As I rocked like a baby, cradled in his arms, my mind waged a quiet war with itself. The dignified part that demanded respect wanted to shout at him to put me the fuck down as I was quite capable of walking myself.

But the other part, the up-to-now silent part, wanted nothing more than to rest my head on his shoulder and relish the gentle bob and sway and take the comfort I didn't know I had needed in being held in his arms.

His strength was breathtaking, unflagging. I was worried I was too heavy, that he would have to groan and shift the weight, maybe ask me to walk for a second while he stretched, but the thought never seemed to cross his mind so after a short while I realized I was worrying about nothing.

But still, I couldn't seem to help myself. The deserted warehouse streets were giving over to high-rises. He'd been carrying me for three short blocks now but it felt like an eternity. "Are you going to carry me all the way there?" I wondered aloud.

"I have to make sure you can't get away," he replied and didn't even sound out of breath.

I looked up at his face, his set jaw. That dimple was hiding in shadow but I felt like I knew him well enough to know it was there. "You're like part cavemen aren't you?" I teased.

"The Scots are an ancient people," he declared with mock solemnity.

"Do you ever wear a kilt?" I wondered.

He laughed. "You want to see what I have underneath?"

I bit my lip. "Maybe?"

"Not much farther now, love, and I promised I'll show you every inch of it."

If he hadn't been holding me my knees would have given out. The downward rush was so fast and so sudden that I swore gravity doubled, pulling me down heavy in his arms. For a moment I wanted to demand he dispense with this ridiculous idea of getting to his place and just lie on my back on the sidewalk and pull him down on top of me. "You're ridiculous carrying me like this," I said, squirming.

"Stop wiggling, or I'll throw you over my shoulder."

Heat flooded my limbs in a boneless rush at the thought of being carried like that. "Seriously?" I yelped.

He slowed a little. "I think you like the idea," he mused and his voice dripped dangerous promise. "I have half a mind to do it now."

I smacked his arm. "Don't you dare."

He turned his head with an impish smile.

"Ewan."

He slowed to a halt.

"Ewan! Don't you...! Oh my God!" I gasped as he slung me over his shoulder. "I can't believe you!'

"Oi, this is much easier," he announced as he broke out into a run. "I should have been doing this all along!"

I bobbed helpless, ineffectually beating at his back, aware that his lips were only inches from my pussy, separated by only a few millimeters of fabric. Ewan must have been thinking the same thing because he suddenly turned and charged up a set of stone stairs. From my upside-down vantage point, I could only see the sidewalk change to the marble floor of some lobby, and feel the cooling blast of air conditioning to know that..."Are you carrying me like this in a lobby?" I hissed. "Ewan!"

"Private entrance, love," he growled as a faint ding sounded above us. He stepped over a threshold and suddenly flipped me back down to my feet.

The whirl of dizziness as the blood rushed from my head was no matched for the reeling tempo of my heartbeat to find myself suddenly alone with Ewan Boyd in a mirror-lined elevator. All around me my own flushed and breathless reflection was mirrored back at me, but for once I wasn't caught up in how I looked.

I was looking at him.

His face was in the forefront of my mind all of this time, but now as I looked at him it was like seeing him for the first time all over again. That cut-glass jawline with the deeply carved dimple. Those blue-blue eyes, darker around the edges and sky-blue at the center. That dark hair, no longer obscuring his face, but framing it, like he was a work of fucking art. His height, a full foot taller than me looming in this small space, taking it all up, the way he took up all of my attention and all of my thought. And for the first time the breadth of him, those broad shoulders, and the strong arms that had just carried me for however many blocks without faltering. "You're..." I exhaled, trying to find the word.

"Crazy?" he supplied.

"That's one word for it."

"Oh aye," he said softly, reaching out to touch my face. "But I'm crazy for you, love, so..."

My breath caught in my throat as he brushed his lips across mine. Such a small motion, almost chaste, but fireworks exploded up my spine all the same. The sensation sent me upward onto my toes, seeking and then finding his mouth more deeply. He groaned against my lips, his fingers sinking into the flesh above my hipbones, his own hips arching forward. I could feel the press of his length against my stomach and it did something to me because suddenly I flung myself against him, needing to feel the full length of his body against mine.

"Steady love," he murmured against my neck. "We've got all night."

I stepped back, staring him down. "All night?"

"Aye," he rumbled. "Now that I've finally got you, I plan on taking my time with you." He bent to kiss me again, another soft brush that had me moaning in frustration, as the door dinged open. "I can't wait to hear you beg me to come." He planted another kiss at my jaw as my breath caught. "And I can't wait to hear you beg me to let you stop."