"I thought you didn't see clients on Valentine's Day," I said, forcing the words out .

He chuckled, not the least bit offended. "This isn't a client set-up, Michelle. This is you...and me. Are you interested or not ?"

The answer was pretty damn clear. I clung to his shoulders like I didn't plan to ever let go. He had one knee between my thighs, and I was riding him like I didn't ever plan to stop .

Gee, I wondered what my answer was .

But he wasn't going to take body language for an answer. His teeth raked a burning trail down my neck, then he kissed his way back up. "Well, sugar ?"

Half-blind, I nodded, not entirely sure what I was getting myself in to, but for once, everything felt...amazing . There was nothing awkward or scary or wrong about this, and I wanted to ride it to the very end .

If it went bad somewhere along the way, well, it wouldn't be the first time .

"I'll take that as a yes," Jake said, his mouth closing over mine. I groaned when he used his tongue to tease and gain entrance, then slid it across mine in an erotic dance .

I was panting by the time he lifted his head, and when he stepped back, I reached for him, not ready for it to end .

But he simply took my hand. "I've got a room back at the hotel. Will you join me ?"

Some part of my brain clicked on, made me wonder if he'd planned this. And the rest of my brain was thinking... wow .

If he had , then that meant some part of him must have wanted me...right ?

* * *

T he walk back to the hotel, logically, only took a couple of minutes .

It seemed to drag by, but at the same time, the seconds and minutes disappeared quicker than I could handle, and my nerves mounted by the second. Jake, apparently a mind reader as well as a professional at sex, slid his hand down my arm, then twined our fingers .

"Do you miss Chicago?" he asked, voice friendly and light, as though this was like...well, a real date .

"Sometimes." Swallowing, I decided to go along. "What about you? Do you miss Texas? What part are you from ?"

"Nowhere you would have heard of, sugar. It's just a speck on the map, about an hour north of Dallas." He lifted his shoulder in an easy shrug, and with a skill that had to have come from practice, he sidestepped and changed the subject back to me. "You said you went to college in Iowa. Why did you pick there ?"

"Because it wasn't in Chicago," I replied .

By that time, we were back at the hotel and at the elevator. Determined not to talk about me anymore for fear of revealing things I'd rather not reveal, I glanced up at him. "Which floor ?"

A slow smile curled his lips, and I had a feeling he knew exactly what I was doing. My cheeks were flaming, but I'd take this bull by the horns any day before I'd risk talking much more about my past. I'd worked too hard to leave the bits and pieces of it behind me .

Once we were in the elevator, he swiped his keycard and it started on a trip straight up to the penthouse level. "Nice," I said, smiling at him .

He crooked a finger at me .

I took a nervous step toward him, and he caught me by the hips, turning me until I was staring out the glass walls that made up three-quarters of the car. "I've thought about having my hands on you half the night...actually, that's not the truth. I've been thinking about putting my hands on you almost from the second I saw you." He had somehow managed to smooth them inside my coat, resting them on my bare shoulders. They were still chilled from outside and the contact was shocking. Swallowing a gasp, I pressed my lips together to keep from whimpering as he stroked the coat backward and out of the way. "But...there's still time to change your mind ."

Oddly enough, it was hearing those words that reassured me the most .

"I don't think I want to change my mind," I said softly, the words faintly rough. I felt out of breath, like I'd run a mile or two instead of walked along the sidewalk with him for a block or so out in the cold night air .

"Good." He kissed me just behind the ear and stepped away .

I realized the elevator doors had opened, and I turned, facing him. Wow. I was really doing this .

Seconds blurred away until they didn't even seem to exist, and I was in the room with him before I even really had a chance to process another concrete thought .

"I've had this thought in my head," Jake murmured as the door closed behind us .

"What's that?" Was this when he told me that he hadn't been serious? Was this when Gina and Aunt Blair popped out and some raunchy tune started to play, and he started to strip, their idea of an early birthday present ?

"Gina said you're a good girl..." he whispered in my ear. "And I imagine you are, but I think you have one idea in mind. And you're not that type of good girl. That type of good girl doesn't exist ."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, my voice shaking .

"The type of good girl who thinks sex isn't for them. Good sex, hard sex, fun sex, rough sex, any kind of sex that a woman enjoys is for other women...but not you." He kissed the notch where my collarbones met, then dragged his lips up to kiss me, full on the mouth, the kiss naked and raw and full of lust. "Is that who you think you are, Michelle ?"

"I..."

Fingers slid under my skirt .

We still stood at the door. It was closed, but we hadn't moved any farther into the room. I hadn't so much as taken off the long coat I wore or my shoes .

And he had his hand in my panties .

I'd worn dark, opaque stockings that were thicker than regular hose in an attempt to keep my legs warm – and they were also sexier than hell – but they were no barrier to that hand that had just dipped inside the waistband of my bikini and I cried out as he circled one finger around my clitoris .

"Well?" Jake asked, his voice rougher now .

"Well..." I blinked, not sure what he was talking about at all, then I didn't even realize he was talking or that I needed to be answering him because he'd slid two fingers inside me – just like that. I was wet, and I took him easily, and it felt better than anything I'd ever imagined .

But then he started to move, pumping those fingers in and out, and I couldn't hardly breathe, and he was still talking to me, telling me that he loved how wet I was, how tight I was and that as soon as I came, he was going to sink his cock inside me .

"I can't!" I whispered, my voice harsh and ragged. "I...Jake, I don't know how. Not like this ."

"Yes, you do. You're already doing it." He kissed me again, his tongue licking the inside of my mouth like I was made of candy and he had a mad need for sugar. At the same time, he twisted his fingers, scissoring them inside me .

I...felt...all...of it .

Even when he scraped his thumb over my clitoris. Once. Twice. Three times. The fourth knocked the breath right out of me, and I couldn't even scream. My legs sagged, the strength giving way even though I was trying to ride his hand harder, deeper, desperate for more, more, more ...

Jake was right. I was already doing it. A climax knocked me sideways, and I cried out his name, clutching at his shoulders for support so I didn't collapse right there on the floor of the hotel room .

He muttered my name against my neck, still stroking me, and a moment later, he pushed something into my hand. "Open this for me, sugar. If I stop touching you, I might cry ."

"I..." Open what ?

He pulled back and eased away, still half supporting me, and I looked down, saw the foil packet in my hand. "Oh ."

Stupid, I thought. I was so stupid not even thinking of protection .

Blood rushed to my cheeks and my hands fumbled with it as I fought to tear the foil .

"Better let me put it on, or I'll embarrass myself," Jake said, taking the rubber from me the second it was open .

More than likely, he was being nice, so I didn't embarrass myself. I didn't know how to put a condom on a guy. I barely knew how to have sex .

Abruptly, tears stung my eyes, and I looked down, closing my eyes so I couldn't see him .

"I'm going to fuck you right here, Michelle, with your clothes still on and your back up against the door." His voice came out clipped, almost hard, startling me into looking up at him .

The second I did, he kissed me again, and I was lost in it, just as I'd been every other time he'd kissed me .

He boosted me up, and I gasped when the head of his cock pressed against me, but there was no time to prepare myself for what was coming, because it happened almost immediately. He pressed against me, the fat tip slipping, then sliding against me. Then he was inside me, and I groaned at the exquisite fullness. So good .

"Give me your mouth," he said, fisting his hand in my hair and tugging .

I didn't know what else to do but comply, and I turned toward the sound of his voice, unaware a tear had spilled free .

He rocked forward, then withdrew, and I cried in protest against his lips, clutching at him and trying to pull him back to me .

But I didn't need to, because he was already thrusting forward again, deeper this time, and I shuddered. He withdrew again, and I tugged him back, the dance repeating itself over and over again with him sinking deeper each time until he was buried inside me completely. I could feel how deeply he was inside me, the coarse hair at the base of his cock a sweet friction against my clitoris every time he thrust in to the hilt .

He slid his mouth down my neck, his teeth closing over the sensitive arch where the curve met the shoulder. One big hand palmed my ass, and he canted me higher, and I tensed as the new angle had my nerves lighting up .

Pleasure I'd never known started to sizzle and burn .

I gasped as he bit me, then began to suck on my neck, each pull in time with the rhythm of his hips, the head scraping over that spot deep inside .

Oh...oh... oh !

I screamed as the orgasm exploded inside me .

Jake grunted and drove into me harder, tearing his mouth from my neck and slamming it down over mine. Both hands now cupped my ass, and he worked me up and down, the friction more intense, almost too much as the climax went on and on, and still he moved .

"Again, Michelle," he muttered against my lips. "Feel it again ."

Again?

There was no ...

He slid one hand in between us and rubbed my clitoris .

At the same time, he caught my lower lip between his teeth and bit me. It was a light, almost delicate pain, at odds with the intensity with which he shafted me, and it was just too much .

I did exactly as he'd ordered .

Screaming as he pulled yet another orgasm from me .