scoot out from underneath him.
But he captured her with his body.
"Are you afraid, Ann?" he crooned as he settled between her legs. "You should be. Because what I want from you isn't your death, but your surrender."
When he talked like that, his lips moving against her neck, he made her panicky. "What do you mean?"
"I mean I'm not going to take your virginity." Lifting his head, he smiled, and his teeth shone white and sharp. "You're going to give it to me."
"No!" For three years, she'd been his administrative assistant, and she'd never seen him fail any challenge.
"I swear you will."
"I ... will . . . not!" She aimed the heel of her hand at his nose.
Barely in time, he jerked away.
She slammed his cheekbone. Her hand skidded up to smack his eye.
He caught her hand, and all semblance of the civilized man disappeared. "That's the third time today you've landed a blow on me. Since the day I became an adult, that's twice more than anyone else." Catching her other hand, he lifted them both above her head and pinned them in one of his.
For the first time, she felt the weight of a man:
heavy, muscled, hard. He held her down, keeping her in place to do with as he wished.
"No more secrets." With his free hand, he loosened the button that kept her bodice together. As if he were unwrapping a present, he lifted the two halves away from her body.
The expression on his face made her swallow nervously.
He looked as hungry as the big bad wolf.
But when he cupped one breast and placed his mouth on the other, he was as gentle as a whisper. He was more of a breath than a touch, and every nerve in her body sighed in response.
The earth cradled her below. His body heated her above. The rain fell directly on her upturned face. Everything about this moment was primal, intense . . . primitive. She was a victim of nature's fury. She was a sacrifice to Jasha's need. Yet a willing sacrifice: Each time his tongue circled her nipple, she yielded more wholly.
The discomfort of unwilling arousal and the dampness between her legs grew, and she twisted beneath him, fighting to free herself before she gave him what he wanted.
Everything.
He pressed his cheek on her collarbone and chuckled. "Wrap your legs around my hips and you'll be more comfortable."
And open herself to him even more? She was already uncomfortable with this level of intimacy—and uncomfortable was an understatement. "How dumb do you think I am?"
He lifted his head from her chest The rain blistered down. His hair dripped, and water beaded on his face. Behind him, lightning zigzagged so brightly, a negative photographic image of him seared her retinas. He smiled, but that smile told her all too clearly that this was another battle he intended to win. "I have never thought you were dumb. But I do think— know—that before this is over, you'll do as I command. Ann . . ."
Even the way he said her name had changed. In the office, he used it as a helpful piece of furniture, like "File cabinet" or "Copy machine." Now his warm tones lingered over the single vowel, the double consonant, transforming a name she'd always considered the ultimate in dull into something exotic and tempting.
He used his voice to possess her.
He kissed each one of her eyelids closed, then put his mouth to hers.
Her eyes sprang open.
Jasha and Ann were naked, as close as a man and woman could be, yet they'd never kissed. How often she dreamed of a single kiss, intense, deep, immediate. ...
How wrong she'd been! For he savored her lips as gently as he'd savored her breast. He stroked his tongue along the seam of her lips, and when she refused to open, he stroked again in a rhythm that echoed the rumble of the thunder and the heartbeat of the earth ... or was that her heartbeat she heard?
She found her eyelids drooping. She tried to focus on his unbearably large forehead—large from this angle, at least—but she couldn't focus her interest on his face. Not when his tongue slipped so neatly
But he captured her with his body.
"Are you afraid, Ann?" he crooned as he settled between her legs. "You should be. Because what I want from you isn't your death, but your surrender."
When he talked like that, his lips moving against her neck, he made her panicky. "What do you mean?"
"I mean I'm not going to take your virginity." Lifting his head, he smiled, and his teeth shone white and sharp. "You're going to give it to me."
"No!" For three years, she'd been his administrative assistant, and she'd never seen him fail any challenge.
"I swear you will."
"I ... will . . . not!" She aimed the heel of her hand at his nose.
Barely in time, he jerked away.
She slammed his cheekbone. Her hand skidded up to smack his eye.
He caught her hand, and all semblance of the civilized man disappeared. "That's the third time today you've landed a blow on me. Since the day I became an adult, that's twice more than anyone else." Catching her other hand, he lifted them both above her head and pinned them in one of his.
For the first time, she felt the weight of a man:
heavy, muscled, hard. He held her down, keeping her in place to do with as he wished.
"No more secrets." With his free hand, he loosened the button that kept her bodice together. As if he were unwrapping a present, he lifted the two halves away from her body.
The expression on his face made her swallow nervously.
He looked as hungry as the big bad wolf.
But when he cupped one breast and placed his mouth on the other, he was as gentle as a whisper. He was more of a breath than a touch, and every nerve in her body sighed in response.
The earth cradled her below. His body heated her above. The rain fell directly on her upturned face. Everything about this moment was primal, intense . . . primitive. She was a victim of nature's fury. She was a sacrifice to Jasha's need. Yet a willing sacrifice: Each time his tongue circled her nipple, she yielded more wholly.
The discomfort of unwilling arousal and the dampness between her legs grew, and she twisted beneath him, fighting to free herself before she gave him what he wanted.
Everything.
He pressed his cheek on her collarbone and chuckled. "Wrap your legs around my hips and you'll be more comfortable."
And open herself to him even more? She was already uncomfortable with this level of intimacy—and uncomfortable was an understatement. "How dumb do you think I am?"
He lifted his head from her chest The rain blistered down. His hair dripped, and water beaded on his face. Behind him, lightning zigzagged so brightly, a negative photographic image of him seared her retinas. He smiled, but that smile told her all too clearly that this was another battle he intended to win. "I have never thought you were dumb. But I do think— know—that before this is over, you'll do as I command. Ann . . ."
Even the way he said her name had changed. In the office, he used it as a helpful piece of furniture, like "File cabinet" or "Copy machine." Now his warm tones lingered over the single vowel, the double consonant, transforming a name she'd always considered the ultimate in dull into something exotic and tempting.
He used his voice to possess her.
He kissed each one of her eyelids closed, then put his mouth to hers.
Her eyes sprang open.
Jasha and Ann were naked, as close as a man and woman could be, yet they'd never kissed. How often she dreamed of a single kiss, intense, deep, immediate. ...
How wrong she'd been! For he savored her lips as gently as he'd savored her breast. He stroked his tongue along the seam of her lips, and when she refused to open, he stroked again in a rhythm that echoed the rumble of the thunder and the heartbeat of the earth ... or was that her heartbeat she heard?
She found her eyelids drooping. She tried to focus on his unbearably large forehead—large from this angle, at least—but she couldn't focus her interest on his face. Not when his tongue slipped so neatly
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