with his body. He slid in to the hilt and paused, stretching her, filling her.

“Lily.” A deep groan reverberated from his chest to hers. “Finally. Out of my dreams.”

The words penetrated some part of her she didn’t want them to, so instead she moved her hands over his body, admiring the curve his rounded shoulders, the deep planes and lines of his abdominal muscles. She loved the feel of him, hard but soft, strong but gentle. And from the throbbing member nestled between her legs, she’d admit, there was a lot of him to feel.

He pulled out slowly and she wrapped her legs around him, dug her heels into his tight butt, and savored every inch of him as he slid home again. Encased within her, he blew out a breath and dropped his forehead to hers.

“In a hurry?” he asked.

“No.” Maybe. For some reason, the slower he went, the more she felt things she worried she shouldn’t be feeling. As barriers went, speeding things up was a pathetic attempt at having one, but there had to be boundaries if they expected to be done with each other after tonight.