I needed to hear her say it.

More than I could ever remember needing anything in my life. That she wanted my cock inside her. To know it was me she needed.

Fuck.

I couldn’t lie to myself here in this alleyway with the most exasperatingly beautiful woman I’d ever known. I needed that hit of Georgia again. I’d jacked off in the goddamn shower like a teenager this morning. The memory of her curves, the feel of my dick gliding inside of her, the rain pounding around us as I drilled into her like some mindless sex addict—but right then, it just didn’t matter. She was as necessary as oxygen.

Sex wasn’t exactly at the top of my list with my workload, but I wasn’t a monk either. I had outlets when I needed them. The fact that I’d ignored this side of me for so long had to be a factor.

No, asshole. It’s her.

Georgia.

“Say it,” I growled. I needed to know some of this madness was hers too.

“Fill me up, Max.” Her voice was thready as I squeezed around her clit. Slick and plump to the touch, the bundle of nerves only needed a few more strokes and she’d flood my hand. That silky heat that I’d drank down like a man dying of thirst last night.

Her salted tangerine taste infused my senses.

My throat ached for it and my cock wanted to be covered in it. For fuck’s sake, I wanted to watch her lick it off my cock.

The wild pictures in my head—the film that was running on a constant loop—was going to kill me. This wasn’t me. Gray silk sheets and a warm, willing woman was my preference. Yes, I was a little dominant in bed, but nothing like this.

Here in public. Anyone could chance upon us. But that was the thrill of it. That thrill that we were mutually feeding. Was that all we were?

I wasn’t sure I cared to look too deeply into that.

I slipped my fingers out of her and she whimpered. I dug into my inside pocket for my wallet and for the condom that I’d replaced. Had I known this was going to happen again?

It had been on repeat in my head so much I’d wanted it and hoped for it. I flipped out the condom and tucked my wallet away again. The fact that I’d inadvertently stashed two in my wallet was either prophetic or pathetic.

I flipped up the skirt of her sundress, and the wild pattern of purple flowers and green stalks over cream glowed against her tanned skin. Her rounded ass and the white panties made me groan.

White cotton.

The incongruous innocence to what I was doing with her tore at me. Not enough to stop. No, all I could think about was pulling them aside enough to watch my cock slide inside her.

Jesus.

My fingers did just that. Dragged them aside and her swollen lips were there just waiting for me to plow into.

I pulled her hand away from my cock and placed it on the wall, high above her head like her other hand. Then I gripped her hips and dragged her up onto her toes so we lined up.

“This is what you need? Here in this alley. Will that door open?”

“I-I don’t know.”

I crowded into her, my dick pressing into her thigh. “I don’t even care. I don’t think I could stop if someone did walk out here and watch. I want you that much. It would take ten minutes to get you into a hotel and do this properly.”

“Fuck the hotel. I want this. I like this.”

“Yes,” I hissed. This place on the edge fed the need I already had. Would it be as powerful on a bed with silk sheets and soft music? I just didn’t know.

“What do you want, Miss Barrows?”

She shuddered against me and I got off on the power of it. God, I was feeding on her like a high. The endorphin rush I got when I scaled Mt. Rainier and rappelled down with my brothers was the only thing close.

And it paled in comparison.

“Your cock inside me.” Her voice was a broken whisper.

I’d needed to hear her say it so badly that there were no words left in me. I slammed inside of her and drove her up onto her toes once more. Our height difference made my thighs burn but I didn’t care. I was inside her again.

She clamped down on my cock and I blew out a long, low groan. I wrapped one arm around her ribs until her breasts rested on my forearm and I gripped her other hand.

Brick dug and scraped over my knuckles as I laced our fingers and held her back against me and hammered into her. The angle was exquisite and excruciating. I slid my arm up between her breasts for leverage, to drag her down onto me. I held onto her shoulder and lost myself to the precious torture.

I needed more.

I cupped her jaw, twisting her to meet my mouth.

The kiss was clicking teeth and rough lips. I sucked on her tongue and she grazed my bottom lip with her teeth as we lost ourselves in the visceral pounding of flesh. My end was coming too fast.

I’d wanted her too badly, had reacted too strongly to seeing her touch Bellamy. I’d needed to brand her, cover her, and now I was speeding toward an orgasm I couldn’t stave off.

She turned her mouth away from mine and buried her face against our stacked arms. She sunk her teeth into my forearm a moment before I felt her flutter around my cock, then squeeze harder. I buried my mouth in her hair at the back of her neck and answered her bite with one of my own.

This wasn’t me.

I didn’t mark and I sure as fuck didn’t bite. But with her, nothing was within normal parameters.

My breathing was fast and my heart was going to bust through my sternum, but I held on and rode her orgasm, fighting against my own.

When she sobbed, I lost the fight and came so hard my spine shuddered and cramped before righting itself. I curled around her to protect her from the rough cut of the brick and to hold myself inside of her as my cum filled the condom. Part of me wanted to strip it off and splash inside of her, coat every inch of her from the inside out with my semen, my sweat, my smell.

It didn’t make sense.

Branding her was bordering on obsession.

Part of me screamed to run in the other direction, but the more dominant side of me held her close and pulsed inside her to feel that sweet release still riding her. Her tears dripped down my arm and her shudders dragged me back into the moment.

This place wasn’t safe for me on a few fundamental levels. None of which mattered right then.

I pulled out of her and tied off the condom. The fact that I could dispose of it so quickly made it seem even worse.

Now there was only the scent of sunshine and Georgia mixed with a hint of decay. We were far enough from the dumpsters that they didn’t draw away from what we’d done, but if I dwelled on our environment for too long, it would cheapen the moment.

I pulled her panties back where they belonged. To trap the scent of us mingling together against her pussy. I wanted to be close to her as long as possible, even if it meant I wasn’t truly next to her. I cupped my hand over the cotton and felt how swollen and wet she still was.

She jerked and swiped a hand over her cheek. I turned her in my arms and pulled her hand away from her face. Her long lashes were starred with tears and her pupils were blown out.

I slipped an arm around her neck and pulled her flush against me. Words didn’t seem to make sense, so I didn’t bother to try to figure out what to say. After a few moments, I drew her out of the shadows and into the sunshine.

I slipped my hand into hers and our fingers twisted into a simple link. As if our fingers understood what my head didn’t. The sidewalk was still quiet, but there were people coming out. Foot traffic was doubling up and we’d walked out like nothing happened.

Her shell-shocked eyes held a similar look from the night before, but this time, I didn’t want her to run. I wanted her to know it was me who gave her that pleasure and understand that it was something rare.

I ushered her through the crosswalk and into the parking garage. She stiffened and looked around. I tightened my hold.

I spotted her car and drew her toward it. Again, she tensed, but today the spot we approached was well-lit. I crowded her against her door. Not touching her because I didn’t trust myself. I braced an arm on either side of her and peered down at her.

There was another condom in my wallet and my cock was already half-hard for her.

No.

That wasn’t happening again.

Not now.

“Stop looking at me like that.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because this shouldn’t be happening. Yesterday I understood, but not this. Not now.”

I could feel her slipping away. She was being smart. I knew I wasn’t, but the logical side of my brain was on hiatus. I was completely ruled by my—what was it called? Lizard brain? When wants and needs took over for logic.

That was me right now.

Where this woman was concerned anyway.

I pulled a phone out of my pocket. A brand new iPhone with all the bells and whistles. I knew that was her preference simply since she was as iPad obsessed as I was at work. Once I got used to an operating system, I was pretty monogamous. Considering eighty percent of my app creations and products were Apple based or Apple compatible, it seemed safe.

“This has a special solar battery included in the case, and it’s also shatterproof.”

She took the phone. “Wow. Evidently, I’ll be giving Chapel some more of my money.”

“No. This is yours.”

“Oh.” Her brows knit together. “No, I can’t.” She pressed the phone back against my chest. “No.”

“Please. I know what a hassle it is to get a new phone. Let me do this for you.”

She tilted her head to the side. “Why?”

“Why not?”

I took the phone from her and pressed my thumb against the scanner. Her eyes went huge. “You’re my passcode?”

“Just so I could give it to you. You can delete my fingerprints once you add yours.” Not that it would take much to break into her phone if I really wanted to. But if the public knew just how easy it was to hack their phones, they’d lose their minds.

She looked down at it and pressed the green contacts button. “Added yourself, did you?”

“Absolutely. You just need to log in with your password, and everything will come over.”

“Is that right?”

I knew she was withdrawing. I truly didn’t know how to stop it. I slipped my arm around her back, under her cardigan, and traced my thumb over the low-cut back of her dress. Her silky skin was warm and lured me closer. “Georgia, I don’t want you to shelve me into a customer slot anymore.”

“But you are.”

“When I’m with you, I’m not.”

She curled her fingers around the phone and rested her hand against my chest. “How are we supposed to make that distinction?”

Something stilled inside of me. The idea was ghostly and nebulous, but it was there. When I was in her bloodstream, she forgot to think, forgot to say no.

I needed that part of her to be mine.

The part that couldn’t turn me down.

I looked down at her phone. My lips moved before my brain could catch up. “When I email you.”

She frowned. “What does that mean?”

I licked my lips. Yes. This I could work with. My cell burned against my thigh. I plucked her phone out of her hands and opened the email program. I had a dummy website that wasn’t attached to any of my work or home programs.

Something that I could use only for us.

I logged in with my voice and created an email for her and for me. A mirrored account that would be our secret. That no one could access except for me. I set it up to push to her phone with a vibration that pulsed three times.

“Just wait for an email.” I handed her back the phone. “No one has to know about us if you don’t want them to.”

I cupped her face and drew her up onto her toes. Instead of the kiss she was expecting, I brushed my nose along hers and breathed her in. I didn’t touch her lips, didn’t touch the rest of her.

I watched her mouth, saw the unconscious want in how she dragged her teeth over her lower lip. I stepped back. One huge step so that I didn’t move back in and offer up anything to keep her.

She had to want this as much as I did.

“Miss Barrows.”

She cleared her throat and inclined her head. “Mr. Chapel.”

I waited for her get into her car, for it to turn on before I spun on my heel and stalked across the parking garage, back out to the sidewalk and to my building. I didn’t look back.

Even if I wanted to with every breath.

I took out my phone instead. This field I understood. I’d give her exactly what she wanted.

Two minutes later, I got an email notification. I got into my office and opened it.