"Does it matter?"
Zoey shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe, a little. I don't want you to go behind your wife's back."
He smiled, stroking her pale cheek, loving how fragile she looked in the bright halogen spot shining straight down on her, like a deer in the headlamps.
"And yet you go behind your husband's?"
She shook her head. "He knows exactly what I'm getting myself into."
"Does he?"
"Pretty sure he likes to watch. Maybe next time I'll let him."
"And I get the impression you like to show him," he said, perceptive. His clear intelligence thrilling her. This was no stupid brute. He said: "It's a shame he's not here. I could show both of you what you're missing in your marriage."
She wasn't going to correct him, that she wasn't married, or that anything was missing in her relationship.
His hand touched down on her hip, felt the raw heat of her body even through her skirt. But she eluded him - skipped out of his way, suddenly the deer was out of the headlamps, dancing gracefully out of the predator's grasp.
"What would your wife think about this?"
"She does what I tell her."
He stepped up to Zoey, a hint of irritation in his features in amongst the pent-up desire, his hand seeming almost threatening as it reached up toward her chest, his thumb and forefinger pinching the edge of her blouse, fumbling with a button. It thrilled her that he was so desperate for her.
"But she's not happy about you cheating?" Zoey was almost reluctant as he popped the button, then another.
"She accepts what I need."
His strong hands forced open her shirt, revealing the devilish purple and black bra with its lace trim, the little bow playfully joining her two cups.
"You don't think it's cruel, demanding that she accept your infidelity?"
Zoey's slight sneer was a little too much for him to take, provoking him to fiercely tear her shirt from her body in a manner that took her breath away, sending buttons flying.
"What're you doing?"
"What d'you think I'm doing?"
"Maybe I don't want to be the one hurting your wife tonight."
He grabbed her, twirled her as though they were salsa dancing, and then he was behind her, holding her in an arm lock to assert himself over her.
"I think it's too late for you to back out now, don't you?"
She gasped as one of his hands tightened around her throat, and the other deftly flicked down the zip on her skirt, and then forced that particular item over her thighs to the floor. He kissed her neck, only it was more like devouring her neck, vampire-like. Breathing in her perfume. She felt his hot breath on her skin.
He was strong, she knew she wasn't going to be able to counter him. A shiver of silvery arousal coursed down her body, ending up with a strong tingling throb between her legs. Something about her helplessness was getting her going. If she was paranoid that her Aiden was actually not so happy with all this, that this would hurt him even though he always insisted it wouldn't - well, there was nothing she could do about that now.
Or maybe she was just telling herself that.
His hand slid over her stomach and abdomen, and down under the waistband of her matching satin-and-lace panties.
Zoey heard him moan quietly at discovering that she was shaved perfectly smooth between her legs. He wasn't expecting that - there wasn't even a hint of down on her mound. It had made her feel thrillingly dirty and sexy all day, and now she was being rewarded with the surprise and delight of this stranger.
She could feel his hardness pressing into her from behind, even through his suit, but her immediate focus was on his hand - thinking, another man has his hand on her pussy. A powerful, dominant stranger was seeking out her most personal area, which was already astoundingly wet.
A bad man she shouldn't even have been talking to in the first place had his fingers inside her most intimate space.
"I bet your husband's at home crying at the thought of what you're up to," he growled softly in her ear. "Letting some other guy turn you into his whore."
Zoey shook her head. "He's not the crying type. And I'm not your whore."
"We'll see about that."
Zoey suddenly felt a jolt of surprise flood her chest with white-hot pain as a hard, sharp point suddenly pressed against her cheek, trailed down her face and neck, then slowly dragged up over the swell of her breast before grazing over her stomach. She was suddenly afraid - this had never happened before. Brandon had been cruel with his fists, but she'd never had a blade pressed menacingly to her flesh before.
How far was he going with this? Was the knife even sharp? Her mind whirled in horror as it sliced through the waistband of her panties above her right hip, cutting the fabric as easy as tissue paper.