Traded by Lorhainne Eckhart

was not a side of her that she allowed out, so why now?
    She leaned into Jake. He had her hand in his, holding her to him. He was leading her, and she wanted to go wherever he was taking her.
    “Jake…” Her heart thudded, and he stepped around in front of her, pressing her arms above her head, against the glass. He kissed her hard and passionately, a deep kiss where she could taste all of him. His tongue brushed hers, and she breathed him in, his scent like a forbidden fruit her body craved. She realized she’d probably die if he pulled away. He pinned her against the back of the elevator. He was so strong and male around her, and he had her where he wanted her.
    The elevator dinged vaguely in the back of her mind, and Jake pulled away. She gasped and blinked, dazed as if she’d just been tossed around in a hurricane. All her emotions were jumbled, her nerves exposed and raw. She wanted Jake, the sexy football star, who was still holding her hand and pulling her out of the elevator and down the hall to his door. Her legs were trembling, and each step she wobbled unsteadily on her heels. If he hadn’t been holding on to her, she’d have fallen flat on her face.
    He glanced down at her. He was so tall that even in her pumps she had to look up, as his shoulders were level with her nose. When she did look up, it was into those amazing, secretive deep eyes, which she’d never seen in a man before. She wondered if he was the type of guy she’d spend a lifetime getting to know only to discover she’d just tapped the surface. He opened the door to his room, and she walked right in.
    She heard the door close behind her as she took in the king-size bed, all white with pillows and a plush, inviting duvet. Then she realized this probably wasn’t such a good idea. Run. She heard the word in her head, faint and said without any conviction, but she didn’t want to. She wanted Jake to touch her, to want her badly, as much as she wanted him. But this was just sex, as he put it.
    Maybe he knew she was reconsidering his offer, as he stepped up behind her, slid his arms around her waist, and pulled her against him, into him. It was quiet in the room, and she could hear his breath, her heartbeat, and nothing else.
    “I don’t know if this is wise,” she said. “It’s the wine, Jake. Maybe we need to take a minute.” She started to pull away and turn around, but he somehow maneuvered her back until her legs touched the bed and they folded beneath her. He was over her, all that hard muscle so inviting and ready for her to touch. She wanted to touch all of it, every part of him, and it was killing her not to be able to run her hands over his nakedness. She fisted her hands before sliding them over his biceps and magnificent sculpted arms, feeling his cotton shirt between them.
    “You don’t want this?” He leaned in and brushed his lips lightly on her chest, just above her breast, and she felt a spark of desire shoot through her. He kept kissing her slowly, teasing over her shoulder, her neck, then hovering just above her lips, waiting for her to say no. But her heart was hammering so hard that she was fast losing the battle to push him away. She didn’t want to think anymore. She just wanted to feel, to feel Jake all over her, inside her, to just be here with him now.
    “Yes?” he whispered above her, then slipped off her glasses and reached out to set them on the nightstand. The question…she knew he was waiting for her to say it. He brushed his lips over hers. She could taste him beyond the wine, and it was a taste she wanted to sample more of.
    “Yes, dammit.”
    He smiled above her, his lids heavy as he watched her with such desire and then kissed her, angling his head, sliding his lips over hers as he deepened the kiss. He moved on top of her, all that male hardness, and she could feel his desire pressing into her. He reached for the elastic in her hair and yanked it out before running his hands through her long