Into the Night by Janelle Denison

now he was glad he’d splurged.
    “I can’t wait to see it,” she said, but it was obvious by the single-minded way she tugged his shirt from his pants and pushed it up and over his head, right then and there, that she wasn’t in any big hurry to rush off to the bedroom.
    Neither was he. They’d get there, in time.
    He tossed the shirt aside and sucked in a sharp breath when she splayed her cool hands low on his abdomen, then slowly skimmed her palms upward, using her fingers to familiarize herself with the hard planes of his chest. Her soft hands felt amazing on his skin, and when her thumbs grazed his taut nipples, he couldn’t contain the groan that ripped from his throat.
    His response seemed to set her off, too. She went in for a kiss, nipping at his bottom lip as her hands slid back down to the waistband of his trousers and started unbuckling his belt, her movements quick and impatient, as if she couldn’t wait to get to the main event. She was back to being the aggressive one, and at the rate she was going he knew that once she had his aching shaft in her hands this encounter was going to spiral into a hot, fast, no-frills coupling that would be over in minutes.
    Normally, he wouldn’t complain, but there was so much about this woman he wanted to savor—with his hands, his mouth, and eventually, his entire body. For him, there was no rush. They had all night, and he planned to make the most of those hours together—and that meant taking charge of the situation before he was too far gone to think straight.
    Grasping her wrists, he pulled her hands away from his belt and drew his head back, breaking the contact of her lips on his. She looked up at him in confusion, and he took advantage of her momentary bewilderment to guide her back a few steps, until he had her pressed up against the nearest wall and his thighs bracketed hers.
    Her eyes widened in surprise, and he smiled at her as he straightened her arms back to her sides, then flattened her palms against the cool surface behind her. “Keep your hands against the wall, and no touching.”
    She arched a brow, though her blue eyes had gone all dark and smoky at his command. “That hardly seems fair,” she murmured, but didn’t appear too upset at the role reversal.
    He shrugged unapologetically. “My house, my rules,” he said as he trailed his fingers along the gentle swell of her hips and the indentation of her waist, tracing the lean lines of her figure through her dress. He couldn’t wait until she was naked and he could touch her bare skin and explore her sensual curves.
    She blinked her lashes lazily, though the rise and fall of her breasts told him just how aroused she was. “And if I break them?”
    Leaning into her, he brushed his lips against the shell of her ear. “There are consequences, of course.”
    She shivered in excitement. “Ummm, that just might be worth being bad.”
    He chuckled, amused by her feisty attitude. Lifting his hands, he threaded his fingers through the soft curls at the side of her face and met her velvet blue gaze. “Back at the restaurant, I let you have the first kiss. This one’s mine. And remember, no touching .”
    He dipped his head and took her mouth in a soft, chaste kiss. She groaned in frustration, clearly wanting more, and he made her suffer a bit longer, because it was so much fun to do so. He licked her bottom lip, teasing her, and gently nibbled the soft bit of flesh with his teeth.
    She whimpered, her lips automatically parting, tempting him to take what she was offering, and it was more than he could resist. With his hands entwined in the silky strands of her hair, he angled her head to the side, aligning their mouths for maximum pleasure, and deepened the contact. His tongue sank into the sweet, hot depths of her mouth, and he finally kissed her like he’d been dying to. In an instant, lust and need collided in a combustible combination of liquid heat and uncontrollable passion.
    God, she was