Gideon tore his mouth free, rolled Kennadee over, and captured her hands in each of his, forcing them to the floor on each side of her head. “Wait a damn minute. What the hell did you just say?”

“You heard me.” She moaned. “Please don’t make me repeat it.”

“Damn right, you’re going to repeat it, woman,” he demanded, his expression hard and brittle as marble. “And often, starting now.”

She growled in frustration. It was bad enough she’d said it the first time. “I love you, you bossy, sexy man. Now what are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know,” he said, baffled, clearly stunned. “I never thought you would actual say the words.”

“Here’s a hint.” She arched into him.

“Here?”

“Yes, here, and now. I’m through waiting for you, damn it.”

He swallowed hard and hesitated as if suddenly nervous. “We haven’t even had our third date yet.”

“And we aren’t going to.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Care to explain?”

“I told you, I only date men three times—at the most—and then it’s over.”

“So, in your convoluted thinking, if we never have another date—”

“Yes, we have a third date, and I’ll have to stop seeing you.”

He laughed, the sound strained yet buoyant. “Good God, I have to be certifiable to love you as much as I do.”

“Yep, that’s exactly what every girl wants to hear.” She struggled in his hold. “Let go of my hands.”

“Why, so you can punch me? Not a chance.”

Guess, he really did know a thing or two about her.

He smiled down at her, and the hairs on the back of her neck rose. This wasn’t his sweet, seductive smile that had her insides fluttering. No, this one spoke of possession, turning him into the brigand she’d described him as before, and she had a feeling her fancy-free reputation was about to be truly and thoroughly ruined.

“You said the words, you know what that means?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “You’re mine now, and I’m not letting you go.” He took her mouth with force and no finesse, emotions running too hot and deep for technique. It was honest and brutal, a branding, and it totally inflamed her.

Tearing his lips from hers, he buried his face in her hair and tried to compose himself. “Christ, I love the smell of you. Let me have you, taste you, love you.”

His words squeezed her heart, and she softened under him. “I want you, Gideon Rasmussen, more than I’ve wanted any other man. It’s feral, this craving I have for you.”

He rose above her, searching her eyes for the truth of her words. Then he leaned down and lightly kissed her, his lips tenderly brushing once, twice. “I’ve dreamt of touching you again, taking my time and not being that teenager who fumbled over you in a tent full of cushions, hoping I didn’t do something wrong, or make a fool of myself, that I could pleasure you properly.”

“Well, now here’s your chance. Don’t squander it.”

He chuckled at her words, touching her tenderly, taking his time, undressing her, cupping her breasts reverently as he revealed them to his heated gaze. Skimming his lips over her nipples, his fingers lightly stroked her skin, teasingly dipping into the waistband of her pants and then flitting away. When he finally sucked her nipple into the heat of his mouth, lavishing it with his tongue, she arched like a bow, a gasp escaping her.

“Gideon,” she sobbed his name, her head tossing side to side on the rug. “Please,” she begged, trembling with need to have him inside her.

“Please, what, Kennadee? Tell me what you want.”

She didn’t want tender, she wanted him fast, and deep. Now.

Shamelessly, she spread her legs and rubbed against him, pulling at her restrained hands, hands he refused to release. “I want you underneath me, me taking you inside of me, deep and deeper still until we don’t know where one of us begins and the other ends.”

He swore, his eyes shuttering closed as he pictured the image her words painted. He released her and finished stripping her naked, then tore at his tie, the buttons of his shirt, and the zipper of his suit pants until he was as gloriously naked as she. He allowed her to push him to his back, his eyes wide, the pupils black in their dilated state, as she straddled him.

“Do I need protection?” he asked, gasping.

“No. I’m on the pill.”

“Thank you, Christ.”

She positioned herself over him, her eyes now shuttering closed in anticipation of feeling him a part of her finally again.

He grabbed her hips, holding her prisoner above him, his shaft barely breeching her slick folds. “Look at me,” he demanded.

She opened her eyes, her focus fuzzy, then it sharpened until all she could see was him, the center of her world.

“I love you,” he said fiercely, and then waited, refusing to let her settle over him, even though her body wept for him.

He made it clear in the searing way he pinned her with his eyes, as surely as he gripped her hips, his fingers biting into the soft flesh, keeping her locked in that tortuous place with pleasure just out of reach that he needed to hear her return the words, here, now. A pledge, a binding of souls and hearts between them.

“I love you too,” she sobbed, then cried out in triumph as he surged upward, taking her hard and deep, plunging into her wet heat and stealing her breath. Her back bowed and she took him even deeper, as deep as she physically could.

The sudden orgasm flashed hot and fast, scorching her as it blazed through her like a wildfire, destroying everything that had come before, leaving a fertile field ripe for possibilities.

He turned savage, flipping her onto her back and thrusting into her again and again, holding himself back until she shattered once more, crying his name.

Mindless, her body boneless, she heard him shout her name, felt his body tense, muscles coiling, as he emptied himself into her with a victorious war cry.

Hours later, or mere minutes, Kennadee wasn’t sure as she might have blacked out from the intense pleasure, Gideon rolled them to their sides, cradling her against his chest with a satisfied exhale.

“Don’t let this go to your head, but no man has ever made me feel like this,” she admitted dreamily.

“Too late, honey.” A contented grunt escaped him.

She slapped his bare ass, and he laughed.

“You are a fiery woman and I love everything about you.” He shrugged. “Well, maybe not—”

“Stop there,” she warned, her eyes narrowing to slits.

“You’re right. With the way our bodies communicate, there’s no need to talk.” His mouth took hers again, this time lingering. He kissed her, stealing her breath, and she couldn’t get it back.

He’d stolen her heart just as easily. With a sigh, she melted into him and let him weave a spell over her. He’d been doing that since she’d rescued him.

“Shall we take this to my bed?” he asked.

“Bed? What, like one of the patients?”

He chuckled, rising and offering her his hand. “No, I have an apartment attached to the clinic. Did you never wonder where I lived?”

She took his hand, and he pulled her to her feet, both still naked. He wrapped his arms around her as if he were afraid she’d disappear.

“I figured you were staying with your dad until you found a place of your own,” she said.

“I love my dad, but I can’t live with him. Besides, my mom flew up a few weeks ago, and I’ve hardly seen them leave the house.”

“Your mom is back in town? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“You haven’t been that open to personal information,” he pointed out. “I was giving you time.”

She slapped his arm. “I would like to have known that. Are your parents getting back together?”

He led her through a door she’d thought was the entrance to a closet. It opened into a sparse studio apartment with the main piece of furniture lying dead center in the room.

A king-sized bed.

“I don’t know. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Dad isn’t holding my mom prisoner until she agrees to give them another chance.”

“Like father, like son,” she murmured.

“We Rasmussens are a tenacious lot.” He pushed her onto the bed and followed her down, covering her body with his. “Now, no more talk of my parents. In fact, the only words I want to hear out of your lovely mouth are three little ones.”

“You mean, I want you? I need you?” she teased.

He growled. “Try again.” His hand snaked down and cupped her, his fingers rekindling her desire with a few expert flicks. Her body arched off the bed as he tormented her to the brink without allowing her to fall over. “Say them,” he demanded. And she knew he wouldn’t let her find her release until she did.

“I love you.” She screamed her pleasure as he sent her flying over the abyss.