Ever since she'd walked into the Knight family farmhouse and spotted Tobias in a sweater in the same midnight blue as his eyes, Carolyn had been existing in a feverish fog of desire. God, the way he looked at her, the way he moved across the room, all long legs and coiled tension. It went right to her head, even faster than the mulled wine. Here at home, surrounded by family and friends, he looked more relaxed, smiled more easily. His hair had grown out more since she'd seen him at Evergreen, and the extra length brought out the strong molding of his cheekbones and the dark sweep of his eyebrows.

He was no longer the Man in Black; now he was the man who made her heart light up.

And then he'd swept her behind the house and mentioned deep dark fantasies and her entire body was now melting into a puddle of want. Every time he touched her, her desire ratcheted up to another level. She wanted to lose herself in his dark, quiet intensity, in that deep heart, that powerful spirit.

As soon she used that phrase, "deep dark fantasies," she felt his body tense.

"Don't tease me," he warned, pulling away so he could see her face.

"Hm, who's teasing who here? You're the one who dragged me out here to show me your 'barn.'"

"So this is real? You want this too? Because I gotta tell you, Caro, you've been on my mind nonstop since I met you. And that's never happened to me before. This is something different for me. I don't know how to explain it. You do something to me, something crazy."

Another throb of lust struck, like someone plucking a cello string deep inside her. "Me too," she confessed.

"So we're doing this? You're with me? I keep wanting to touch you, to keep you close, but I want to make sure you're feeling the same sort of things."

She reached up and touched his cheek, wondering at the concern in his eyes. For such a big, powerful man, he showed a lot of sensitivity. "You don't need to worry so much. Haven't you noticed the way I can't keep my hands off you either? If you like, I can write you a ten-page report on all the dirty thoughts I've had about you over the past couple months."

His eyes darkened to deepest twilight. Inside the back door, someone did something that involved bottles and glass, creating a dissonant noisy chime.

He winced at the interruption. "There might be one problem," he murmured

"You have a houseful of people?"

"I'd kick them all out, but that's not exactly the Christmas spirit."

"Bad Grinch."

He nuzzled her hair again, sending sweet drugging waves of pleasure across her skin. "What's going on at your place?"

"No Christmas spirit whatsoever. I haven't even unpacked yet. I just drove back today."

"Is there floor space? Wall space? Either of those will do." His deep, dark growl made her weep with desire.

She stepped back and took both his hands in hers. She loved the way his big palms engulfed hers, the rough surface creating such delicious friction. "We can't just skip out on Merry's party. She might be hurt. She's worked so hard on it. She actually took a week off from the newspaper to make everything perfect, and you know what a workaholic she is."

He groaned, all exaggerated frustration. "Damn it. Why do everyone else's feelings keep getting in my way? First Aiden, now Merry. When is it my fucking turn?"

"A little Christmas spirit won't kill you. Come on. We'll stay at least for the baked brie and the apricot strudel. Also, I think Merry's mother is going to sing for us. Apparently in Brazil they eat Christmas Eve dinner precisely at ten, then at midnight they make a toast and exchange presents."

"Midnight?" He looked so appalled she had to laugh.

"We don't have to stay that long. Merry knows I just got back. A little longer, that's all. I don't want to look too obvious." She tugged his hand to guide him back inside.

"Fine, as long as you know that no matter what Christmas-related thing is going on, there's only one thing on my mind."

"Really?" She pushed open the door. The smell of melting cheese and bread nearly made her forget that there was an insanely sexy man right behind her, one who wanted her as badly as she wanted him. "What's that?"

"You, wearing nothing but that bit of holly in your hair," he murmured in her ear.

She giggled, her face turning pink as the guests in the kitchen turned to welcome them back. Merry, Ben, Will, Merry's mother. On every face she noted the same knowing expression.

Jeez, was it that obvious after all?

Merry winked at her and gave her a surreptitious thumbs-up. Gabriela lifted a glass of champagne in their direction and executed a sexy, sly wiggle of her hips.

Will took one look at them and pointed toward the arched opening that led to the living room. "The mistletoe's that way," he said, smirking.

The rest of the party passed in a hectic blur of laughter, a divine performance of “Silent Night” by Gabriela, chitchat with the other guests, and the intoxicating joy of secret touches from Tobias. A little finger linked around hers. The brush of his hip against her. A warm hand on her lower back.

With Tobias’s air of restrained power, she wouldn't have pegged him as a physically demonstrative man, but he was. Maybe he was comfortable with anything physical. And didn't that thought make her want to swoon.

Finally, it was time to go. With a flurry of warm hugs and kisses, she said goodbye and raced home, taking the curves of the dark highway that led back to Jupiter Point much faster than she usually did. If she got enough of a head start, she could do at least a little cleanup at home before Tobias showed up. Maybe shove aside some boxes, possibly make the bed. At the very least, she could dig out her nicest lingerie from her suitcase. Where had she put it again?

But none of that mattered, because a few seconds after she'd flown through the door, tossed her purse on the couch, and stashed her plate of leftovers in the fridge, someone rang her doorbell.

"It's me," Tobias reassured her in a low voice.

She flung open the door. He filled her doorway, all broad shoulders and long legs and smoldering dark eyes. "How the heck did you get here, by jet pack?"

"Nope." He stepped inside and nudged the door shut. "I'm running on a special kind of fuel called, 'I want Carolyn and I want her now.' It's like a turbo boost." He swept her into his arms and lifted her off her feet. With the front of her body clasped tight against his, she experienced an intense and fiery rush of lust. She went weak in his arms, her heart fluttering madly. She wrapped her legs around his hips, her dress falling back to her thighs. She was still wearing her shoes, a pair of bronze high heels that made her legs look extra sexy.

"Here's what I want," he growled. "I want to strip this gorgeous dress off you. I want you in nothing but your underwear and those sexy-ass shoes."

She managed to squeak some kind of response, but it was nothing coherent. She felt the hard bulge of his erection pressing between her legs, and that sensation pretty much blotted out everything else. He took it for what it was—complete and total agreement—and marched toward her bedroom, carrying her with him as if she weighed nothing.

Her sweet little two-bedroom cottage had never seen anything like Tobias Knight. She'd bought this house because it was hidden from the street by a riot of rose bushes. Carolyn had imagined herself growing old here, a happy spinster tending her flowers and grading her papers. It was a serene haven, safe from the craziness of her past. That lonely but peaceful vision of the future had seemed inevitable.

She'd definitely never imagined being carried to the back bedroom by a six-foot-plus tower of power, a honed hunk of raw manhood.

And loving it. Every flex of his muscles against her, every heave of his lungs, the warmth of his breath against her cheek, the smell of wood smoke and pine needles caught in his sweater…it all swirled together in a cocktail of pure intoxication.

Inside the bedroom door, she slid out of his grasp. He helped her get her feet on the floor. "What's wrong?"

"The bed. I have sheets here somewhere." She looked around the room in a daze, all memory of her previous household arrangements gone. Her mattress was bare, she knew that much. But at the moment, she couldn't think how to fix that.

"Here." Tobias strode to a box in the corner, from which a sheet peeked. He ripped open the box and pulled out a pretty apricot cotton sheet that she'd taken to Evergreen and back again. He flung it on top of the bed. "Satisfied?"

She looked at it and burst out laughing. It was a bottom sheet, but he hadn't bothered to tuck its corners around the mattress. It just lay there, a bunched-up sheet on a mattress, and he couldn't care less, because he wanted her. It didn't matter where.

"Hang on." Making a tease out of it, she bent over to properly fit the sheet to her mattress. She felt his gaze on her, scalding hot. When she was done, she straightened up and crooked one finger at him.

He was on her in two strides. They tumbled onto the bed. She laughed with pure joy at the feeling of his rock-solid body against hers. He settled between her legs, and with a long, lingering motion, he dragged his groin against hers. They were both still completely clothed. Only their combined layers of clothing kept her from sliding right into a screaming orgasm. Judging from the tense strain on his face, he felt the same way.

It drove her wild, the sight of his dark head bending over her while he pushed her dress to the top of her legs. He inhaled deeply, as if he'd been craving the intimate scent of her. The scent of her arousal. God, it was so obvious how much she wanted him. She was drenched with it.

And with a man like Tobias, she'd never have to hide that. She'd never have to feel the kind of shame she'd felt at the compound. With Tobias, she could be free and wild and he'd love it.

"Sit up," he said in a voice that was all gravel and heat. That voice alone might do it to her, she thought as she raised herself into a sitting position. He reached behind her and unzipped her dress, the slow descent of the zipper bringing the prickle of air against her skin. He tugged one sleeve off her arm, then the other. The two pieces fell forward, exposing her chest and the sheer ivory bra she wore underneath.

She wouldn't have chosen it as her sexiest lingerie, but now that she saw his expression, maybe she should rethink that.

With burning eyes, he scanned her breasts. Under his gaze, her nipples hardened to deep red points against the sheer fabric of her bra.

"Damn," he breathed. "You put all my fantasies to shame, Caro." He bent his head and put his mouth over one nipple, his hot breath steaming against the sensitive flesh. With his teeth, he dragged the sheer fabric against her nipple. She cried out and arched her back. "That's right. Show me how it feels." The words sent more hot air against the tender flesh, which puckered even more.

She moved to get her dress out of the way, but he stopped her by firmly pressing her arms against the mattress with both hands. A dark thrill rampaged through her. "For God's sake, Tobias."

"Stay still or I might lose it," he growled. "I'm hanging by a thread as it is."

So was she. She could barely stop from thrashing all over the place. The only thing that stopped her was knowing that she was in the hands of a master. Everything told her so—the power of his restraint, the slow control of his movement, his intense, dreamy focus.

He lavished her breasts with attention, as if he had all eternity to drive her mad. He feasted on her, savoring each stroke of his tongue and scrape of his teeth against her flesh. Her nerves sizzled, deep pulses of electricity leaping from the tips of her breasts to the core of her being. The bra disappeared, she barely knew how.

His mouth left her briefly so he could strip the rest of her clothes off her. While he was busy doing that, she existed in a pool of flame, her breasts craving the return of his touch. It was addictive, the sensation of that wet devilish tongue teasing her flesh. Her nipples felt enormous, practically obscene, swollen to wet peaks of throbbing desire.

When she was naked—except for her shoes, which he put back on her feet—he pulled her to the edge of the bed and tugged her into a standing position. "Now that's the fantasy I've been thinking about all night. Look at you." He shaped the curve of her waist, ran his hands across the bare slope of her ass. A little dizzy from the sensations pouring through her body, she balanced naked on her high heels.

Seeing the hot excitement on his face, she cocked her hip and arched her chest, making more of a pose out of it.

He growled deep in his broad chest. "Good lord, woman. You're trying to give me a stroke, aren't you?"

"Not a chance. Not until you make me come." She reached up and twisted her hand in the neck of his sweater.

Okay then. Tobias’s raw sexuality was rubbing off on her, apparently. She didn't usually say that kind of thing. It felt…liberating.

"Not just come, but come hard," she added, feeling her cheeks turn pink as the raunchy words left her.

But he didn't blink an eye. A wicked grin spread across his face. "At your service." He kneeled on the floor and blew on the mound of curls at the juncture of her thighs. His hot breath scalded her already screaming nerve endings.

She gasped and grabbed onto his shoulders as he cupped her sex. His long fingers grazed across her curls, then brushed her clit lightly. No fumbling here, nothing tentative, no doubt about where her most sensitive spot might be. This man knew exactly where it was and what to do with it. His thumb slid across the tight knot of nerves, stroking the seam of her lips, tangling in her curls. He tugged lightly at her hair, pulling a gasp from her. Then he went back to her clit, slip-sliding through the thick moisture, drawing hot ribbons of pleasure in his wake.

Direct, full-on, Grade-A, pedal-to-the-metal fondling, by a master of the technique.

She started babbling mindlessly, letting him know how good that felt, how amazing his hands were, how much she wanted him.

Hot strokes, more pressure, more friction, rising and building and moaning and pushing and…oh my God. Exploding. In a white-hot burst, fierce waves overtook her, rushed through her body and emptied her mind. So good. So good. Sweet exultant joy turned her tongue thick, her brain hazy. She hung over him, letting him support her while she rode out every last twitch and spasm of her orgasm.

"Oh my God," she moaned finally, when words came back to her. "I don't even…I can't even…"

She needed more time to recover. She heaved in a long breath, her entire body tingling. Gradually things came back to her, like the fact that she was still draped over Tobias, and that she still wore her heels, and that with her legs this shaky, she might break her neck.

Shaking her head, almost laughing at the intensity of that orgasm, she straightened up. She toed off her shoes and kicked them away. He was still on his knees, watching her, breathing fast.

"Any chance you have a, um, Christmas Eve condom with you?" she asked, still a little breathless herself.

He stood up, towering over her now that she was barefoot and he still wore his boots. Like a genie answering a wish, he pulled a condom from his back pocket.

"Just so you know, I didn't have this at the party," he told her. "I wasn't planning all this. Ben stuffed it in my hand on my way out the door. He had it wrapped like a present."

She smiled slightly. "Just one?"

He cleared his throat and reached into his pocket again. A strip of condoms came rippling out, along with a piece of gold tinsel ribbon. "He's a jokester."

She laughed, joy fizzing through her system. She felt as if someone had replaced all her blood with laughing gas. "You Knight brothers. You're all crazy."

"We might be. Is that a problem?" He cupped his hand around her waist, heavy and warm, comforting in its solid weight.

"Nope. I like it. I don't have to be all nice and proper with you. I like the way you think, Tobias."

"Really? Wait'll you see the way I fuck."

Oh God. When he talked like that, flames ignited inside her. "You have a lot of clothes on," she said roughly. "And I've been wondering every day since you walked into my class what you might look like without them."

"Well damn. With an invitation like that…"

He put his hands to the hem of his sweater and yanked it over his head. He moved toward her, but she stopped him.

"Might as well take it all off." She gestured at the t-shirt he wore under the sweater, the dark jeans that didn't hide his erection. "Get comfortable."

He tugged off his t-shirt in one swift motion. She'd already seen him down to his undershirt, when she'd tended his scratches back in Evergreen. But taking in the complete spectacle, with no clothes at all, was something else entirely. It was like witnessing some kind of natural phenomenon. Ripples of muscles battled with ridges of sinew. A few scars broke the landscape of his skin, enhancing instead of marring it. A scattering of dark hair led the way down his chest, past the sleekly defined V of tendons near his pelvis.

Great God Almighty. "Michelangelo would have a field day with you," she murmured. "They ought to cast you in bronze. Preserve you for all eternity."

"No thanks. When it's time to go, I'll smile and say thanks for all the fish. I decided that a long time ago. Unless I say 'thanks for all the orgasms.'" He undid the top button of his jeans and unzipped himself. He wore black boxer briefs that barely contained his raging erection. He shucked his pants, then stood before her, the black-covered bulge between his legs drawing her fascinated attention.

She stepped forward and cupped her hand against the private bundle tucked into his briefs. He closed his eyes, tilted his head backwards, and released a long groan. A sense of power raced through her. This tough, battle-hardened man was completely at her mercy right now. His body was taut as a bow, rigid with desire. Electricity throbbed and sparkled between them.

Sliding her hand inside his briefs, she found hot skin and the eager thrust of his penis. He pushed his underwear down his legs, kicked it aside. Completely nude, he stood before her, a picture of pure male physicality, muscular, virile and fully, magnificently erect. His thick, hard organ protruded straight toward her, just as direct and raw as Tobias himself.

He ripped open the condom and slid it on. He came toward her and curved his hand against her mound. "I can't wait to get inside that sweet pussy."

A rush of liquid heat spiked through her lower belly. God, she could listen to his hot words all day and all night. They revved her up like nobody's business. They stood pressed together, his erection nudging the space between her legs, their bodies slick and quivering and right on the edge. Even though she'd come so hard just a few minutes ago, her body craved more. He put his hands on the globes of her ass and squeezed, rotating her hips against him.

She moaned loudly and parted her legs enough to allow his iron-hard flesh to tease her lower lips.

And then the whole room was flipped around and she was flat on her back on the bed. He braced over her, every tight muscle of his shoulders and chest standing out in sharp relief. A bead of sweat ran down his neck. His eyes smoldered with the heat of a thousand midnight suns.

"You ready?"

She appreciated the check-in, but it was so unnecessary it was almost laughable. The restless ache between her legs, the liquid weeping down her thighs, the flush on her chest—all pretty freaking obvious signs that she wanted him inside her.

"So ready," she told him. "So incredibly ready."

She closed her lips around the other words that wanted to come out. Fuck me hard. Rip me apart. Break me into a million pieces. Shatter me, Tobias Knight. Shatter me hard.

She might think them, but saying them aloud was still a little outside her comfort zone.

Then she forgot all about comfort zones as he felt between her legs for the place that begged for him. He stroked her again, firing up the embers of her lust with his rough, skillful fingers. Then he fisted his erection in one hand and spread her apart. Her heart fluttered in her throat, mad thoughts flying through her head as he moved inside her, claiming her inch by inch. Her inner channel opened for him, welcoming him in a tight grasp. She moaned at the sense of fullness, of surrender, of completion. So thick, so hard, so essential.

And then he stroked with deep, long thrusts in a rhythm that captured her senses and scattered her thoughts. She moved with him, emotion building in her heart, tears springing to her eyes. The tears weren't caused by any pain, but because it felt so excruciatingly magnificent. It made her feel, of all things, secure. It was the strangest belief, surfacing out of nowhere.

This powerful man was wrapped around her, deeply connected to her, and together they'd be safe.

Then even that thought disappeared as pure sensation took over. A sweet blast of ecstasy swept her into a whirlwind. Her body clenched around him, pulling him after her. He went rigid and cried out, and together they surfed the wave of pleasure to the edge of the universe and beyond.