The silence was louder than a gun going off.

This was one of the most awkward situations Lindsay had ever been in. Her last sexual encounter may have been lacking, but at least Devon lasted longer than a minute. Acute disappointment kept her mute. She didn’t know what to say or what to do.

Malik rolled off her onto his back, and they both lay there in uncomfortable silence, staring at the chandelier above her bed.

Finally, Lindsay couldn’t take the quiet anymore. If she got him out of there within the next few minutes, she could satisfy herself with one of the toys in the drawer by the bed.

She cleared her throat and sat up. “Well, um, thank you for—”

“No.” Malik sat up and shook his head. “I’m not going out like that. We’re not done.”

“Yeah, we are.”

“That was a fluke. A misfire. You have to give me another chance.”

“You don’t have to prove anything to me,” Lindsay said carefully, knowing very well how fragile the male ego could be.

“We’re not done. That has never happened to me before in my life.”

She shot him a look steeped in skepticism.

“I’m not lying. Give me a chance to redeem myself.”

“Seriously, Malik, it’s not a big deal,” she lied.

“We’re not done. Where’s your bathroom?”

She pointed with her thumb to the door behind them, and he rose from the bed. Her eyes followed his broad back. Goodness, he was built, with a tight behind and thick, muscular legs sprinkled with hair. Her aching sex wanted more of him, and before tonight, she’d conjured all sorts of wild thoughts, imagining what having sex with him would be like, but he didn’t deliver. What a disappointment.

When Malik came out of the bathroom, she was standing by the door in her robe, ready to dismiss him.

He frowned at her. “What are you doing? Get undressed and get back on the bed.”

Lindsay folded her arms. “Look, I’m trying to be nice here, but frankly, I don’t want a repeat of what just happened.”

“There won’t be a repeat,” he said between gritted teeth. “I haven’t been with a woman in three years. Believe me, you’re about to have a whole different experience the second time.”

True enough, he hadn’t had sex in a long time, but that didn’t mean the second time would be any better. Maybe he had a high opinion of himself, like some men did. Or...she could give him another shot at satisfying her, because she was certainly still horny and his magnificent body was completely naked in front of her. One more time couldn’t hurt, could it?

She walked over to him so they were only inches apart. “You have one more chance,” she warned.

The left corner of his mouth lifted into a semi-smile. “If I don’t deliver, you can kick me out.” Then he fell serious, his sleepy brown eyes gazing down at her. “But I promise, you won’t want to.”

She was almost scared by the determination nested in his eyes.

“You have a scarf?” Malik asked.

“Why?”

“Do you have a scarf?” he said in a harder tone.

Lindsay narrowed her eyes. “Yes.”

“I need it.”

She stared at him for a few seconds longer, a trickle of excitement running over her skin. What did he have in mind? She went over to the dresser and removed a colorful silk scarf and handed it to him.

“Get undressed and get on the bed. On your stomach.”

Lindsay let the robe slide down her arms to the floor and climbed onto the bed. The mattress depressed when he came on behind her. His knees straddled either side of her hips.

“You trust me?” he whispered in her ear.

His voice made her sex clench.

She hesitated for a second, then answered, “Yes.”

The scarf, folded into a long strip, lowered in front of her face. “Close your eyes,” Malik said.

She did, and he covered her eyes and secured the material at the back of her head. Ensconced in darkness, her nerve endings tingled while she waited for his next move.

Then she felt his moist mouth on the back of her neck.

Lindsay inhaled sharply.

“You smell good,” Malik said softly. “All of you. Every single inch.”

He nuzzled her hair and slipped a hand between her legs from behind. She was startled by the unexpected contact, and when he kept his hand in place on her butt but allowed one long finger to play with her clit, tension curled her fingers into the sheet.

Malik nibbled on the underside of her jaw and kissed the sensitive side of her throat. He seemed to know all the right spots without being told. After showing attention to her throat, his mouth journeyed to her shoulder with hard, sensual kisses that set her skin on fire. She arched her back, and her breathing became choppy as he mercilessly squeezed her bottom while simultaneously dropping more kisses down the middle of her spine.

“You’re so sexy,” he said in a guttural whisper.

The words added to the perception of being engulfed in erotic sensation caused by his hand and his fingers between her legs. When he squeezed again, Lindsay whimpered, lifting her butt into the press of his hand.

Malik paid close attention to every dip and curve. His licked her side and hip where the tattoos inked her skin, and he nibbled on her buttocks and the sensitive skin of her inner thighs.

“On your back,” he said.

She rolled over, still completely engulfed in darkness and disoriented because she didn’t know where he would go next or what he’d do. The anticipation of his next move was nerve-racking, and her senses were heightened because she couldn’t see a thing.

He palmed her breasts and then pressed them together in a torturous rendition of catch and release. Her fingers found the muscular plane of his upper back and smoothed over the sinuous skin as he went to work on her nipples. He explored the hard tips with his tongue, sucking and licking with enthusiasm and turning them into hard, aching points. She moaned, arching into his mouth, silently begging him to suck even harder. Without having to verbalize her wishes, he obliged, and her head twisted left to right on the pillow.

“Open your legs,” Malik commanded.

Lindsay widened her quivering thighs, and he eased a hand down her torso and cupped her bare sex.

“So wet,” he whispered, stimulating her with his fingers.

The friction from his stroking hand made her twist in the bed in sexual frustration. “Malik.” His name was a choked whisper on her tongue.

“Wider,” he said, his voice sounding gruffer.

Lindsay spread her legs, certain her wetness must be drenching his fingers.

She felt, but couldn’t see, him position himself between her legs. In anticipation, her fingers curled into the silk bedsheets and her breaths came more spasmodically as he kissed his way down her chest. His movements stretched her nerves taut, almost to the point of snapping.

Then he filled his mouth with her sex.

She knew that’s what he was going to do, yet the act still shocked her as if unexpected. He looped her legs over his impossibly broad shoulders and tunneled his tongue into the most intimate part of her. He was dogged in his attention, his tongue sweeping between her lower lips and his mouth insistent, demanding that she come for him.

Her body was so finely tuned to his lovemaking that she felt an orgasm barreling closer. Her hips bucked against his face, against the relentless way he lapped at her drenched flesh and the way his tongue and mouth moved in earnest. Good heavens, did she hear him smacking his lips? The indecency of it, the utter rawness of the sound, was almost enough to unravel her.

His pleasure-filled groans filled the room as he kept her open and did as he pleased. She realized right away that she was no match for him. He’d barely started, but she was helpless against the orgasmic wave that beat against her pelvis. This couldn’t be happening.

She came with a loud shout as a leg-shaking orgasm took command of her body. She endured the high until it deemed she’d suffered enough and set her free to collapse, depleted.

Lindsay lay there, unable to move as she came back down to Earth. Malik removed the covering from her eyes, and she stared up at him in wonder. That was one of the most sensual experiences she’d ever had. It was erotic, and she was light-headed, her brain swimming in utter euphoria.

“Ready for your second orgasm?” he asked, licking the side of her neck.

He didn’t wait for an answer. Cupping her jaw, he brought his lips to hers and they kissed hungrily, a devouring connection that instantly inflamed Lindsay’s lust for him again. Malik rolled onto his back and she straddled him, their mouths nipping and sucking in hot, urgent caresses. They kissed for an eternity, as if it were the last time they’d ever have the opportunity.

Lindsay broke contact to position herself above him. She dipped her nipples into his moist mouth, plunging them repeatedly into the sensual pull until he grew tired and held her in place so he could properly indulge as much as he wanted.

Then she explored the rest of his body. Her hands traced a path down his chest, and her mouth followed in their wake. When she kissed his pecs, he groaned, and when she dragged her tongue across his washboard abs, he drew a sharp, ragged breath.

She was desperate to have him inside her. The desire was so great, it manifested as a need. She cupped his bearded jaw and brought her face so close their noses almost touched. “Malik, I’m ready. I need you.”

He didn’t say a word, simply pulled her tight against him, molding his hands over her hips and buttocks, as he grabbed one more spine-tingling kiss. Then he released her long enough to get a condom and rejoined her on the bed.

She pulled him down between her legs.

“Tell daddy how you want it,” he whispered.

“Hard and deep,” she whispered back. The way she’d wanted in the beginning. She only hoped he could deliver this time.

The stiff column of his flesh took possession of her with a determined thrust.

“Yes.” The word came out as a hiss of pleasure as she arched her head back.

One of Malik’s big, warm hands closed around her throat and held her in place. He squeezed for several seconds and then released her. “You good? You like that?”

“Yes,” Lindsay whispered, lips quivering.

His mouth hovered near hers. “Thought you would.”

He squeezed again, picking up the speed of his thrusts. “Still?” His voice was a husky growl.

“Yes.” The gentle pressure increased the thrill. She’d never known anything could feel so good and wouldn’t trust just any man with such a delicate act, but she trusted Malik. She was vulnerable and at his mercy, but he’d proven he was careful on more than one occasion.

“I want you to come hard, sweetheart. I want you to scream and beg so loud that your neighbors know my name.”

His body drove into hers, the penetration hard and deep like she’d asked. Circling her hips and wrapping her arms around his torso, Lindsay sucked in a breath each time he lessened the grip on her throat. She bounced her hips higher and faster, but he refused to match her pace. He was in full control now. He dictated the pace.

A slow heat built in her loins as Malik altered the angle of his hips and hit the spot that gave her the sweetest pleasure. He hit it over and over again until she was holding his shoulders in a death grip and begging for release.

Mouth open, gasping, ripples of pleasure coursed under her skin. “Yes, yes. Malik...I’m, I’m coming!” She convulsed around the throbbing length of him.

“That’s it. Come for daddy.” His fingers tightened around her throat.

She shoved and grabbed him at the same time. Whimpers chased moans in a continuous cry as her oxygen-deprived brain increased the intensity of the climax.

He fired off multiple thrusts in rapid succession, harder and with an animalistic growl in his throat. Then he let loose a loud groan in her ear as he exploded into the condom and then collapsed beside her.

Later, while Malik was in the bathroom, Lindsay dragged the sheet over her sex-sensitive skin. It was clear that after that bout of lovemaking, she’d unleashed a raging bull, and tonight she was in for the time of her life.