"I just want a chance to be with you, Mandy. It's all I really want. Just once, and you'll understand just how much I desire you … how much I need you."
His fingers were tangled in her hair, his eyes staring directly into her soul. She couldn't help but acknowledge his desire for her. His self-assurance was staggering. It stunned and infuriated her at the same time. Made her nerve endings strum so fiercely she wanted to scream at her body to stop betraying her. She was not giving in to Ethan. She was going to walk out here with her composure intact. He would not, could not, sway her from her resolve.
Still, she couldn't help but draw in one deep, heady breath, drinking in the scents and sensation of Ethan's pounding need that enveloped her. Damn. To be wanted so much was a potent drug, almost addictive. She did not want to leave his heated presence. The knowledge that he truly wanted her, all of her, every last curve and imperfection, gave her such immense confidence and power yet slayed her at the same time. But she had to fight the oncoming rush of emotion before it consumed her within its madly swirling depths …
"Ethan, please," she sighed heavily, heart pumping like a marathon runner as she finally forced herself to look directly into his emotion-filled eyes. "If you had me, you would realize that I am not what you need. Your world … I don't fit in it, Ethan. You need someone wild, confident, and accepting of the crazy life you live. Someone very different from me … "
Ethan wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her tight against him as he nuzzled her arched neck. "You want promises, Mandy? You want me to tell you this will last forever or I'll be true to you? I could tell you anything you want to hear, or whatever I want you to believe. But that will mean nothing compared to what I can show you. You'll never doubt how I feel about you once I'm inside you, taking you so hard you'll feel the imprint of each thrust for days to come."
Oh. God. Mandy bit her lip and focused on breathing so that she wouldn't pass out. The tension in the room turned into something solid you could slice through with an axe. The fingers that were cupping one shoulder now pulled down the neckline of her flimsy top, revealing the delicate line of her shoulder blade. With his warm lips, he drew a straight line across the space between her neck and upper arm. Branding her, stunning her with high-voltage kisses on her skin.
"Ethan." At times like this, his name was no more than a gasp of pained pleasure on her lips. She jerked slightly and he did what she least expected but secretly craved: he grabbed her breasts. Simply laid his large, sexy hands over them and squeezed. That hot, downright hungry groping did more to Mandy than any seductively soft caress would have done.
"I know you want to say no," Ethan said quietly, his thumb flicking at her nipples, now shamelessly hard and pointed beneath her blouse. "But I won't let you."
"You said I could trust you," Mandy sobbed in desperation, her body instinctively melting against his as she felt the pulsating hardness of him burning at the center of her apex, almost cradling him there like he already belonged. "You promised, Ethan."
Her accusing tone did nothing to deter him. In fact, it seemed to make him even more determined. He gripped her soft, heavy breasts and tugged at her achingly hard nipples. Mandy's head snapped back, her neck exposed, her breath coming in pants as she felt the wet heat soaking her panties in seconds. She gasped soundlessly in shocked bliss.
"I promised not to hurt you." Beneath his calm tone, she could hear his breathing grow raspy. His erection throbbed thicker against her rounded belly, and she could feel his fingers digging lustily into her giving flesh. "And you can trust me, Mandy. Trust me to give you the deepest pleasure you've ever known. When I put my tongue here … and here," he said, cupping one breast and then shifting low to cup the heated mound in between her thighs … "And everywhere else you never dreamed a tongue could reach. I'm going to make you mine, baby. All mine. And you're going to love every minute of it."
Mandy shuddered at his words. His touch on her body was deliberate, dominantly sensual, and she shivered at the intense desire on his face as he searched her eyes for her consent. His head moved in a slant to better position his mouth over hers; his sweet breath tickled her nostrils.
"Close your eyes. Please. Just … feel," he growled, his lips just a hair's breadth from hers.
Mandy's eyes fluttered shut even before she knew she was obeying. Something deep inside of her wanted to know how it felt to yield, to totally surrender her sensuality into the hands of a lover. Even for just a moment …
Ethan kissed her in the next instant, his lips fusing with hers, capturing her mouth with his. His fingers found their way into her hair once again, tangling with the soft strands. Open and ardent, she tasted sweet like honey and soft with incredible femininity, her curves pressing against him, her body wrapped in his embrace.
Everything changed at once. Mandy's body went boneless, barely able to support her weight. She gasped, instinctively accepting his insistent tongue. In the dark world beneath her closed lids, she soared and crashed, fell apart and merged back again, claimed by him. Moaning with pleasure, she gave in to him and she heard him groan as he deepened the kiss with a ferocity that made her knees weak. There was a scraping of teeth on flesh blending in the most erotic kiss of her life.
She felt it. Deep within his kiss she sensed his lust, pain, isolation, and hunger – everything that made him Ethan. And just like that, her soul opened up to him, accepting him without further hesitation. Every nerve in her body was on fire. Her breathing hitched. She wriggled her hips with urgency.
Ethan's hands slid down to cup her jean-clad ass. Desire shot like a rocket straight to her pussy, and she found her own hands reaching up to touch his hair, his face. It felt so good to touch him as if he was the only man in the world. She moaned even louder.
Like Lego pieces snapping into place, their lips worked together to build the momentum of desire between them. A multitude of temptations slithered through Mandy and it would have been so easy to take the final plunge and wrap her arms around his neck, push her body into his, and ravish his beautiful, sexy mouth with hungry kisses of her own.
She was panting; she needed air. She was smothered by him and felt her fists thumping groggily against his chest. Only then did he pull back slightly. He didn't look like he was ready to stop. Nowhere near ready. If anything, the burning navy in his eyes told her he was ready to finish what he started barely one day ago when she'd been in the same situation in his bedroom closet. How could she have been so foolish as to trust him again? To trust herself around him?
Now that the pressure of his lips was gone from hers, she could almost get her brain to function. She pushed back into the door as if she could somehow get it to give and dissolve into a mist she could fall into to make good on her escape.
But even as she backed away from him, still he pulled her closer with his hands moving around to cup her ass. He half-lifted her to rest between his thighs and she was pressed against his erection. Oh. She'd been so sure she'd imagined its impressiveness the last time but now that she felt it again, pulsating against her, she knew what magnificence lay in store. And yet she realized she'd make the biggest mistake if she let this madness continue.
Her fists still clenched against his muscular chest. "Ethan, I can't do this."
"You won't know if you don't even try," he rasped, fingertips sensually stroking over the nipples that were clearly outlined beneath her thin shirt. Making Mandy almost want to cry out for him to rip her top and bra off and get naked and ready.
"Don't you want me, Mandy? Don't you want to feel me inside of you?" He moved his hand to the front of her jeans before dipping it beneath the waistband, seeking her slick, hot mound. Mandy found it almost impossible to do more than screech in shocked pleasure.
He was aggressive and relentless, sliding his fingers inside her before she could stop him. She must have been so wet for him to push in so smoothly. He pushed it deep inside her and she felt it. She really felt it - down to her toes, her pussy swelling until it throbbed relentlessly. She'd have buckled to the ground if he hadn't grabbed her around the shoulders with his free arm to steady her. Mandy felt the inner crook of his elbow near her lips as she turned her face into his arm - and almost gave in to the urge to open her mouth wide and sink her teeth into his bulging tricep. The dark tribal ink swam before her eyes and her mouth watered for a piece of him - just one delicious taste. And she berated herself for sinking to his animalistic level and wanting him with such complete abandon.